The most important skills in creating a web page have nothing to do with web design. Rather, they involve issues of file management--file types, naming conventions, folders or directories, and the Windows environment. These skills are so fundamental that most instructors take them for granted.  However, neglecting these skills can lead to serious problems, from broken links to corrupted files.

• File types.  In the Windows environment, every filename has an extension of three or four letters, preceded by a dot--.doc, .wpd, .htm, .xls, etc. These extensions identify the file type, usually the software program that created it or the kind of software that uses it. For the purposes of this project, the two most important extensions are .doc--representing a Microsoft Word document--and .htm--representing an HTML document--i.e., a web page. 
  
  In a Windows environment, you will not always see these extensions.  Instead, you may see files designated by icons--graphic representations of file types. Windows keeps a library of icons, and whenever it encounters a particular file type, it displays the icon associated with that file type. You can tell what type of document you have by looking at its icon.
  
• File Names and Naming Conventions. You will be working in a Windows environment on your computer; however, you will be producing documents for the Internet. Unfortunately, there are somewhat different rules for naming files in these two environments.  It is important that you keep them in mind.

• Folders (Directories): Both the Internet and Windows use folders (DOS called them "directories") to sort and stack documents.  Your files are always in a folder of some sort.  The trick is to keep up with where they are, so you don't misplace them. In particular, for the web project, YOU MUST KEEP ALL FILES RELATED TO YOUR WEB SITE IN ONE FOLDER!!! Otherwise, when you move the folder to a floppy disk or, more importantly, to a web server, some of the files may get lost. If that happens, links between files will not work.

Copying a file to a floppy disk

For this project, you will be required to work on your paper in a campus computer lab.  If you are working on a team, you may have to share files with teammates.  To do this, you will have to copy the file to a floppy disk.  If you already have the file on a floppy drive, fine.  If not, do the following:

1. Put a floppy disk in the floppy (A) drive of your computer.
2. Open the file on your hard drive containing your paper.
3. In the "File" menu, click "Save As".
4. Click the arrow to the right of the "Save In" box, then on "3 1/2 Floppy (A:)"
5. Click "Save".

Congratulations! You have learned how to copy a file to a floppy drive, and you have also learned something about the folder structure of your computer.

Do the same thing for any other files you may have containing parts of your paper: bibliography, title page, etc.

Creating a Copy of your Paper

To avoid damaging the only electronic copy of your paper, always create a copy of any file you wish to alter.  That way, if you do something you regret to your paper, you have a backup.  To create a back-up, do the following:

1. Close your word processing program and any other programs you may have running.
2. Close any windows you may have open.
3.  Find My Computer on the desktop and double-click it.
4. Double-click 3 1/2 Floppy (A:).
5. Click ONCE on the file containing your paper.  
6. On the "Edit" menu, click "Copy".
7. On the "Edit" menu, click "Paste".

You should see a file with the filename "Copy of yourfile", where "yourfile" is the name of your original file.

Congratulations!  You have created a back-up file of your paper.  This way, if anything happens to the file you are working on, you can always go back to the original.

Creating folders for your files

If you use a word processor as your web editor, you will eventually have to upload it to a web server so that others can view it. If you are working with others, you may also need to share files. You will also have web files and word-processing files that you will want to keep separate.  Use folders to organize your files.  

1. Open a window and find your floppy disk.  Double-click on it.
2. On the "File" menu, click "New", then "Folder".
3. Change the name of the folder from "New Folder" to "LastNamePaper", where "LastName" is your last name. 

Congratulations!  You have created a folder for your paper files.  Now move the files containing your papers into the folder.

1. Click on the file containing your paper and hold your finger on the mouse.
2. Move the mouse (and the file) until the file is on top of the folder.
3. Release your finger.
4. Repeat for the copy of your paper and for any other word-processing files connected with your paper.

Congratulations!  You have placed your paper files in a folder marked "Paper."  This will help you keep word-processing files separate from web files.

Create another folder and name it "LastNameWeb", where "LastName" is your last name.  This will be the folder into which all web files will go.

Created by John I. Brooks III. Last updated 01/01/04.
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