File Organization and Naming

We will begin by writing a simple HTML file and storing it in a project folder. When we create CSS and Javascript, we will write our CSS and Javascript in seperate documents, and store them in the same project folder. Things will start getting interesting when we create multiple HTML files, and link from one page to another to create complex sites. When you start to plan a larger site, one that has many pages with different kinds of content on each, you should plan how these pages relate to eachother and how your files are organized. This plan is called your site map. The map should convey the overall structure of a site (think of branching tree structures, or nested lists), and depending on how many sub-branches you create, your file organization should reflect this structure. That is, pages of a certain type should go in a folder together, images should go in a folder together, scripts and CSS files in their own folders too.

This is helpful in clearly determining what the content is for your site and staying organized. Naming is also really important to keep you organized. Give thought to naming files, pages, and other items in a way that conveys their contents and purpose. Giving a file a cute name like "goop" might makes sense in the moment (I'm guilty of this), but may not tell you anything about it later on, and certainly won't make sense to anyone you collaborate with.