In web development the file path is very important. If the file path is not right the expected results will not appear. On a simple site this could mean that a picture does not appear on a webpage or a link is broken and returns a 404 error.

I may have mentioned that I have been putting up a few blogs. My hosting company makes a SimpleScripts one click install available, but each installation uses a separate database. My databases are limited to 100 with my hosting plan. So I put a copy of the master file  on the server so that I would not have to upload it each time. If I do the install I can use a shared database for several (unlimited??) instances of the blogging software. One just uses a unique prefix for each instance of the blog using the database.

Where this all leads is: The hosting company provides a file manager through the site cPanel. There is supposed to be a drag and drop function to copy files. I had no success in getting this to work. The alternative is to input the file path. I made several attempts in conjunction with a couple of blog installs yesterday. Because I did not have the file path clearly visualized I ended up with several instances of the blog software file in places that I did not expect on the server, including as a sub-directory in my master file. I can move files easily with drag and drop so this worked, if not as expected. This morning, when I reflected on the situation with a more or less clear head, the correct file path was apparent to me. I have one more blog that is needed (for now, probably several soon) so I went back and tested the theory. Sure enough, if you input the correct file path things happen as expected.

As an added benefit, copying on the server happens almost instantly. I have pretty good broadband service, 2Mb per second upstream advertised, and it still takes about 5 minutes to upload the 620 files for this software. I doubt that it takes 5 seconds to copy it on the server.