Lesson 03: Introduction to Website/Webpages Maintenance

	Introduction to Website/Webpages Maintenance

Making a Website Alive

Uploading Files

The files you create get a meaning when they display on your website. To make it happen, you have many options. In the first lesson, we saw that you can create files directly on your website or you can first create them on your computer.

Creating files directly in the control panel of your website is the fastest way to get files to your website because they are immediately available. Unfortunately, the control panel of your website likely has limitations, especially when it comes to creating files that are not HTML-based. This means that you will likely create some files on your computer. After creating a file on your computer, you must send it to your website. Sending a file to your website is referred to as uploading the file (the reverse, getting a file from the Internet to your computer, is referred to as downloading). You have many options.

Most websites' control panels have a button labeled Upload or something like that. Before uploading, specify the folder that will the parent of the file. If you want the file to reside on the root directory, select that root (it may be called public_html). If you want the file to be stored in a particular folder, either first create that folder or, if that folder exists already, expand the root directory. If necessary, expand other folders that will act as (the) parent(s). Then click Upload. a dialog box with a button labeled Browse or Open (or something like that) will be available. Click that button to access the files on your computer. Select a file and click Open. Some file managers allow you to upload many files at the same time. It depends of the application your web hosting company is using. You will also be asked to specify what to do if there is already a file with the same name. The more experience you get, the more you will know what to do.

Using FTP

FTP is File Transfer Protocol (the word protocol means Language). It is a means of uploading files to your website. You have two options: you can do it manually or you can use an application. Some webhosting companies allow you to directly send files to your website. To do it, you would simply drag a folder (or folders) or files (or folders and their files) from a file utility (such as Windows Explorer) from your computer and drop them directly to the file manager of your website. Of course, you must drop the folder (or folders, or folders and/or files) to the approprite location (directory or folder) on your website.

Probably the best way to upload folders and/or files to your website is by using an FTP application. Once again, you have many options. One of the most popular FTP applications, and that is free, is called FileZilla. Yes, it is a good and effective application. If you want to use it, download it from their website (use a search engine and do a search on filezilla). After downloading the application, you can install it. If you install and use the application, if you are satisfied, please a donation (I am not affiliated with the site). There are also commercial applications, such as CuteFTP, that do a good job:

CuteFTP Professional

Besides formal FTP applications, some web editors have an FTP application built-in. This makes it possible to directly upload the files and folders that have been created.

Practical Learning: Uploading Files

If you had created or registered a website, if you had been creating files on your computer, upload the folders and files to your website

Meta Tags

Introduction

A meta tag is an element that gives some functional instructions to applications that access a webpage. The clients include other webpages (such as search engines) that access your webpage, or objects connected on the visitor’s computer. The objects include audio/video devices and other types of machines that assist the visitor when browsing the Internet.

Meta tags are created in the head section of a webpage. Most meta tags are created using a tag named meta. The meta element uses (or must use) attributes that indicate what it is used for. The primary element used by the meta tag is named name. This attribute is used to specify the meta tag that is being defined. The second attribute is named content and it holds the value of the first attribute. The meta element is not closed. Therefore, the primary formula to create a meta tag is:

<meta name="value" content="value" . . . >

Because you must name the meta tag you want to create, you should (must) create an individual meta tag for each definition.

The Author Meta Tag

One of the meta tags is named author. It is used to specify the name of the person who (or the company that) created (and is in charge of managing) the webpage.

Practical Learning: Specifying the Author of a Webpage

Open the index.htm file in your text editor

Change the document as follows:

<html>
<head>

<meta name="author" content="Catherine Watts">

<title>Watts A Loan</title>
<head>

. . .

Save the file

The Description of a Webpage

To give search engines and other visitors a behind-the-scenes overview of a webpage, you can create a meta tag named description. For the value of the content attribute, write a sentence any way you want.

Practical Learning: Specifying the Author of a Webpage

Change the document as follows:

<html>
<head>

<meta name="author" content="Catherine Watts">
<meta name="description" content="This is the corporate website of Watts A Loan, a small business that provides loans and financial services.">

<title>Watts A Loan:</title>
<head>

. . .

Save the file

The Keywords of a Webpage

To assist search engines or other applications to know what your webpage contains, you can create a meta tag named keywords. In the content attribute, create a list of the desired words from the content of your webpage.

Practical Learning: Specifying the Keywords of a Webpage

Change the document as follows:

<html>
<head>

<meta name="author" content="Catherine Watts">
<meta name="keywords" content="watts, personal, business, loan, watts a loan, wattsaloan">
<meta name="description" content="This is the corporate website of Watts A Loan, a small business that provides loans and financial services.">

<title>Watts A Loan</title>
<head>

. . .

Save and close the index.htm file
Open the aboutus.htm file in your text editor

Edit its head section as follows:

<html>
<head>

<meta name="author" content="Catherine Watts">
<meta name="keywords" content="watts, personal, business, loan, about, us, wattsaloan, mission, statement, business, strategy, communitty, outreach">
<meta name="description" content="This webpage describes Watts A Loan business. The page also provides information about the management and the leadership personnel of the company.">

<title>Watts A Loan: About Us</title>

<head>
<body>

<h1>Watts A Loan: About Us</h1>

. . .

Save and close the aboutus.htm file
Open the process.htm file in your text editor

Change the content of the document as follows:

<html>
<head>

<meta name="author" content="Catherine Watts">
<meta name="keywords" content="watts, personal, business, loan, process, step">
<meta name="description" content="This webpage describes the process of applying or getting a loan from Watts A Loan.">

<title>Watts A Loan: Loan Process</title>

<head>
<body>

. . .

</body>
</html>

Save and close the process.htm file

The Content Generator

If you used a certain software product to create your webpage and you want to indicate it, create an attribute named generator and specify the name of the software in the content attribute. Here is an example:

<meta name="generator" description="Microsoft Expression 4.0 Web">