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Subject:Re: web file naming conventions... Unconventional From:Linda Sherman <linsherm -at- GTE -dot- NET> Date:Thu, 7 Jan 1999 20:06:58 -0500
I wrote:
>
> > For files, I always stick to the old 8.3 DOS format. There are still
> > people using DOS browsers and you can cause them problems if you have
> > "blahblah1.htm" and "blahblah2.htm" in the same directory.
> >
And Barry Kieffer responded:
> Hold on there!
>
> blahblah1.htm and blahblah2.htm both violate the 8.3 DOS format.
That's why I cited them as examples of why I don't use them. Maybe I
didn't explain myself with my customary crystal clarity, but I think you
did an even worse job of reading what I wrote.
> "blahblah1" and "blahblah2" are nine characters long.
Indeed. They were carefully chosen because the first eight characters
are identical.
> 8.3 DOS format only allow for eight characters.
Oh, so THAT'S what the '8' means? I thought maybe it was the release
level! ;-)
>
> Bad example...
>
> Class dismissed!
Okay, let's try this again.
If you have web pages named "blahblah1.htm" and "blahblah2.htm" in the
same directory on your /*server*/, which we presume to be some version
of UNIX, NT, or Macintosh that can handle long file names, and someone
using a DOS-based browser accesses your non-DOS server, then that
individual could have problems.
To be more specific, the browser itself can almost always handle long
file names (it would be useless if it couldn't). The trouble crops up if
the user tries to save the files to her local disk for later viewing,
which a lot of DOS websurfers do because many live in places like Tibet
where Internet access is expensive and unreliable. Any file name longer
than 8.3 is going to cause problems, but in the specific case of the
first eight characters being non-unique across more than one file name
in the same directory ON THE SERVER, the user may wind up losing one of
the files when she tries to save them to her local disk.
I'll leave the "why" as an exercise to the reader.
Lin
--
Linda K. Sherman <linsherm -at- gte -dot- net>
Computer programming, technical writing, web development
phone: 1-727-842-6756 fax: 1-727-842-6853
