Hosting a .php Website. [Archive]

Major_Disaster

28/09/2007, 19:10

Hi,

Ive made a website using .php (around 14 .php webpages, a CSS folder and an Images folder). Ive been testing them using AppServ, but now want to try hosting them online.

Using CuteFTP, looking at my webspace - i dont really know where to upload all the files and folders to. Ive tried uploading to /www and /public_html but i get some random issues:

Either nothing happens,
Or the webpage loads (only by me specifying .php - ie not automatically loading the index.php when i load the site) and when it does load - it loads without the CSS files - so the pages looks completely random.

What am i doing wrong / what do i need to do?

Thanks for any help

Grenned

28/09/2007, 20:12

whats the addy, ?

Gargoyle

28/09/2007, 20:42

Hi,

Using CuteFTP, looking at my webspace - i dont really know where to upload all the files and folders to. Ive tried uploading to /www and /public_html but i get some random issues:

Either nothing happens,
Or the webpage loads (only by me specifying .php - ie not automatically loading the index.php when i load the site) and when it does load - it loads without the CSS files - so the pages looks completely random.

Re uplaoding - /www is just a symbolic link to /public_html so either will do.

Re CCS - that sounds like a file path problem.

As Grenned says, a url might help diagnose.

Major_Disaster

29/09/2007, 00:58

Hey,

Sorry for my slow reply - servers to be maintained :(

Link to the site: http://acornbearings.adsl24.co.uk/

See, going there, nothing happens.

But try: http://acornbearings.adsl24.co.uk/Index.php

See how the CSS hasnt loaded, and though the text is there - it looks wrong. Also, anyone know why /Index.php (capital I) loads, but typing index.php (small i) doesnt load? Surely they're the same file...

Also, why have both /www and /public_html folders when /public_html will do?

Also, the CSS and all the pages load fine when i open them using AppServ on my pc (so no file path issues?), it just goes random when i upload them - for some reason.

So many questions - so few answers :p

Thanks for the help

EDIT: Or maybe the issue is not that it isnt loading the CSS, but that it isnt following the .php includes in each page, and so is not opening the header.php and footer.php (that contain the CSS)?

Jaggies

29/09/2007, 01:36

So many questions - so few answers

I'm no expert on PHP, but filenames are case sensitive for most web sites, certainly by default on Apache. You'll need to make sure that your filenames and your links match exactly.

Gargoyle

29/09/2007, 02:17

Hey,

Link to the site: http://acornbearings.adsl24.co.uk/

See, going there, nothing happens.

But try: http://acornbearings.adsl24.co.uk/Index.php

See how the CSS hasnt loaded, and though the text is there - it looks wrong. Also, anyone know why /Index.php (capital I) loads, but typing index.php (small i) doesnt load? Surely they're the same file...

Also, why have both /www and /public_html folders when /public_html will do?

Also, the CSS and all the pages load fine when i open them using AppServ on my pc (so no file path issues?), it just goes random when i upload them - for some reason.
?

I've had more than a few problems when transferring a site from a local setup to the working server.

Jaggies is right, filenames/urls are case sensitive (They aren't in Windows, but the net has it's roots on Unix, and they are in Unix) So Index.php and index.php aren't the same. And this is I think the route of your problem.

E.g. in the Index.php file you have lines like this

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/layout.css" media="screen, projection, tv " />

Yet your relevant path on the site is

CSS/layout.css

Note the case mismatch (like I said - it's a paths thing ;) ) . You have simialr problem with the image paths, that's why they don't show.

Generally, people keep to lower case for file and directory names on websites to avoid just this problem. I'd suggest going through and changing all the uppercase to lower case in your files and website folder/filenames

Sparx

29/09/2007, 12:45

Basically put, re-name 'Index.php' to 'index.php' and change your CSS path from:

"css/layout.css"

to

"CSS/layout.css"

;) Although I agree, it is much easier to have every file all in lower-case... So re-name 'CSS' folder to 'css' and just forget about changing the CSS path then as your fine... Same goes for all other PHP files, re-name them to all lower-case and make sure the links are set right.

Major_Disaster

29/09/2007, 13:53

Ahh thanks for the support guys.

I never realised how much case mattered, and always wondered why people used "index.php" when i think "Index.php" just looks better!

Ill have a go change everything to lower case, re-upload and report back.

Thanks again chaps :D

Gargoyle

29/09/2007, 18:33

Ahh thanks for the support guys.

I never realised how much case mattered, and always wondered why people used "index.php" when i think "Index.php" just looks better!

It's ok, it catches out lots of from a Windows background sooner or later.

Major_Disaster

29/09/2007, 21:00

Thanks for the help!

Mind being my guinea pigs?

Have a look here: http://acornbearings.adsl24.co.uk/ and see what you think. Im pretty sure all the links are now correct and the contact form works, but it would be great to get some feedback.

Thanks again.

Jaggies

29/09/2007, 23:48

Have a look here: http://acornbearings.adsl24.co.uk/ and see what you think.

Looks pretty good.

James

30/09/2007, 09:59

Looks OK until I maximise the page (IE7)

Major_Disaster

30/09/2007, 10:46

Looks OK until I maximise the page (IE7)
And there was me thinking i was nearly done, *cry*

Dont suppose we have any CSS buffs here?

Grenned

30/09/2007, 12:12

Looks OK until I maximise the page (IE7)

Dont microsoft ruin everythin, looks the dogs danglys in firefox.

James

30/09/2007, 13:56

And there was me thinking i was nearly done, *cry*

Dont suppose we have any CSS buffs here?

Have you tried aligning the main content div to the center?

Sparx

30/09/2007, 16:36

It looks fine for me maximized in IE7..?

http://i22.tinypic.com/21lqucl.png

Major_Disaster

30/09/2007, 19:31

James, thanks for the help. But im completely new to this, and it sounded like double dutch! I had a go poking around in the index.php / header.php, deleted some code i didnt think was needed, and then was advised to moved a .css reference from the body to the head, and then change the encoding from UTF-8 to ASNI - the fun of web design eh?

But after that it *seems* to work (however i was having an issue with bullet points appearing / disappearing next to the images in the columns).

Grenned - Im flattered you rate my site so highly (then again, templates FTW). :D

Could you lot have a look back now and see if it all works (especially like feedback from Safari users)? http://acornbearings.adsl24.co.uk/ - feel free to test the contact form :D

Thanks guys

Paul_ADSL24

30/09/2007, 20:12

I get

; margin-bottom: 50px !important; border:1px solid #4a5c6a; text-align: left !important; border-bottom-width: 100; font:normal 13px arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.1em; line-height:18px; z-index:50; width: 190px !important; } #dropmenudiv a{ width: 100%; display: block; color: #FFFFFF !important; text-indent: 8px; border-bottom: 1px none #4a5c6a; padding: 1px 0; text-decoration: none; font-weight: none; } #dropmenudiv a:hover{ /*hover background color*/ background-color: #4a5c6a; }

Instead of the header when using Konqueror

Major_Disaster

30/09/2007, 20:18

Sponge34

01/10/2007, 07:01

Hiya,

One of my personal bugbears with websites is unnecessary movement - blink tags, animations and layout that changes because someone didn't check for example (on our company intranet) the length of headings.

On the Products page, why does the left column of pictures and Quick links (Actually on the products page the heading "Quick Links" changes to "Jump To"!!! arrrgghhhhhhhh) jump to the right? that is the only place it happens (at least within the products it is consistent, so you claw back a mark there). This happens in FF 2.0.0.7 & also Safari Beta3 for Windows. The other thing is that, on the products page, the "quick links" themselves shift from underneath the pictures in that column to the top.

Consistency is the key to a good website - heh the "My Account" pages on ADSL24 bug me as well - and IMHO if you sort out the title of the column and stop it jumping around you have a very nice easy to use website. 8/10

extra extra! more stuff....

1. Why have links for whom the only task in life is to change a heading or to do nothing at all? if you haven't written the pages don't enable the link... 7/10

2. Maximised on a 1280x1024 screen there is still a scroll bar (all three browsers). That is completely unnecessary as there is just space at the top and bottom (apart from the random Acorn logo at the bottom). You may find Position is Everything (http://www.positioniseverything.net/index.php) useful. 6/10

S.

Major_Disaster

02/10/2007, 19:31

Hi thanks for the mini review - nice to get some feedback!

The movement of the coloum on the products pages was actually intentional - being a products based company i wanted to reinforce the fact they were on the products page, and not just another page to click though. The Quick links was meant to be links to the rest of the whole site, whereas Jump to was just links in the products pages - again so you know where you are. But i will look into it and experiment (maybe move the coumn back to the left, but keep the different links... i duno...)

"IMHO if you sort out the title of the column" you mean the columns to the left (as talked about above) or another issue?

"links for whom the only task in life is to change a heading or to do nothing at all? if you haven't written the pages don't enable the link." :confused: could you please clarify (an example maybe). Do you mean the references in the code to the site that i got the drop down menu from?

2. Yeah, i agree with you. I was thinking of removing the very top solid blue bar to regain some space, but thought that made the site look odd and unbalanced. Ill read that link, but any ideas / reccomendations?

Thanks for the review, i really appreciate some feedback. Ill be adding more pages in a couple of days, so ill post telling when i do so, and id love some more feedback / browser tests.

PS, could you please visit http://acornbearings.adsl24.co.uk/index2.php - is everything center and looking OK?

Thanks again :D

Paul_ADSL24

02/10/2007, 20:46

Much better in Konqueror now but I'm still getting

="studio7designs.com" />

Right at the very top of the page. Other than that the page is the same between FF and Konqueror

James

02/10/2007, 21:45

Much better :)

Major_Disaster

02/10/2007, 21:57

Thanks for the update.

Just to be clear, are you referring to index.php or index2.php (or both?)

Updates to come...

Sponge34

02/10/2007, 22:05

Hi thanks for the mini review - nice to get some feedback!

No problem... it is good to see something other than an internal website for a change ;)

The movement of the coloum on the products pages was actually intentional - being a products based company i wanted to reinforce the fact they were on the products page, and not just another page to click though.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, the movement just looks like you got the code wrong. Still, it is your site, so your choice!

The Quick links was meant to be links to the rest of the whole site, whereas Jump to was just links in the products pages - again so you know where you are.
Again it is so similar that it just looks like you have forgotten to update the products section.

But i will look into it and experiment (maybe move the coumn back to the left, but keep the different links... i duno...)
It is all to do with the feel of the site - the changes must relate to what the user is doing. there is no reason for a click on a menu to completely change the layout of an otherwise simple and clean site. The motion is distracting and there is no apparent reason for it. YMMV of course!!

"IMHO if you sort out the title of the column" you mean the columns to the left (as talked about above) or another issue?

yes as discussed above - don't change the title of the links just because of some subtle change in where the links go - they are still just links after all.

"links for whom the only task in life is to change a heading or to do nothing at all? if you haven't written the pages don't enable the link." :confused: could you please clarify (an example maybe). Do you mean the references in the code to the site that i got the drop down menu from?

No - nothing that complicated. The quick lnks on the product pages don't do anything apart from changing the title of the lower left block - from Chain to Bearings to Belts and pulleys etc.

And another thing (!) When you click on the products menu you get a products introduction page which is identical in every way to each of the products pages, except the top line of the jump to menu is a link to the products page. this link needs to go, or be reinstated on all the individual product jump to link blocks.

Still, my little objections aside, it is a clean usable website - keep up the good work.

S.

Major_Disaster

02/10/2007, 23:29

Thanks again for the extremely constructive and helpful post.

Ill take onboard what you've said about the layout of the products pages, and will have a play with the layouts - im starting to come around to your way of thinking!:D

Oh, i see

No - nothing that complicated. The quick lnks on the product pages don't do anything apart from changing the title of the lower left block - from Chain to Bearings to Belts and pulleys etc.

And another thing (!) When you click on the products menu you get a products introduction page which is identical in every way to each of the products pages, except the top line of the jump to menu is a link to the products page. this link needs to go, or be reinstated on all the individual product jump to link blocks.

Still, my little objections aside, it is a clean usable website - keep up the good work.

S.
I should have said before - the content for the products pages hasnt been written yet, so ive just used the same standard pages and changed the titles, ready to copy and paste in the test.

Im not worried about disabling links as im just using the ADSL24 webspace as a temporary testing area. Once the site is complete ill upload it to the real domain ( here (http://www.acornbearings.co.uk/)) - i think this new site is a slight improvement in comparison, wouldnt you say :P

Thanks again

Sponge34

03/10/2007, 12:15

Hi Major,

No problem with the review - like I said it is nice to be able to provide unbiased constructive comments to someone who may pay attention as opposed to the usual internal people who pretend to listen then ignore me...

I think the new site has a much more modern feel than the old one; having said that, the old one presents the information one may require very quickly even though it requires the use of scroll bars (one of my pet hates).

I look forward to seeing the finished test site :)

S.

Major_Disaster

04/10/2007, 21:35

Hi again,

Ive made a few updates and i just want to check its still all loading OK in peoples browsers.

Ive taken onboard Sponge's comments (thanks!) and ive tried to keep the layout more uniform - however i still think im plagued by scroll bars.

Anyways, id appreciate it if you take a look and tell me if anything goes wrong.

Thanks again

http://acornbearings.adsl24.co.uk/

Sponge34

05/10/2007, 13:24

Hi,

Very swish. I do like your punch lines for each product section. Excellent Idea.

FF 2.0.0.7 works here at work, I will assault the site with Safari Beta 3 tonight (if I can get near the PC)

Oh well - off to do some more day job now.

S.

Sponge34

06/10/2007, 08:09

Just a thought regarding the scroll bars...

If you lost the dark blue band at the top and the bottom (the bit with the random acorn logo) the scroll bars would probably be less of a problem...

On my monitor here, at 1280x1024, the home page doesn't have a scroll bar in Safari, but does in FF (cos of all the rubbish I have loaded in FF); however the products page does show a scroll bar which, in safari, causes the whole image to jump to the left to accommodate it.

I suspect that the page length difference is made up by the blue top/bottom border.

Have you got a version of the page without the top & bottom borders? just so I can have a play ;)

S.

Sponge34

06/10/2007, 08:14

Major_Disaster

06/10/2007, 16:37

Oh and another thing - you need to make the contact information in the bottom border more visible - after all you do want people to know it is there don't you?

I have only just noticed it being there because I was fiddling with a FF plugin (WebDeveloper toolbar) which allows highlighting of all the page components...

S.
Hi again,

are u talking about the info i the footer? if so i definately agree, i made the boarders darker and forgot to make the text lighter. ive been wondering how to fix it, but i think its just a case of editing the CSS.

thanks again for the comments
ps - excuse the terrible typing - my wrist is in a support after a rugby injury :(

edit: didnt see your previous comments. thanks for taking all this effort to review them. im glad you like the punch lines, they seemed like a good idea, but i was worried they started to sound cheesy...

im away from my main pc atm, but when i get back on monday ill play around with the top and bottom bars. maybe remove the top? shrink both? ill have a play and upload to see what you think.

im slightly confused about what you said with safari, did it display the page properly? can you post a screenshot (or i might stop being lazy and download the browser myself!)

thanks again

Sponge34

09/10/2007, 21:49

The safari thing is down to its rendering engine I think. It is difficult to get a screen shot cos of what the effect looks like.
Imagine viewing the page without a right hand scroll bar, then it all jumps left by 10px to accommodate the scroll bar required when the products page is selected and the render engine has to find space for it.

BTW hope the rugby injury fixes itself quickly

linker3000

10/10/2007, 04:16

Under SKF logo - spelling: "Quality guarenteed".

Major_Disaster

12/10/2007, 23:18

Under SKF logo - spelling: "Quality guarenteed".
Thanks for the heads up, always embarrassing to have spelling mistakes on a site.

Have made a few minor updates (havent had time to look at the header / footer situation), but can i just check you can now all see the text at the very bottom of each page and that the hints on the email contact form work?

http://acornbearings.adsl24.co.uk/index.php

Thanks again guys

EDIT: Oh, have you guys seen the conversions as well?

Major_Disaster

12/10/2007, 23:59

Its all gone wrong in IE....

Damn....

Gargoyle

13/10/2007, 00:39

CSS always goes wrong in IE, it's all part of the fun.

Major_Disaster

13/10/2007, 01:36

Step 1. Shout at, and repeatedly shake computer monitor.

Step 2. Delete all the work youve just done and go back to a working copy.

Step 3. Slowly redo what you originally did, bit by bit, checking FF and IE constantly.

Setp 4. Realise its got something to so with the "Show Hint" code you copied from the net.

Step 5. Look at it puzzled.

Step 6. Realise, as far as you can see, its all down to one "}" With it, the Hints work, but IE doesnt load properly, without it IE loads properly, but the hints dont pop up.

Dont you just love web design!

http://acornbearings.adsl24.co.uk/index.php - That should now be working (ish)... hopefully (minus the hint script)

James

13/10/2007, 10:25

Not sure if it's just me but the map does not load:

http://acornbearings.adsl24.co.uk/contact2_map.php

MartinDov

13/10/2007, 10:31

Map loaded fine here :)

Major_Disaster

13/10/2007, 12:56

Right....

James - Hmm thats odd. Strangely the map has been the one thing thats consistently worked for me! Do you have any filtering software enabled that may be blocking it (maybe even PeerGuardian?)

I think ive pretty much sorted it now. Could you guys have a look here (http://acornbearings.adsl24.co.uk/index.php) and see what you think, id especially appreciate feedback on:

1. The map situation,
2. Does "Bookmark Acorn Bearings" at the bottom of the page work for you?
3. Do the tool tips [?] in the emaik contact form work for you?

Thanks again guinea pigs... i mean guys! I really appreciate all this, without you lot id have a site with a rubbish layout, spelling mistakes and IE issues up and me blissfully unaware!

corris

13/10/2007, 13:10

1. The map situation,
2. Does "Bookmark Acorn Bearings" at the bottom of the page work for you?
3. Do the tool tips [?] in the emaik contact form work for you?

1, Yes
2, Yes
3, Yes

Menu items at the bottom are a bit of a mess on my display (FF2 on fedora7 / 1280x800 resolution) as they overlap the bottom left "acorn" (?) graphic; if thats any use to you....

linker3000

13/10/2007, 13:28

Hey MD,

Ever considered moving to a Content Management System framework such as Joomla? It will make CSS management and layout control simpler and also make it *much* easier to manage the site as it grows, plus you can easily add other modules such as forums, a shop etc.

I think you're making a rod for your own back doing everything the 'raw' - although it's obviously a good way to start in order to learn how it all works.

Major_Disaster

13/10/2007, 13:29

1, Yes
2, Yes
3, Yes

Menu items at the bottom are a bit of a mess on my display (FF2 on fedora7 / 1280x800 resolution) as they overlap the bottom left "acorn" (?) graphic; if thats any use to you....
As one things works, another thing goes down... :(

That is news to me. Could you be kind enough to post a screenshot?

Another reason to get rid of that acorn logo at the bottom me thinks...

Thanks again

Gargoyle

13/10/2007, 15:15

Ok,

1. Yes
2. Yes (but not in Opera)
3. Yes

Points:

What is the point of the bottom Acorn logo? :-)

The links saying email fire up my email proggy, fine, the drop down contact menu saying Email Acorn brings up a form. Good to have both options, but I prefer it to be clear when i would get a form and when I would be sending an email (I don't consider a web form 'email' - even if that is what happens on the backend)

On the topic of email - if all fields are compulsory I think it should indicate so somewhere.

The seems to be no validation of the email address entered, I was able to entry a random string of characters.

Have a web search for PHP email validation for code to do this (I posted a link in the forum the other day in fact)

On most pages, the images down the left sidebar are kinks, but they just link back to their own page - which is pointless, and wastes users time if they mouse over them. Is there a reason for them being there, or is it just how the template was?

Other niggles (getting picky now :) ) -

I don't like the white bar that is effectively across the drop down menus- functionally fine, aesthetically annoying.

The left most 'Home page' link on the menu bar bugs me - I know it says 'back to home page' or whatever, but because it's the same as the rest I expect a drop down menu. I think it should be differentiated in someway

I have though a rather more general problem with the site - and this is meant to be constructive, i know you've bee spending a lot of time on this by the sounds of it.

It just feels TBH, bland, somehow I don't get any feel about Acorn Bearings from it. it feels too much like that someone has taken a template and popped some content into it. I know the green logo is an actual Acorn Bearing logo, but problem is it just looks a bit too much like a bit of clip art - probably because of the size of it.

i know this is aimed at other businesses not consumers, but I don't think we should underestimate the effect of website design on the users. i know twom people who run online shop businesses. In the last year they both had site redesigns - basically visual redo's as they are both based on existing webshop type setups.

Both saw pretty big increases in traffic and trade because (presumably) of the improved look and feel of the sites. I can't say the site would esp encourage me to look to do business with Acorn Bearings if i just came across it, but it does provide info about them if I went looking for that.