Adequate File Support For Your Site

February 11, 2009 by Butterfly Filed under: Web Hosting

Consider your website design as an important factor while deciding where it should be hosted. It is important to see what file types are supported on the servers provided by a host. For example, if your website is based on CSS and if a CSS file is not recognized by your server, you have no other choice but to look for some other host.

Ask your host what all file types are supported there. Though files such as HTML, JPEG or GIF are common, some formats such as can slide shows developed in PowerPoint or CorelDraw can behave quite unpredictably.

There may be cases when your server is not able to handle a particular file type and it displays the file in an undesired format. You need to ensure that your server offers support for these kinds of files, if required.

Besides file types, it is important to check what all file extensions are supported on your server. For example, in Linux hosting, you need to write down the complete path of a file so that the server can identify the application needed to run it.

If you get your site hosted and later want to add some new files that are not supported by your server, you can add your own mime types, if your server supports it. You can also define your own extensions.

It is advisable to make efforts to ensure about these details on file types and extensions, lest you should be looking to either compromise on the design of your site, or look for another host later.