Common web site mistakes

FAQ: Common mistakes

Please read through this entire document carefully. 70% of all tech support issues are due to the mistakes mentioned below.

I can't see my website! I can't reach it! Or other similar reports.
How do I publish my site with FrontPage?
I have uploaded my page, but I don't see it! I still see your "Welcome" page!
I have uploaded a new page but I still see the old one!
When I go to my site with my browser, I get one of the following errors:

Error 403 Forbidden

Error 404 Not found

What's wrong?
My FrontPage software says that there are no FrontPage extensions installed on the server. How do I install them?
Why must my files go inside /public_html/? What is /public_html/ for?
Why must my site's main page be called "index.htm"?
My new domain still appears as "available" on a WHOIS tool or other "domain search" forms! Why?
My domain is not working! Why?
My password is not working! The one Sanders Hosting gave me doesn't work.
Can't connect to the email server to check emails. What's wrong?
What do I specify as "path" or "directory" to publish to via FTP?
What do I specify as "host" or "server" to publish to via FTP?
I uploaded my site, and some links and images are broken, but they work fine on my computer. Why?
Diagnosing your web site: usage of traceroute, ping and WHOIS

I can't see my website! I can't reach it! Or other similar reports
Definitely the most common tech support issue we receive. More than half of all new customers will report that they can't reach their website, sometimes within minutes of opening an account.

There can be many reasons for this, but we'll talk about the most common ones here.
- First, the most common reply to this problem: *new domains don't work*. If you just registered a new domain (yourdomain.com for example), it *won't* work. Once a domain is registered, information on this new domain starts to slowly spread throughout the Internet. It will take anywhere from 24-72 hours before you can actually reach your domain by just typing "yourdomain.com" on your browser.
  
  This also means that you *can't* use the domain name for any "connection" purposes. That is, you can't use the domain name to connect to your account via FTP, you can't check your email by using the domain name as POP3/SMTP servers, and you can't publish via FrontPage by using the domain name. You must *always* use the IP number to connect to your site or account (this number is provided on your welcome email). That is, instead of typing this into your browser:
  - http://www.mydomain.com
  You must type this:
  - http://123.45.67.89
  That is, just type "http://" followed by your account's IP number.
- If you are transferring a domain to Sanders Hosting, then, in a way, the domain won't work either. Your domain is still configured to "point" to your previous web host. So, if you try to reach your site via the domain name (http://www.mydomain.com), you will actually be reaching your previous web host. To reach your website on Sanders Hosting, use the IP number, as explained above.
  
  NOTE: once your site is ready on our servers, then some modifications to your domain are required to "point" your domain to your site on our servers. This is *not* done automatically when you sign up. You must contact our tech support staff to do this.
- Still, if you have tried reaching your site via your IP number and you still can't reach it, do a "traceroute" or a "ping" on it. More on that below. If that doesn't work, contact tech support.
How do I publish my site with FrontPage?
To learn how to publish via FrontPage, check our FrontPage FAQ for details.
I have uploaded my page, but I don't see it! I still see your "Welcome" page!
I have uploaded a new page but I still see the old one!
Those two tech issues are quite common. The solutions to them are quite easy too:
- You are uploading your website to the wrong place. When you connect to your account via FTP to upload your site, you will see a directory called /public_html/. Go to that directory (double click on it if you are using a graphical FTP client) and upload your files *there*. If you don't put your files inside /public_html/, they won't be accessible via the web.
  
  NOTE if you are using FrontPage, just follow the instructions on our FrontPage FAQ. FrontPage will automatically upload to /public_html/, so you don't need to worry about it.
- You did not call your main page "index.html". Your site's main page, that is, the one that appears when someone goes to your site by typing your domain name or IP into their browser, *must* be called either index.html or index.htm. When the web server receives a visitor to "yourdomain.com" or "123.45.67.89", the file the web server will display is a file called "index.html" or "index.htm" on your /public_html/ directory. In fact, when you connect to your account for the first time and enter the directory /public_html/, you'll see that there is a "index.htm" file in there. That's the default page Sanders Hosting puts on your account.
  
  NOTE: "yourdomain.com" and "yourdomain.com/index.htm" (if your main page is called index.htm" is the same. If you want to display a different page (like "anotherpage.html"), just go to "yourdomain.com/anotherpage.html".
  
  NOTE: if your site is made up of a scripting language, like PHP or ASP, then the index page can be called "index.php" or "index.asp", respectively. Some other extensions are ".mv" or ".jsp".
- If you have uploaded a new index page, or you have replaced any other page, and you still see the old one, then there can be two reasons to this:
  - You have a "caching" problem. When you go to a page on any website, your browser will store that page (and its images) on your computer's hard drive. The next time you go to that same page, the browser will just pull out the copy on your hard drive instead of pulling it out of the server. If you replaced a file on the server and you still see the old one, you are actually seeing the local copy. To solve this on Netscape, press the SHIFT key and click on "RELOAD" while leaving the SHIFT key pressed. On Internet Explorer, it's a bit more complex. First, try SHIFT + REFRESH. If you still see the old copy, then empty IE's cache: go to the "Tools" menu, then "Internet Options", then click on "Delete Files" on the "Temporary Internet Files" section of the "General tab".
    
    NOTE: your ISP (Internet Service Provider) might also have a caching server. The most frequently accessed sites are stored on a local cache server to speed up delivery of websites. Sometimes, it's just impossible to clear or refresh the files on that cache server. The only solution is just to wait for them to instruct the cache server to update all local copies with new ones. This problem is very common on "big name" ISPs, like AOL, EarthLink, WorldNet, etc.
  - You did not replaced the file. If you are uploading a new index page to replace an older one (or the one Sanders Hosting places on your account), you must upload it to the same place where the old one is. That is, to replace your site's main page, you must upload your "index" page to the same place the previous one is so that it gets replaced.
When I go to my site with my browser, I get either of the following errors:

Error 403 Forbidden

Error 404 Not found

What's wrong?
Either two things happened: you deleted your /public_html/ directory and all its contents (404 not found), or, there is no index page on /public_html/ (403 Forbidden). Your site's main page must be called "index.html" or "index.htm" and must be inside /public_html/. See the question above this one for more information.
My FrontPage software says that there are no FrontPage extensions installed on the server. How do I install them?
If you get that message, stop right there. Do *not* follow FrontPage's suggestion of using its built-in FTP client. This will probably "destroy" your account by deleting everything inside of it. Just go to your control panel, "Features" section (or "Settings" section) and click on "Reinstall FP extensions". Wait a couple of minutes and try again. Remember to read our FrontPage FAQ.
Why must my files go inside /public_html/? What is /public_html/ for?
When people access a file on your site, it is being accessed from inside /public_html/. The purpose of using this directory is to give you storage space for files that you do not want the world to access. Anything that you upload on a directory that is not inside /public_html/ is only accessible via FTP or Telnet. See the questions above for more information.
Why must my site's main page be called "index.htm"?
When someone goes to yourdomain.com via a browser, the server knows it must display your site's main page. However, if the main page does not have a specific name, the server wouldn't know which page to display. So, it was established that the main page would be called index and that it must go inside /public_html/.
My new domain still appears as "available" on a WHOIS tool or other "domain search" forms! Why?
Just as a new domain takes a few days to work, it also takes a few days for it to show up on WHOIS.
My domain is not working!
See the first question for the answer to this.
My password is not working! The one Sanders Hosting gave me doesn't work.
A very common issue, and the problem is usually the same one: case sensitivity. The passwords we assign by default to all accounts is a combination of numbers and letters, both uppercase and lowercase. If the password we gave you is "TomMy325Al", enter it exactly when logging in via Telnet, FTP or FrontPage. Don't enter the "T" in lowercase form, or the first "m" in uppercase form. Enter uppercase letters as uppercase and lowercase ones as lowercase. Do not assume it would work in a different way.
Can't connect to the email server to check emails. What's wrong?
If you are getting "connection failure" or "can't connect to server" messages, then your domain is not working yet. Read the first question on this page for more information.
What do I specify as "path" or "directory" to publish to via FTP?
Your welcome email includes the path to your account, that is, the directory where your site resides. However, when connecting via FTP or FrontPage, you do *not* need to specify this. When you login via FTP, you are already logged into that directory. If you wish to automatically enter /public_html/ when you log in via FTP, specify "public_html" as remote directory on your FTP software. On FrontPage, this is not needed. FrontPage automatically publishes your site's files to /public_html/.
What do I specify as "host" or "server" to publish to via FTP?
Use your IP number. Once your domain starts working, you can use the domain name as "host" or "server".
I uploaded my site, and some links and images are broken, but they work fine on my computer. Why?
There can be several reasons for this:
- Case sensitivity: Mypicture.GIF and mypicture.gif are not the same. On the Windows© world they are, but not on UNIX. If you are linking to mypicture.gif but the file is actually called Mypicture.GIF on the server, the web server will just generate a "404 - Not found error" and the image will appear broken. The same applies when you make links to files. Tip: always name your files using lowercase letters. It will make your life easier.
- The file might be corrupted. FTP has two transfer modes: ASCII and BINARY. If you upload a binary file (like a GIF or JPG image) in ASCII mode (which is just for text files like HTML files) the image will be corrupted, your browser won't be able to interpret its code, and will give you a "broken image" icon. Most FTP clients auto-detect which mode to use when uploading, but some don't.
Diagnosing your web site: usage of traceroute, ping and WHOIS
For the following instructions, we'll assume that you are using either Windows© or a UNIX OS.
- WHOIS: a very common tool on the net to find out more information about a domain. In UNIX, the command for WHOIS is simply "whois" with the domain name as parameter. Windows© has no WHOIS tool, but you can access one anywhere on the net. Try Better WHOIS.
- PING: this tool "pings" a IP number (like a sonar pings ships) to see if the IP is responding and thus, the server is operational. On Windows©, click on "Start", "Programs", "MS-DOS Prompt". Once there, enter the command "ping _your_ip_number" (or "ping yourdomain.com") and hit the ENTER key. If you get the message "request timed out" constantly, then there's either wrong with the IP number or your connection. Traceroute can be used to determine which of the two is correct.
  
  On UNIX, the command is just "ping", followed by the IP number or domain name as parameter.
- TRACEROUTE: this command shows the path data sent by your computer reaches a destination. On Windows©, click on "Start", "Programs", "MS-DOS Prompt". Once there, enter the command "tracert _your_ip_number" (or "tracert yourdomain.com") and hit the ENTER key. The output of the command will be something like this:
  
  3 ibr02-pbnap.sntc03.exodus.net (198.32.128.22) 1.1 ms 1.16 ms 1.8 ms
  4 bbr01-g3-0.sntc03.exodus.net (216.33.153.65) 2.0 ms 1.6 ms 1.45 ms
  5 bbr02-p5-0-0.sntc04.exodus.net (216.32.132.217) 2.4 ms 2.6 ms 2.3 ms
  6 bbr02-p3-0.okbr01.exodus.net (216.32.132.149) 57.5 ms 58.9 ms 61.3 ms
  7 bbr01-g4-0.okbr01.exodus.net (216.34.183.97) 63.3 ms 54.2 ms 58.0 ms
  8 bbr02-p0-1.trnt01.exodus.net (216.32.173.33) 96.9 ms 120.5 ms 97.9 ms
  9 64.39.64.65 (64.39.64.65) 67.84 ms 68.63 ms 96.22 ms
  10 64.39.64.3 (64.39.64.3) 99.39 ms 80.88 ms 68.49 ms
  11 64.39.68.242 (64.39.68.242) 71.021 ms 69.266 ms 68.405 ms
  12 www.opensrs.org (216.40.33.61) 77.609 ms 73.312 ms 77.831 ms
  
  Each of those entries are the systems data from your computer will go through before reaching a website (or vice versa), in this example, opensrs.org. The "ms" numbers are response times on that location. If you see locations with numbers much higher than the rest, then that's a slow link in the chain. It might explain, for example, why one site is faster than another from your location, or why your website is slow from your location.