file names

[Sylvia Morris]

A friend of mine is going to host my site. He is a very experience website
builder, programmer, you name it... I told him I was ready to publish my
site. He said he needed to get an IP address for me. He suggested I zip up
the htm files and send them to him which I did. When he got the files, he
said the pages were named with random #s............. such as 365, 490, 820,
etc....... and they weren't in ascending order......... meaning, my home page
being the lowest #. It might had been page 588, my second page might have
been 328. He suggested that I rename the files. I don't know what he's
talking about and he doesn't know much about Publisher and he's in another
state so he can't help. What is going on?????

 

[David Bartosik [MSFT MVP]]

Being a "very experienced" software programmer and website builder myself, I
can assure you all he needs to care about is copying your files to the
server.
He has no reason to care about Publisher's file naming convention.
Hopefully you were successful in sending ALL the files of the site.
Otherwise you may discover broken links and/or missing images. For accurate
results it is recommended that the site be published to the server via
Publisher as documented on http://www.publishermvps.com .

I think you where using 2003, but you failed to state in your post what
version you are working in, so we'll go over the last two...
on the naming convention, both version 2002 and 2003 use the random
numbering. With the exception of the home page which should be "index", but
the two versions have a different default behavior on this. Version 2002 has
no functionality for you to customize the file name of a page. Version 2003
does however, under web page options of the page. In both versions the
sub-folder option has an effect on the file names depending on if the option
is on or off.

David Bartosik - [MSFT MVP]
http://www.publishermvps.com
http://www.davidbartosik.com

 

[Sylvia Morris]

This isn't the answer I'm looking for. Let me rephrase my question. No one is
concerned with Publisher's file nameing conventions. However, when it comes
to ongoing maintenance of a site, it will be a mess trying to remember that
the page with family photos is page 300 expecially if any changes produces
new numbers for the pages. Is there a way around this inside Publisher? I
know I could manually change the names of the folders when they're on my
harddrive; but will that stick or will Publisher override it if I make any
changes to that page during ongoing maintenance and switch it back to a
number. I guess I could rename the files after saving them on my harddrive
and before uploading them to the site.??????? That way the next time I want
to make changes to my photo page, I'll recognize it instead of trying to
figure out which # Publisher assigned to it.

 

[David Bartosik [MSFT MVP]]

inline....

"Sylvia Morris"

This isn't the answer I'm looking for. Let me rephrase my question. No one
is
concerned with Publisher's file nameing conventions.

not sure I agree but ok.

However, when it comes
to ongoing maintenance of a site, it will be a mess trying to remember
that
the page with family photos is page 300

why would there be any reason to care about the file name of the html
file??????????
you see those page numbers in the Publisher status bar at the bottom of your
document?
that is how you move thru the pages of the web publication.
you might want to know that family photos is page 25 in a 30 page web
publication so you don't have to scroll thru the whole publication. That's
all there is to care about.
the file name of the html file written by Publisher is not relevant.

expecially if any changes produces
new numbers for the pages.

yes it typically will use different numbers, kinda depends on of you are
using incremental uploading feature (assumed this is version 2003 being
discussed)

Is there a way around this inside Publisher?

Yes, reread my previous response. (assumed this is version 2003 being
discussed)

I
know I could manually change the names of the folders when they're on my
harddrive;

folders???
you doing a bait and switch on me?
you've been asking about files from Publisher.

but will that stick or will Publisher override it if I make any
changes to that page during ongoing maintenance and switch it back to a
number.

I have no clue what you are trying to do.
I'm assuming you are making something simple out to be complex.

I guess I could rename the files after saving them on my harddrive
and before uploading them to the site.???????

If you rename any file created by Publisher after the fact you'll break the
site. It wrote all the links. And it wrote them to the pages it created.

That way the next time I want
to make changes to my photo page, I'll recognize it instead of trying to
figure out which # Publisher assigned to it.

I'll guess that Publisher is perhaps not right for you, have you considered
FrontPage?

David Bartosik - [MSFT MVP]
www.publishermvps.com
www.davidbartosik.com

 

[Sylvia Morris]

I'm laughing. I know I know so little that I don't know how to talk about
what I'm talking about; consequently, Publisher is definitely my speed! I'm
sorry I have completely confused you. I understand what you're saying about
the Publisher page #s showing at the bottom inside Publisher on my computer.
Let's say my site is on the Internet and I want to make a change to my photo
page but no other pages. I make those changes on my local machine; then, do I
delete the whole Publisher site that was residing on the Internet and replace
it with my new modified site. My questions may be sounding like someone who
has worked in Frontpage but I haven't. However, I am getting help from
friends who know Frontpage well and in their perspective, if you make changes
to a page after your site is on the Internet, you access just that page only,
make the changes, and then upload it back to the site. Is this possible in
Publisher? It's sounding to me like you have to deal with the whole Publisher
site you've built if you make any changes. I know so little, I hardly know
what questions to ask.

 

[David Bartosik [MSFT MVP]]

You cannot compare FrontPage and Publisher, it's a watermelon to a grape
thing. Consequently you're getting advice from the wrong people. Don't ask a
watermelon farmer how to make wine. (jolly rancher's maybe)

ALL MODIFICATIONS are done in the pub file, the web publication. The saving
it as a web then generates new site files that replace the existing files.

Since the site is fully contained in the pub file and thus html files can be
generated at any time, there is zero reason to save the site files locally.
It is recommended that the save as web be done only to the web server. See
our sites webdesign 2003 page for the publish to web instructions you should
be using.

Prior to version 2003 the save as web Publisher did generate and republish
all page and images. Now in 2003 there is incremental uploading available,
see my article that covers it at
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011187871033.aspx

spend a little time reviewing our site and definitely read the faq -
http://www.publishermvps.com/Default.aspx?tabid=30 - so you can avoid
mistakes before they happen.

David Bartosik - [MSFT MVP]
www.publishermvps.com
www.davidbartosik.com

 

[SchultzR]

I'm having a new problem with the page file names. Using Publisher 2003.
When I originally prepared the website and inserted a navigation bar between
the pages, I published to the web by placing it in a folder on my computer.
I then transferred these files via ftp (don't really know what this means) to
my web space. When I opened the page, the home page was there but the
navigation bar links all linked to the folder on my computer which was no
good.
I then manually inserted links from the navigation bar to the pages as they
were named in the ftp public folder. Everything worked great.
When I modified my design and republished to the folder on my computer and
again transferred as above, the links no longer worked because Publisher had
renamed the pages. I can get around this by renaming the pages right after
republishing but before I transfer them to my web space. There's got to be
an easier way.
When I try to publish to the web directly to the ftp thing the process
usually breaks down somewhere. Transferring directly from the folder on my
computer works.

 

[DavidF]

If you are using a master page, Publisher can write the links to the hard
drive. Move all the content from your master page and don't use them with a
web publication. Try publishing again after deleting the files from your
website.

DavidF