What is the Index.htm page of a website?

[tharden3]

Whats is the index.htm page of websites? I didn't really understand... is it supposed to be the "home page"? Or is it whatever you want it to be? I'm making a website, and my free web host required that I have one. I made one, and it works fine, but what is it supposed to be? Could you give me an example?

[drhowarddrfine]

Servers default to index.html whenever they are accessed at the IP address or domain name. It's the default landing page or home page.

[tharden3]

Servers default to index.html whenever they are accessed at the IP address or domain name. It's the default landing page or home page.

does it matter if I end my index with .htm or .html? whats the difference?

[David Laakso]

does it matter if I end my index with .htm or .html? whats the difference?

I think the .htm extension is from back in the day when computers couldn't handle file extensions greater than three characters. Nowadays, as far as I know, you are safe with either .htm or .html.

[drhowarddrfine]

Actually, it's because Microsoft couldn't handle larger extensions. *nix can handle up to 256 or somesuch.

[tharden3]

but both htm and html are pretty much the same as far as extensions go, right? no differences?

[drhowarddrfine]

Yes, they are the same, but servers can be set to respond to any extension, including none at all.

[asedt]

Actually, it's because Microsoft couldn't handle larger extensions. *nix can handle up to 256 or somesuch.

Is this statment true then?:

"The extension *.html don't work in some versions of DOS/early Windows."

And that would be the only reason to use *.htm instead?

[drhowarddrfine]

No. It's all a lie.

[asedt]

No. It's all a lie.

Plz elaborate, don't mess with my head.. it feals like you are some contradictory in you statment.

[drhowarddrfine]

I forgot my smiley face.

In Unix, there are no "extensions" that work like Windows. A dot is just another character. So it is just as easy to call a file text.rumpelstilskinin_is_a_weany as anything else. Unix doesn't care as long as you stay under the max filename length which, iirc, is 255 characters.

Under DOS and Windows (until recently?), anything after the dot was significant and couldn't be longer than 3 characters, hence the .htm extension.

Unix didn't care because the server handled that and you just set the server to interpret .htm the same as .html. Still true today.

In case you didn't know, the internet revolves around Unix and its standards.

[zaankanter]

Actualy servers DO discriminate between .htm and .html.
You can try this by uploading two diffent pages with the same name, but different extensions.

For your index (the titelpage of your site) you will be alright, using either index.htm or index.html, just do not use both! You won't have control over wich page will be shown.

[drhowarddrfine]

Actualy servers DO discriminate between .htm and .html.
You can try this by uploading two diffent pages with the same name, but different extensions.

Well, of course, and maybe I didn't make it clear. Using .html or .htm is like using two different names altogether, but servers can be set up to accept either or both.

just do not use both! You won't have control over wich page will be shown.

As I said, a server can be set to accept either.