New at this

[MMock]

Hey I am very new using Dreamweaer MX and would like to adivice hear and there ok I know every site has an index! What all does the index have to include????? I think it i sthe homepage in whole but i am not sure! Wanted to ask before I mess it all up!

[KronosX]

the index.htm or index.html file is the one that will load automatically (usually the main page), for example if you type in www.yahoo.com it will load the same as if you typed in www.yahoo.com/index.html.

[thekemp]

most microsoft and other based web servers prefere you to have your start page as index so it knows what page to "start" when a user requests it by typing in your domain.
my website which runs on apache prefers not to use "index" and says not to in the documentation although i do use index and it works fine!

[tenor_david]

You will need to check with your ISP [or whoever will be hosting your website] to see what filename the server will look for when accessing the web directory that your site is housed in.

In 99% of situations, it will either be home.html or index.html. Some rarer filenames would be something like default.html.

The reason for this protocol is two-fold. One, it allows a user to remember the base URL, rather than an actual file name. Two, it is a security measure. On some servers, if you do not have index.html, home.html, or whatever the convention is, the server may display the contents of the directory, and possibly allow others to access restricted portions of the server. Not a good thing.

Just check with whoever will be hosting your web site. Then, build your 'Home Page', and save it as index.html, home.html, or whatever the server administrator tells you.

[goldenbuddha]

My major recommendation is to fire up the Dreamweaver tutorials.. they are IMO the best in the industry. =)

Good Luck!

[MMock]

I am using dreamweaver and loving it! This has to be the best web developement software ever! I am not any good at it but it has millions of options for everything! I also got fireworks with the package and to be truthful that also has to be on of the top-of-the-line gif,jpg, and jpeg editors ever! Although I am having trouble putting a frame on the left to link to other parts of my site! Well I got the frame there but it isn't showing up on the site itself! Anyone got any ideas on why it would be doing this??? Thx your help is appreciated! After this is all said and done I will have to show ya guys if I am allowed! Or just pm me if you are interested in my progress!

[Brainchild]

If your using a free webhost, IE geocities,tripod,ect. They don't allow frames because they have to place theier banners, and cr@p on there. I think when you upgrade to pro you can.

[alligator_al]

About the frame problem -- have you made sure that the frameset itself is called 'index.html' rather than the content of the main frame? (each frame of your the frameset will load up a separate html file, but the frameset is the page you actually refer to.)

One of the great things about dreamweaver is the clean markup it generates, and the ease of being able to make quick edits to the html source. If you are not html-literate already, I would recommend investigating this facet of dreamweaver (i have always found the o'reilly 'definitive guide' on HTML to be a good straightforward reference.) After a while it becomes easier to do many things in markup than by using the interface.

[MMock]

well my website is located here www.rushouriot.com/jaklan and I am using MySQL php. Alligator what do you mean that I have to restart this whole project? And have the frame on the first page that I create? I.E. www.rushouriot.com/jaklan/index.php ?

[alligator_al]

No, you don't need to start again.
The page that loads doesn't seem to have a name in my browser (like 'index.html' or something) so I can't say for sure what is happening to your frames. You probably just need to rename the files -- so your frameset takes the name of the page that currently loads, and then this page gets a new name (like 'main.html' instead; and your sidebar yet another name, like 'navbar.html') These are then set to load into the frames of the renamed index page. It shouldn't be too tricky.
Another thing to watch is the font -- the source gives the fonts as "Harsh language AC" and "SnappyService", but because I (and most people, I guess) don't have these installed on my pc, it all comes up in Times New Roman. There are ways of working around this, but I won't go into it now.
It's looking nice though -- keep up the good work.

**edit**
I just noticed your second link. I guess that means that you rename your frameset file to load instead of 'index.php', and make sure the frameset points to the navbar and content.