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File Management

A pre-requisite for this course is an understanding of file management. If you want to learn more about file management, PCC offers the following courses: CAS 103 (Intro to Windows) or CAS 133 (Beginning Computers).

You can watch video tutorial of Windows File Management below or from this link.

File Management Utility

You will need a utility program to manage the files on your disk and on the Student Web Server (SWS). For the PC, Windows built-in file management utility My Computer (Windows XP) or Computer (Windows Vista and later) is the preferred program.

Unfortunately, there isn't a file management utility built into the Mac OS that allows you to manage files on your disk and on a Web server, so you will need to get a program like FileZilla (free) or Fetch (free trial version available).

File Storage Hierarchy

You will be saving files throughout the term. You can save them on a USB drive or you can save them on your computer's hard drive. It is strongly recommended that you keep a backup of your files in case they become lost or corrupted. It will be up to you, the student, to maintain proper file organization throughout the term. It is assumed that all CAS111D students understand file management. If you have any questions regarding this, please contact your instructor immediately.

It's important that you construct a file storage hierarchy on your USB thumb drive, complete with the necessary folders, sub-folders and files, that mirrors what you will have on the Student Web Server (SWS). If they don't look exactly the same, you will likely be falling into file management chaos (see below).

On your USB drive, you should create a folder called cas111d. Under that folder you should create folders as described in the assignment instructions as you progress through the course. All assignments will go directly under your username folder.

On your storage device (either USB or hard drive), create a NEW FOLDER titled cas111d. Inside this folder, create the following subfolders:

Follow Cal1: Files and FTP (in-class)

File Naming on the Web

Name your files with short, memorable names so that if you have to tell someone a Web address that includes a file name, it will be easy to remember. Also, keep all your file and folder names in lower case with no spaces.

Keep in mind that "index.html" is a different name than "Index.html". The first one, in all lower case letters, is a special name to browsers and a file with that name will automatically load into a browser window when the browser goes into a folder containing that file. The second one, with the capital letter, means nothing to many browsers and will not load automatically.

Instructor Note:
Avoid mixed case or upper case letters in all file and folder names used on the Web. Upper case letters are frequently seen as different letters than their lower case counterparts in most operating systems.

This has major implications when you tell someone a Web address. For example, if you say an address that includes a page name, like

www.whatever.com/WhateverPage.html

you will then have to explain which letters in the page name are also upper case so it doesn't generate an error in their browser when they type it in. This makes it much harder to remember the address.

Keep it simple -- always stick with all lower case letters. It's industry standard and the best all-around approach.

Underscores and dashes (hyphens) can be used instead of spaces, but note that for search engine optimization purposes (SEO), underscores imply that the two words separated by them should be considered one word, whereas dashes imply the two words separated by them should be considered two words. In other words, to a search engine, "sample_site" means "samplesite", whereas "sample-site" means "sample site". So, in the search engine's database two words separated by an underscore are stored as only one word, whereas two words separated by dashes are stored as two individual words. It is preferable to use dashes instead of underscores in most cases when you are trying to improve your search engine ranking.

File Management Goodness

To be established properly files and folders should contain names that are in all lower case with no spaces.Underscores can be used, but avoid unusual characters and extra periods or punctuation in file and folder names.

These are proper file names:

Folder names should not include extensions or periods. Periods in folder names may have unintended consequences when used with Web pages and Web browsers.

File Management Chaos

File management chaos is a disease which can infect even the most knowledgeable computer user. Don't let it infect you.

Examples of file management chaos are:

  1. When you say "my files just disappeared." Files are not magical -- they do not just disappear. You did something with them, you just aren't sure what you did.
  2. Sub-folders with the same name as their parent folder. In other words, you have a folder-within-a-folder that both have the same name. These are just confusing and were caused by an improper use of a file management utility program.
  3. File names that include odd symbols, spaces, extra periods or upper or mixed case are not appropriate. The following are examples of bad file names:
    • Spiffy.html
    • My cat fernando.JPG
    • I_went_to_school.Then_I_went_home.htm

Instructor Note:
Spaces in file or folder names are particularly a problem on some operating systems (Unix and Linux are two) and with some browsers.

Also, the use of a period in a folder name is a problem with many browsers and pages will likely not load properly because of these kinds of naming issues.

The best idea: avoid using spaces, periods, and any other odd characters in folder names and spaces, odd characters and extra periods in file names (of course, you must use a period to separate the file name and its extension).

Dashes and underscores are about the only symbols that are Ok to use.

  1. Any other odd, confusing and inappropriate folder or file usage or naming.

File management chaos will result in a deduction of points on assignments until the chaos is corrected.