I have published my web pages, but I can't see my site.  Why?

When you view your site in a web browser after publishing you may still see the generic "Welcome to the new home of..." web page.  The reason for this is that you have not given your Home Page a default filename recognized by the web server.

What is a default filename?

All web servers are configured with one or more default file names.  These default files are used by the web server to locate and display the correct Home Page for a web site.

Why do I need a default file?

When someone visits the Home Page of a web site they usually don't specify the exact file name of the Home Page (also referred to as Main Menu).  A visitor will type in a web address in this format:

www.acmeinternet.com

However, the actual web page that contains the text and graphics for the Home Page may be located at:

www.acmeinternet.com/index.html

How does the web server know which page on Acme's web site is the official Home Page?

By giving the Home Page a filename that the web server recognizes, the server knows which page to display when someone types in www.acmeinternet.com.  That's where a default filename comes in.

When we setup your web site hosting account, we add a page to your web site with the filename index.html.  This serves as a temporary Home Page until you replace it with your own Home Page.

How do I get rid of the temporary Home Page and replace it with my own Home Page?

Follow these steps...

1. Open your web in FrontPage.

2. From the top menu items (or the views bar) choose VIEW -> FOLDERS

3. Locate the web page you created that you would like to appear as your Home Page.

4. Do not open the page.  Instead, RIGHT CLICK on the page's filename and choose RENAME from the pop-up menu

5. Type in index.html as the new filename.
   Make sure that the filename was changed to index.html - if the name is mistyped or if the letter "L" is omitted from the filename, your Home Page will not work.

6. Publish your web to the server.

7. If prompted by the server when publishing your site, choose YES to overwrite the existing Home Page (that's the temporary file that we added to your site).  It is safe to overwrite that page.