Raw Beginner at Web & HTML Needs Help!

**donsno278** · 01-25-2011 06:11 PM

I'm at my wit's end (short trip). I've developed a fairly small web project that works fine on my computer, but when I upload it to my X10 site I can't get it working. My only experience with web pages is two small browser based sites--just upload and go.

I'm pretty sure setting up index files is the problem, but I don't know where they belong or what they should contain. In File Manager I can see my uploaded files in my /public_html/ directory, but can't get there directly or by navigating with a browser because none of my higher files are being recognized. To summarize my setup, starting from the top, and simplifying file names is:

/donsfamily.x10.mx/home/donkirk/public_html/k_b/dons...html/

I see lots of suggestions about placing an index.html file inside /public_html/, but what should the content be? I want to open my first page, which is inside /k_b/, and run myfilename.html first page. And do I need an index file in /home/ or /donkirk/ to get to /public_html/ in the first place?

---------- Post added at 12:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:06 AM ----------

Originally Posted by donsno278

I'm at my wit's end (short trip). I've developed a fairly small web project that works fine on my computer, but when I upload it to my X10 site I can't get it working. My only experience with web pages is two small browser based sites--just upload and go.

To summarize my setup, starting from the top, and simplifying file names is:

/donsfamily.x10.mx/home/donkirk/public_html/k_b/dons...html/

I forgot my other question. I have a small script file that would provide password protection for the entire /k-b/directory if I could put in the string higher up. If that's not feasible I can add in PW protection some other way manually.

**denzil** · 01-26-2011 04:09 AM

Put any files you want publicly accessible in your public_html folder. These include your index file and other pages. The index will be the page that is opened when someone enters your website URL such as www.example.com, might be the same as www.example.com/index.html.

**donsno278** · 01-26-2011 06:20 PM

Okay, thanks for the reply. How do I get my browser (and other people's browsers) to go to /public_html/ when they always stop at /home/donkirk/? Apparently they arent' finding my other folders.

What is the *content* of the index.html file that belongs in my /public_html/?

Where do I find www.example.com or www.example.com/index.file? My browser doesn't know where it is, and searching for it in the forums doesn't find it either.

This is totally new territory for me, and I just want to get my site working properly. Writing the page was easy compared to my struggle to get it onto a host and working. :-(

Can you fill in some of the details for me, please?

**carl6969** · 01-26-2011 06:40 PM

Howdy;
Perhaps we should start with something very simple.
Copy the following code into a plain text editor such as Notepad.

<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
This is my website
</body>
</html>

Save the file as index.html
Upload index.html to your public_html directory
Browse to donsfamily.x10.mx
You should see a page with the words
"This is my website"

Even if you do not actually use this example perhaps it will give you a basic understanding about how things work.

**donsno278** · 01-26-2011 11:36 PM

All Right! Thanks, that worked on the first try. I don't quite follow the logic yet, but I can figure that out later. For now, I'd like to just convert that sample to what I really need to have in the index.html file. It's so nice to have a glimmer of the prize at the end of this struggle. :-)

**carl6969** · 01-26-2011 11:50 PM

You may want to Google for WYSIWYG editors as this could be a useful tool for you at this point. I cannot make any specific recommendations because (1) there are different editors for different operating systems and (2) I use CMS scripts such as Joomla and WordPress most of the time.
Remember that, by default, your index file, (example - index.html), will be the first thing that visitors see when visiting mywebsite dot com .
Also keep in mind that that file names are case sensitive, therefore index.html and Index.html are two different things. And you will always want to use index.html, (lower case i ), for your default index file. As a matter of fact I would suggest always using lower case file names just to keep things simple.

**MaestroFX1** · 01-27-2011 12:38 AM

@donsno278

You might like to use this:
----------code start
<?php
header(
"Location: /k_b/myfilename.html");
?>
----------code end
and it save as "index.php" in root dir(aka public_html aka www).

I would recommend you to use actual strength of this webhosting - PHP and Database(MySQL & Postgre).
PHP generates webpages(dynamically) by fetching data from databases like aforementioned.
It may seem bit daunting when you are at "point zero", but with joomla and other such packages, life may seem to be not so hard after all.

Check out “ Fantastico” and “Softaculous” in your cPanel.

Thanks

**donsno278** · 01-27-2011 04:31 PM

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep them in mind, but right now I'm at a level that I think I should delay getting into anything beyond the basics. Once I understand what's going on now with my efforts I usually try to move on into advanced topics, so I imagine I'll be there one of these days.

**joshuakrull64** · 01-27-2011 04:40 PM

When I was in college for web design they offered a wonderful book it is called HTML,XHTML & CSS Sixth Edition. Granted the book is now way out of date compared with the new HTML5/CSS3, but this might help you start off with some basic things. If you would like to know more about the book or a place to order it, let me know.

**donsno278** · 01-28-2011 05:53 PM

Thanks to everyone who joined this thread. Every little bit helped, and Carl6969's sample index file was the final clue that broke the case. I've spent about a day editing links and testing, and everything is going final today. There are a couple of internal coding bugs to continue working on, but it's good enough to share.

It feels good to know so many are willing to share so much with those of us who know so little.

I guess this thread can be closed about now. :-)

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