I am looking for a tutorial or explanation on how and why making a custom folder title, in the general settings inspector, is beneficial.
Thanks.
Doing so allows you to use tidy links. Tidy links require the page to be named index.html or index.php. With common opage names, you need distinct folders.
So instead of your URL being example.com/about.html it can be example.com/about
Thatâs the main advantage that I can think of
So if I change the folder name of every page and change the file name to index.html,
how to fill in a sub page file name?
Should there be a dot or something in between page1 and index.html?
See my attachment.
Thanks!
In order to use âTidy Linksâ all your filenames need to be only index.html or index.php, it canât have variations.
If you have sub-pages, theyâd have their own folder names as well.
So, if your RW project looked like this:
- Home
- About
- Page1
- Contact
then the URL would be example.com/about/page1 where âpage1â is the folder name (and index.html the filename), nested underneath the About page. Sorry, Iâm not at my RW computer to show screenshots
Maybe this will help you visualise what the web siteâs folder/page directory should look like. I used simplified directory from my own website:
And so on⌠You can name your folders any way you like, but retaining a numbered order makes things much easier to find and maintain in the long run. Especially, if you use manual ftp-ing of your files to your server.
In addition to what is already mentioned, just like a good folder structure on your Mac, there are advantages to a well thought out website. For example, you may want to restrict users to certain folders (members area), you may want search tools to access only certain folders, etc. Sub-domains can help in these areas also.
Ok, thanks for the replies.
I have been using RW for years but just now have been investigating the advantages and methods of renaming folders.
My website is not complicated, I just need to get this clear.
The default names on a parent page, in the inspector, are,
Folder: page0
Filename: index.html
The default names for its sub-page are,
Folder: page1
Filename: page1.html
So am I correct by saying that if I want to rename this parent page and subpage,
it would be something like this.
Parent page name,
Folder: gallery
Filename: index.html
The subpage name,
Folder: sunsets
Filename: index.html
That is correct⌠But I would highly recommend changing the default extension from .html to .php to avoid future issues with duplicated pages not displaying correctly.
Pretending for a moment I understand the difference between php and html;
Thatâs all you do? Just write index.php in the box?
Yes⌠for file and folder names you do not have to accept the default values that RW inserts⌠you can name your files and folders anything you wish (using wisdom of course). For example, a folder that contains your store may be named âStoreâ. This is handy for when you maintain your site via ftp. For example, if you have an old page you need deleted from your server so it wonât take space and wonât be indexed and displayed by search engines itâs much easier to find things that have meaningful names. For example, ever do a test page? It needs to be deleted when done. So name it something like âmytest.phpâ and then itâs easily found when you go to your server to delete it. (Deleting a page in your RW project does not delete it from the web server.)
btw⌠the âphpâ extension tells the web server that the page contains php code. This code get processed in addition to the html as the page is rendered. It hurts nothing to name pages php if they have no php⌠but if you add a stack later that uses php you will need re-name the RW page using the âphpâ extension and go out and manually delete the html version.
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Thanks for the additional information.
And thank you all for the replies.
This is true and is why when I start new projects in RapidWeaver, I switch over this setting from html to PHP, that way I do not need to go onto my server to delete anything.
To get that sheet to pop down, you need to click on advanced at the bottom of the general settings.
Not sure if anyone mentioned it but you will need to to tick the âTidy Website Linksâ in the Advanced panel of the General Settings.
I use it to help me keep things organized. Letâs say I have problems with a published page or want to delete all the files for one. Itâs a LOT easier to find the files on the server if the folder is named something logical like âgalleryâ and not âpage9.â Also, I often add pages after the first version of a site. If I donât customize the folder name, RW will give the folder a number that wonât make much senseâlike âpage7â, even though itâs not page 7 of the site. Tidy URLs are a minor bonus to me.
Indeed. Much easier to identify pages on the server.