Scripting Issue

[mitchellm]

@NeilMike If you want to learn more about how to use a free FTP app then this link should help you a lot: How to publish your RapidWeaver site using Cyberduck | RapidWeaver Forum

As @jacksona mentioned, I highly advise learning to do this.

[NeilMike]

Thanks, Mitchell. I’ve been using FileZilla off and on for many years. I got away from it, when I was not having any problems publishing directly from RW. Sadly, I’m now having way too many, but anyhow, I generally start with RW publishing, and if the site doesn’t work, I then go to FileZilla and check out “what’s missing” and upload any missing parts that didn’t go with RW.

So, if you have enough experience to advise me that Cyberduck does some things better than FileZilla, I’ll take a closer look. I’ve actually had Cyberduck recommended in the past, and I’ve studied it a couple of years ago, but I couldn’t see why it would be better than FZ. Thanks, again, for seeking to guide me through my rough patch.

nk

[jacksona]

If you’re comfortable with FileZilla, you should stick with that. They’re all much of a muchness, and there’s more than enough moving parts with site-building that adding any unnecessary complication will just end up causing confusion.

[wirrah]

I’m seeing a lot of core RW not found.

[Erwin-Leerentveld]

Heya @NeilMike,

Is this the same host as with your previous problem? Because this looks awfully similar! Once again a folder is invisible to browsers (the last time it was the “files” folder in root, this time 'round it seems to be the “rw_common” folder.

My advise: switch hosts. This shouldn’t happen unless one messes with folder permissions on the OS level on a server or deleting folder willy-nilly (but i don’t think you did that, to be clear).

Cheers,
Erwin

[NeilMike]

Interesting. I’ll check it out. Thanks.

[NeilMike]

Yes, it is the same host. Changing hosts rather time consuming for me bc of multiple sites hosted. Long history is all good, until only a couple of months ago. I will pursue trying to convince them the problem is on their end, based on yours and “wirrah’s” feedback. Thanks.

[NeilMike]

Blockquote

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Thanks. Now “my server” makes sense. I’ll give it a go.

[NeilMike]

Sorry, I did something wrong in the reply to both of you who provided an explanation to posting .pdfs on “my server.” The popup guidance said I could respond to more than one at a time in one post, if I applied the " marks to the words I was seeking to quote. I got something wrong I guess.

[NeilMike]

So, seeking to place my pdfs on “my server,” I have successfully done that, albeit I’m not certain I place them in the right location. See attached screenshot showing I have a new folder NKsPDFs located in my public_html folder. Is that an OK location?

Then I go back to RW to hotLINK from my website to my pdf on my server, and I don’t know how to make that connection. See attached? How do I establish the correct URL that “finds” my folder and files on my server? Or, do I have to wait until my F3 site is up and working then make the links? Sorry, but I’m a bit lost at this point.

[mitchellm]

@NeilMike I’m responding quickly as I’m going out for a walk. So probably leaving out details. Many, though not all, FTP apps have an easy way for you to select an file and it will copy the URL for you. That’s the key. There are then many ways to create a download link to the PDF in F3.

… however, there’s another consideration. If you link to a PDF directly then for most browsers, most of the time, they will bring up that PDF so you can view in your browser. If that’s what you want: great. If you want them to download the file then either the end user needs to know for themselves how to download a PDF embedded in a browser or you need to make it easier for them. And that “easier” is probably best done by creating a ZIP version of the PDF. Many, but not all, FTP apps will allow you to zip, or compress, files already on your server. In that manner clicking on the link with auto-download the zipped file to the person’s computer.

Finally, just use that files URL in many stacks including a button, a link stack, and linked list. They’ll all work. Or you can use markdown in the Paragraph stack:

[name of link](https://fullURL)

Finally, the folder you have it in seems fine. Your link would be of this format (if the PDF were named as I did below. Change as needed.) And, the extension would be .zip instead if you compressed first.

https://neilkosterman.com/NKsPDFs/my-life-in-asia.pdf

[jacksona]

@jacksona

Most FTP packages will allow you to right-click to copy the file’s URL

As I posted above. I’d hope FileZilla allows this, but I’m a Transmit user.

If not on right-click, then it should be on one of the menus.

[NeilMike]

Thanks, Mitchell. I’ll give your guidance a try.

[Erwin-Leerentveld]

Hi @NeilMike,

If you place a folder in public_html, it’s accessible to the outside world like this:

yourwebsite.com/yourfolder

So in this case, it’s:

‘https://www.neilkosterman.com/NKsPDFs/’

Now, if you have an index.html or index.php in that folder, that file will automatically be loaded by your visitor’s browser. If not, the browser will display a 404 error.

If a visitor knows the file name of the PDF and adds that to the end of that URL, the PDF file will load in the browser instead of the 404 (or the index file if you have one).

So, the link you’d enter in RapidWeaver should be:

‘https://www.neilkosterman.com/NKsPDFs/file-name-of-the-pdf.pdf’

Cheers,
Erwin

[NeilMike]

Hi Erwin. Your guidance a great help. thanks. Note the attachment. I have what I believe is an appropriate and correct change to your suggested URL: /public_html/neilko/neilkosterman.com/NKsPDFs

The difference is that I have all of my website inside of a folder called neilko, which is inside of public_html.

My site still not working. I’m guessing that the issue may be that which was surfaced by wirrah above, but I don’t know how to fix that one. I’ll put a rely directly to wirrah, as well, so one or both or someone else can advise what I can do to overcome that one.

Thanks to all, so far. Not quite there yet, but gaining on it.

[NeilMike]

Hi. What you present does not look good, but I have no idea how to “fix it.” Can you help? Thanks.

[DLH]

It looks like the link @Erwin-Leerentveld suggested is correct. Here’s a full link to one of your PDF’s. It loads the PDF in my browser.

Linked to: https://www.neilkosterman.com/NKsPDFs/201906.pdf

201906.pdf

[Erwin-Leerentveld]

Hi @NeilMike,

What you’re doing is fine for testing, but if you’re planning to leave the site where it is forever, then you’re creating a problem.

The problem is that you’re nesting a site under an existing public_html. That public_html is linked to a domain, thus by doing so you’re creating a path like this:

https://yourwebsite.com/neilko/neilkosterman.com/

The question now is: to what domain is the public_html in the screenshot linked? Is that neilkosterman.com? Then you’re creating a loop. The URL for your website would become:

https://www.neilkosterman.com/neilko/neilkosterman.com/

I assume that’s not what you’re after, right?

Cheers,
Erwin

[jacksona]

As @Erwin-Leerentveld says, public_html is where your primary domain needs to reside, or you’re creating more issues for yourself.

[NeilMike]

I’m gaining on a better understanding with each iteration, but I’m not “there” yet. Rather than try to go back to explain why I’ve done what I’ve done, I’ve included a screenshot of my /public_html file with the key elements identified for discussion with red circles.

So, I’ll actually start at the bottom, as this seems to be a concern expressed in the two recent responses, and I’ll ask one or the other of you to send me the proper path for what I’m seeking to accomplish. Secondarily, if I have one or more folders that need to be in a different location on my server, is there a convenient way to move them while on the server? So, here’s some explanations…

So, my primary domain is tbi-innovations.com, which is inside of public_html, where I think it belongs.

In this thread I was “encouraged” to put all of my URLs inside of a personal folder within public_html, which I’ve done in the form of my neilko folder.

Within it, then, you find my collection of sub-domains, including neilkosterman.com, which is my test site. Hopefully, someday, when this finally works, I intend moving it to deltachase.com, which is currently being managed by a vendor; I will want to move from them to this site, when I’m ready, which will likely be another set of issues I will have to learn and overcome.

As a side note, those many other files such as the various photos, I think were extraneously created over the years as a result of my ignorance of how this server stuff works. I’ve always thought they were intrinsic to my primary domain, but that was before my now better understanding that everything directly associated with a URL is inside of the Url’s folder. In any event I don’t dare delete anything, bc I may damage a site through my ignorance that is actually working fine.

In summary here are my questions…

1. Is my primary URL (TBI) in the right location? If not, where should it be (and how do I move it on the server),

2. Is my personal folder, neilko, in the right location? Should TBI be inside of it, too?

3. Is the structure of personal folder with my URLS (∆chase, justinzdeb, longlifedowels, and nk.com appropriate? If not, what do I need to change/ move?

And, repeating again, if things need to be in different locations, can/ how do I move them while still on my server?

Thanks so much for everyone’s assistance and patience with my learning curve.