USGenNet Web-Help Hints

Access	Prevent access to your directory structure from viewer's browser by inserting a blank index.htm or index.html webpage in every directory that does not contain a file by that name. A redirect page can be placed there later, but a blank page will suffice temporarily. NOTE: USGenNet requires their sites to name the main page of their site either "index" or "default" or "home" with the "htm" or "html" file extension.
Background	Solid colored backgrounds are faster to load than background images. Unless the design is near and dear to your heart, choose one of the basic 16 colors for faster loading website.
Case	Use lower case when naming files and hyperlinking to files. Using your FTP software you will be able to glance at your directory and KNOW if there is a file with a "different" case. You can change option in most FTP software to force lower case. This will eliminate a lot of "file not found errors". Unix servers are case sensitive and if the hyperlink is to yourfile.htm it will not find Yourfile.htm.
Coding	Check your coding for errors. Errors slow down the load time and in some cases may prevent a page from loading at all. There are a number of good code checking programs: CSE HTML Validator Lite, by A1 Internet Solutions and W3C Markup Validation Service are both free, and good ways to check your coding.
Counter	Copy and paste the line below into your document where ever you want your counter. Change the [] to <> to activate. You are the [!--#exec cgi="/cgi-bin/counter-ord"--] Visitor to this Site.
Directories	Use lower case when naming directories and hyperlinking to directories. See case sensitive above...
File Names	Develop a file naming plan upfront. Once you begin adding data files, you can run out of names in a hurry. For example: a list of will transcription file names could be cso1886.htm (using initials of individual and date of will). Don't leave blank spaces in your file names, because not all browsers can read them. For example: marriage records.htm will not be accessible to everyone. Change the file name to marriage_records.htm or marriage-records.htm and all browsers will be able to access your page.
Hyperlinks	../directory name backs you up one directory level, ../../directory name backs you up two directory levels, etc.
Update	Copy and paste the line below into your document wherever you want your automatic update. Change the [] to <> to activate. This page was last updated [!--#echo var="LAST_MODIFIED"--]