PDA

View Full Version : Updating website problem. Any advice?



DazzyD
10-07-2009, 01:08 PM
Hi.

I've got a website that's up and running. What I want to do is add a few more links in to the navigation menus. I've done this using my HTML editor and everything locals good when run locally.

However, I've uploaded the edited files but when I go to the site, the changes don't show. I've downloaded the navigation files and the changes I made are there so they have uploaded ok.

I've followed the suggestions on my hosting account to clear the cache and everything but still the changes are not there. I've even tried 3 different computers to load the site but they are all showing the site as it was before I updated it.

Any help and suggestions (especially ones that fix the problem! ;) ) are most welcome!

I must add I'm pretty thick when it comes to web design and management so, if it's a schoolboy error, no sarky comments please! :)

Marc J
10-07-2009, 02:55 PM
When viewing the page press CTRL-F5 to force a refresh on your PC. If you've cleared your cache and it still isn't showing the updated page, there's a possibility it's using your ISP's cache. Check your settings and make sure you've not got a proxy server in your internet settings (some ISPs get you to put theirs in there to "speed up your browsing").

If it IS your ISP's cache you're seeing, there's not much else you can do. They're normally updated regularly though so I guess in 24 hours it might be showing.

To avoid this in future, add no cache headers to the page. Put the following after the opening <HEAD> tag: -


<META HTTP-EQUIV="Pragma" CONTENT="no-cache">
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Expires" CONTENT="-1">

This means the page is loaded every visit, though. But it won't be cached - either locally or by your ISP.

DazzyD
10-07-2009, 10:44 PM
When viewing the page press CTRL-F5 to force a refresh on your PC. If you've cleared your cache and it still isn't showing the updated page, there's a possibility it's using your ISP's cache. Check your settings and make sure you've not got a proxy server in your internet settings (some ISPs get you to put theirs in there to "speed up your browsing").

If it IS your ISP's cache you're seeing, there's not much else you can do. They're normally updated regularly though so I guess in 24 hours it might be showing.

To avoid this in future, add no cache headers to the page. Put the following after the opening <HEAD> tag: -



This means the page is loaded every visit, though. But it won't be cached - either locally or by your ISP.

Thanks for the advice, Marc.

This was pretty much what I was advised from my hosting account help files. However, it's still not working. I'm not connecting through a proxy so this is not the problem either.

I originally created the site in FrontPage but my computer died and I never got round to reinstalling it. I downloaded the files using FileZilla, edited the navigation files (side and bottom navigation menus) using NVU, and tested it out from the files stored locally which seemed to work ok. I uploaded the two navigation files (the only ones I'd edited) and tried to load the site up through Firefox and IE but the changes hadn't taken effect. A week later and the changes still are not showing.

I'm thinking of deleting my whole site from the host server (Heart Internet) and then re-uploading everything again.

Do you think this might work? Problem is I'm using mobile broadband so doing this everytime I make a change will soon eat up my broadband allowance (3Gb).

DeckstarDeluxe
10-07-2009, 10:52 PM
whats the site address and what buttons are on the newer site rather than the old?

DJWilson
10-07-2009, 10:55 PM
Thanks for the advice, Marc.

This was pretty much what I was advised from my hosting account help files. However, it's still not working. I'm not connecting through a proxy so this is not the problem either.

I originally created the site in FrontPage but my computer died and I never got round to reinstalling it. I downloaded the files using FileZilla, edited the navigation files (side and bottom navigation menus) using NVU, and tested it out from the files stored locally which seemed to work ok. I uploaded the two navigation files (the only ones I'd edited) and tried to load the site up through Firefox and IE but the changes hadn't taken effect. A week later and the changes still are not showing.

I'm thinking of deleting my whole site from the host server (Heart Internet) and then re-uploading everything again.

Do you think this might work? Problem is I'm using mobile broadband so doing this everytime I make a change will soon eat up my broadband allowance (3Gb).


I found that Nvu did muck up my web files if I used something before it:bang:

Marc J
11-07-2009, 08:58 AM
Might be a Frontpage related problem. Frontpage creates a lot of folders that aren't really needed, harking back to the days when Frontpage Extensions were widely used (now aren't), and also folders it uses to track file edits.

If your remote hosting has FP Extension enabled and your local testing doesn't this might be why you get different results. I'm not 100% sure, but a lot of the extra folders Frontpage creates include things like last edited file info etc. These are typically folders starting with _vti.

It's a long shot but might be the cause. At your own risk (and make backups), delete all files and folders (remote and local) starting with an underscore, and get rid of anything Frontpage related in your pages.

PM me if you want me to take a look.

DazzyD
14-07-2009, 07:09 PM
Just a quick update on this.

It seems that the navigation html files weren't the problem. It turns out that the pages weren't linking to the separate files but rather the code was an integral part of each page (it was actually in the individual page html which is why it wasn't updating!).

Therefore, I'm not really sure why Frontpage created the separate navigation files in the first place! I'll be looking in to this over the next few days!

Marc J
15-07-2009, 08:22 AM
I haven't used FrontPage in a looooong time but maybe it has something equivalent to Dreamweaver's "snippets", which are common chunks of code included in different pages. These snippets can be edited separately from the pages but then when applied to the site it's the individual page files which are changed to reflect the changes in the snippets... (I think - I don't actually use them).

So basically you'd have navigation "snippets", but when applied these would change every page they are included in on-the-fly. It's the final changed pages you need to upload.

DazzyD
15-07-2009, 12:52 PM
Hi Marc

I thought that's all I needed to do - change the "snippet" file as you put it. But for some reason the main pages are not linking to this code and the code is within the pages themselves.

I'm going to take the site down, anyway, as we are in the process of introducing a new range of services and I'm currently designing a new website to include all of this. The old site needed a major overhaul anyway.

CRAZY K
15-07-2009, 03:03 PM
Hi Marc

I thought that's all I needed to do - change the "snippet" file as you put it. But for some reason the main pages are not linking to this code and the code is within the pages themselves.

I'm going to take the site down, anyway, as we are in the process of introducing a new range of services and I'm currently designing a new website to include all of this. The old site needed a major overhaul anyway.

As it happens I run a few personal sites produced on Frontpage and never have problems with alterations, updates or changes---Marc hosts a responder for me which works fine.

Anyway hopefully a new site will solve the problem.

CRAZY K

DazzyD
15-07-2009, 07:21 PM
As it happens I run a few personal sites produced on Frontpage and never have problems with alterations, updates or changes---Marc hosts a responder for me which works fine.

Anyway hopefully a new site will solve the problem.

CRAZY K

Hi Alan

The problem wasn't with FrontPage as when I was using FP to update the site everything worked as it should. My computer crashed and died a few weeks ago and I cannot find my MS Office 2003 Pro discs to reinstall it. That's why I downloaded NVU to try and use this to update the site.

I was going to try and get round to fixing this but, having spoke to the other partners, it was decided that I just create a brand new site for the new services we are putting together. I've got until September to sort it out as the new project isn't due to go live until October. Plenty of time!