Links missing the "index.html"

[RemekTek (Paul Szilard)]

Just created my 1st site locally. I publish to a local folder. The site opens ok, however NONE of the links work, as they open Finder on the folder instead of opening in the web browser.

Looking at the code I see that the href tag entries do NOT have the “index.html” part at the end!

This is a Stacks created website. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance,
Paul

[Pyrobrit (Nick Woodruffe)]

href tags do not require the index.html or index.php files on the end. The web browser will automatically try for the default file which is index.html and if not found will present index.php.

Actually the server can be told what files to present first so it’s not quite black and white but that’s the simple explanation.

You mention that finder pops up which to me says the href is a folder or drive reference on your workstation and not a line of cade that would start https://the_name_of_your_website

Can you display the code for us?

[teefers (Doug Bennett)]

@RemekTek

I publish to a local folder. The site opens ok, however NONE of the links work, as they open Finder on the folder instead of opening in the web browser.

Modern Web pages like what RapidWeaver creates made to be served by a webserver.

Trying to view the pages locally will create problems like links not working, no PHP support, and more.

Rapidweaver has a built-in web server that allows you to preview your site on pretty much any browser installed on your Mac. Just right-click on page and select the preview with option. That will run a web server and open a fully functional page in the browser.

The cause of the navigation issue is the tidy links option. This can be turned off in advanced settings. That will add the index.html Back to the links.

[teefers (Doug Bennett)]

More information on this post

Mac finder window keeps opening up from a link

Mike (@Proxima), Default settings picked by developers to make producing the best results for most of the users of a product. I see no shame in the default value, having tidy links turned on. This feature works fantastic for 99.9% of users. It reduces the URL size, making external links shorter, and that can help with search engine optimization along with increasing conversion rates. RealMac designed RapidWeaver to produce modern web pages. You need a web server to serve modern web pages…

[RemekTek (Paul Szilard)]

Thank you for coming to my rescue. I will put the files up on a server to try that out.

Tried on my local Synology NAS web server and it worked.

What are the benefits of the “Tidy Website Links” setting? Surely the few characters that make up “index.html” do not slow down page requests, so is not having them a more secure option?

[teefers (Doug Bennett)]

Have a look at the post I linked to:

@teefers

It reduces the URL size, making external links shorter, and that can help with search engine optimization along with increasing conversion rates.

[RemekTek (Paul Szilard)]

Interesting. Thanks for your help. I must admit I was surprised to read that saving 10 character in a link is significant, but I live and learn (live more than learn, LOL).