Forum Moderators: mack
when I started on my first web site a couple of years ago, I read that it was safest to keep filenames no longer than 8 characters (not including the .html)
This was because longer filenames were not supported by some platforms.
I have happily been sticking to this rule - just in case - but now that I am getting into search engine optimisation, and the advice here is to put keywords into filenames, I find myself with a problem.
Just what is the rule about filename length? Most sites seem to happily have filenames like 'my_long_filename.html'
It's pretty hard to include keywords when you have to stick to no more than 8 characters!
For Win98, the file's full path name--the drive, folder, and file name--can't exceed 253 characters.
--Gene
This may be a factor if you will be having others (on macs) working with the site in the future.
Thats reassured me a lot
I don't work with a mac, but I will make sure to keep filenames well under 31 just in case I do in the future - if that 31 figure includes the .html then I would have to be 26 characters max for the actual wording of the file - is that correct?
How old is OS 9? Is it safe to assume that in a couple of years time nobody will be using that - if that is the case, I won't worry about it - I can't see me using a mac anytime in the near future
After reading other posts here, related to SEO, I don't think I will be anywhere near the limit for the total URL - the general advice seems to be that shorter URL's are better for search engine placement.
However, there does seem to be a large difference of opinion about how long URL's can be before search engines penalise you
So I know that I could happily have a total URL of 80-90 characters length - technically - but would I want to?
Steve
