website design question

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Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 2:55 am

I am the "webmaster" for a website. Somehow some of my pages are going blank - all of a sudden just showing up as blank screens.

Then I have to go find the file and see that it's blank in dreamweaver - so I have to get the back-up cd-rom and re-upload it.

HOW THE HELL is this happening? Some pages did this, and I didn't know. So my boss called me in his office to get on to me for doing this - and I DID NOT DO IT. I had NO explanation for how it could happen, either.

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 8:34 am

Best ask your hosts about this Eliza. Are you running any kind of script on those pages that the server might not like any more?

If it's on your uni server then I'd say look for the usual suspects. Shocked

Elite Baiter Joined: 02 Jul 2006 Posts: 1702

did they suddenly go blank or were they ok when you checked them last?

If they suddenly went blank, that could be a problem with the server, hackers tend to write crap onto the blank files, they wouldnt tend to just blank them out, same as vandals cant leave a white wall alone they just got to mark it, its in their mentality.

The other way it could be blank is due to some sort of error during upload, where the data is written, and parts skipped, its similar with people downloading on a heavy in use connection it ends up truncated.

The first port of call would be tell the boss if there suddenly going blank, unless your the entire system admin, it may be someone else has been "adjusting" causing your work to be corrupted.

Anti-virus would tend to delete the whole file, my best guess and its only a guess is when you uploaded them - what method you used caused some files to be copied incorrect, it does happen from time to time, and is annoying as hell because there isnt a way to check other than go through a site page by page.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

^^^ download them into another folder and compare the folders. You wont know if it was the upload or download that failed, but you know where to look.

Are these blank pages empty files, or do they have the HTML headers and so forth? What do they look like in notepad?

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 2:19 pm

Are you using html (or a variant), php, or asp files?
Using SSI (Server Side Includes)?
Are you using javascript and/or java; are you using calls to a database?
What does the website host allow?
(query edited - Answered in 1st post (dreamweaver)- <jj>

Parts of any or all might not allow the page to show.

It probably is not 'hackers' for the reason(s) digital-one gave.

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 2:42 pm

I do most all of mine in 'raw' code.

I just remembered - when I checked out Dreamweaver (some time ago): recall that some of students often had a problem of pages not showing up; problem was based on how Dw created the structure/path/or subdirectory and was not always uploading the complete path/sub-folders.