Web Site Organization and Files Structure Example

Purpose

Structure

The following pages demonstrate one way to structure and maintain a few key areas in a web site for a middle school. In order to prepare for growth, we should have a fairly detailed roadmap of how a file structure should look. The file structure is the organization of the directories (folders) on the web site and is not the same as the navigational structure of the web. However, when a visitor is navigating the web site, the URL reveals the physical structure of the web, and so should have some logic to it.

Purpose

The primary purposes of this structure is to make web maintenance and growth easier by:

• Reducing the number of directories at any one level.

• Allowing room to add directories as our needs change without getting too many directories in a level.

• Reducing the number of files in top-level directories.

• Reducing the URL to a manageable length for pasting into emails, which is why directory names are mostly five characters or less.

• Archiving files by leaving the files in the same location but just moving the links to them

• Letting authors know the URL when they first develop a subweb.

• Accommodating teachers who teach the same course but do slightly different activities.

• Maintain uniformity for upkeep and maintenance purposes.

• Treating all authors equally. For example, the first math teacher to publish shouldn't get a top level directory called "math".

Structure

The first level, “middle”, represents the middle school at http://www.ourschool.edu/middle. Every layer down adds one more level to the URL. For example, the “academic” directory under middle is http://www.ourschool.edu/middle/ac. See the map below for guidance. More detail for two key directories is provided below.

The Academic (ac) Directory

The Co-curriculars (co) Directory

Revision A

Last maintained 09/06/2003