| This
should be a follow-on from the email tutorial. It is intended as
a brief introduction to potential problems with awkward filenames. There are 3 common modes for sending and receiving files across the internet: (1) As an email attachment (2) Via a web browser such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera or Safari (3) Via a FTP client program for communicating with web servers. They all deal with our everyday work files such as photos, documents, sound files, web pages and just about everything we use on our computers. From within the cosy environment of our computer we accustomise ourselves to a homegrown way of naming and storing our files. Some chose simple methods, others contrive elaborate naming systems. This is all down to personal style within the boundaries of what our Operating System will permit. Modern Operating Systems are quite tolerant and will accept long filenames with a large variety of characters. This was not always the case. The early Microsoft systems had a maximum of 8 characters for the basic filename and would not tolerate certain characters. Most filenames have a name and an extension, separated by a dot. ie picture.jpg or word.doc or text.txt The filename characters are arranged into 3 broad groups: Numbers [ 0 to 9 ] Alphas [ a to z ] and [ A to Z ] Punctuation [ ! " $ & * ? / \ @ # and all the rest including the space ] Different operating systems have different rules as to what they consider to be legal filenames. Most of the arguments are centred on the various punctuation characters and length of filename. Processing an imported filename that does not conform to the local set of rules will result in unpredictable local actions. The file may be ignored. The filename may be truncated. The filename may be distorted or trashed. Here is the nightmare scenario. You run Operating System WhizzoXYZ and so does your friend down the road. You send a file across the internet to your friend and either it doesn't get there or it gets mangled. Re-sending sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. For years this goes on with completely unpredictable results. The problem could be with your design of the filename under the very tolerant rules of your WhizzoXYZ operating system. When the file leaves you it will first go to your ISP (Internet Service Provider). From there it will travel through countless routers and server computers all with various makes and vintages of operating systems. There is no telling if any of them will reject or vandalise your file because of its filename structure. The internet is not a cleverly organised set of regulated technology boxes all playing the same game. It is a dis-organised mess of unregulated computers, any of which may come on line or go offline at random. The individual hardware devices may be running any operating system found suitable by the current owner in whatever part of the world it is housed. To avoid or minimise the chance of this distress it is good practice to simplify the filename of any file sent across the internet. The object of the game is to get the file through the meanest of processors running the strictest of rules, and it involves the lowest-common-denominator mentality to achieve it. Here are the 2 Golden Rules laid down at the Past Pages Mission Control - Keep filenames as short as possible. Avoid all Punctuation characters except the dash [ - ] This includes additional dots, the space, all slashes, braces, blah, blah, blah. The dash or hyphen is considered to be a very safe punctuation character. Eliminating all other punctuation characters may seem extreme but it helps guarantee the best chance of surviving the journey through cyber-space. Many operating systems use the slash as an indicator of a change of folder or directory. As a part of a filename it is asking for assassination. Most punctuation characters can be replaced by the safe dash without too much loss of understanding so that Photo [Jim]/blackpool #23.jpg can be edited as Photo-Jim-blackpool-23.jpg Better still would be a shortening to something like Jim-bp-23.jpg If you have this kind if filename you are asking for trouble: Photos of Jim/ Easter 2008 @ blackpool / beach #23.jpg Your home or office computer may handle complicated filenames but the internet may well have digestion problems. A
Past Pages Information page
www.pastpages.co.uk
Tony Nicholls 2009
|