WHAT DO 3 SLASHES MEAN???

[jackn]

Can anyone help us? My co-worker and I have colaborated in developing a web site with Dreamweaver 4 using what I thought were only document referenced links throughout. The problem is that after looking at the final product in a browser, some of the links are displayed as absolute
references (when hovering the mouse over them). For example, a document referenced link to introduction.htm located in the training folder is displayed as "file:///C|/training/introduction.htm".

Where do the THREE slashes come from and what do they mean? Are they absolute references? I thought absolute references only had TWO slashes instead of three. However, everything seems to work ok, even at the client site when delivered via copy on CD. The funny thing is, whenever I make a copy of the entire site, the link reference changes according to whatever drive it is copied to. For instance, if it is copied to the E drive, it may be displayed as "file:///E|/training/introduction.htm".

Any ideas of what is going on here? Is this liable to cause any problems like broken links or is it just a nuisance? Any recommendations or fixes? WHAT DO 3 SLASHES MEAN? HELP!
-Jack Nonmacher
jacknonmacher@spherion.com (713) 735-1829

 

[GUJUm0deL]

Their can be many reasons for that.
First, did you guys define you're site?? Assuming that you have a folder that holds all you're site information in one directory (like I do) then you mus define you're site so that all links will be relative. To define your site do this:
1) Open DW
2) Go to the 'Site' --> 'New Site'
3) 'Site Name', define the name
4) Under 'Local Root Folder' click on the folder icon and point to the folder, just the folder not any other sub-folders.
5) And click 'OK'.

Another reason is that you didn't point them relatively, but accidentaly 'absolutely'. It happens to all of us, i've done that also.
Lastly it can be that it was a bad save, DW when it saves badly or has some internal issues will mess up the links...
I have not failed; I merely found 100,000 different ways of not succeding...

 

[jackn]

In regards to the appearance of three slashes, thank you for your response. We did indeed define the site in Dreamweaver 4 before working on it. In addition, links were created in Dreamweaver by browsing through the files listed in the links dialog.
I do not think that what we are seeing is an example of absolute links, for 2 reasons: 1. I did not type in an absolute path (instead, I clicked on the file listed in the site folder) and 2.There are THREE slashes and not just TWO. I understand that absolute references are preceded by TWO slashes. So what do THREE slashes stand for?
The next oddity is that the drive letter included in the three-slashed path changes if the entire site is copied. For example the link "file:///C|/training/introduction.htm" on the C drive becomes displayed as "file:///E|/training/introduction.htm" after it is copied to the E drive. What woild cause it to change like that? What do you think? Thank you so much for your help.
Jack Nonmacher, jacknonmacher@spherion.com, (713) 735-1829

 

[LBL626]

Hi,
I also have the 3 slashes happening with my webpage, do you have the webpage stored on a local pc or are you sending everything to the server or isp? I noticed that since I have everything on my local pc, everything is ///c:/webpage/index.htm (just an example) but when I posted everything on the web, it defaults to just webpage/index.htm

Hope this helps

Let me know if you need a better explanation

 

[jackn]

Thanks so much for responding. I was beginning to wonder if insanity was setting in. So I am not the only one experiencing the 3 slash phenomenon. Anyway, do you think its just a harmless nuisance or could it cause potential broken links, etc., depending on how the site is copied or where it resides? And why do you think that posting it to the server would make the slashes go away?

 

[LBL626]

Have you uploaded to your site yet?

 

[jackn]

Actually, our delivery method of the web site was via CD to the client so that he could do the uploading on his server. We only tested it on our various PCs, both local and network. Don't know if he is seeing the three slashes or not, I just know that the site is working for him. Why do you think that having it on a server would make a difference?