Reading too much into webserver file names

Posted on Jul 22, 2010 in Language, Web Dev | 0 comments

For the uninitiated, a web server is computer that, well… serves web pages to visitors. There are many kinds, but the two most common are

• Apache, which runs on the Linux platform; and
• IIS, which runs on Microsoft’s Windows platform

You probably have noticed that some web addresses end in a file extension, such as .html, .php, .aspx, etc. but others don’t. Some simply end in a slash, like this: www.site.com/products/  When you see web addresses in this format, there is often an implied file there that is not shown. Web servers expect there to be a file within each directory (in my example, the directory is “products”) that it looks for first. (This is, of course, a simplification of the process but its enough info for this post.)

With those two pieces of background info out of the way, here’s my observation: On the Apache/Linux web server, the file within each directory that is looked for is called index.html. On the IIS/Windows platform, the file is called default.html

Index. Default.

Index has a positive, inclusive feel to it, and brings to mind the back of a book where all its information is organized. This is the intent of the name, I think: the primary go-to page within a directory should represent the information contained therein, an index.

Default inherently has a dual meaning. It’s the first of something, offered without prompt or input: “the default choice” or “you win by default.” The second is more negative: to fail to meet one’s obligations, as in the all-too-common “he defaulted on his mortgage.”

Of course, the developers of the IIS web server intended its directory file name to have the first of these two meanings: it’s the file that, unless another is specified, is delivered to the visitor when viewing a directory. But I can’t help but think of the second meaning, too, which ever-so-slightly taints my impressions of websites served with IIS. Is that silly? Yes, I think it is. Am I alone in this consideration… perhaps? Let me know what you think about it.

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