DW links all broken - why?

[Dr_Atomic]

I host a website through GoDaddy and I've neglected it of late. I haven't updated the site in at least a year, nor have I uploaded/downloaded anything to their server in all that time. I just checked the website, and except for the index page, all the other links are broken? In my DW CS6 on my computer, when I open one of these pages with broken links, the links are all still there, but they're broken links. I called GoDaddy about it, and they both absolved themselves of all responsibility since they don't support DW, and they also suggested that my site may have been hacked - and if I had just been paying them extra for security this wouldn't have happened(!)

I may have a thousand links to have to manually re-link if I go that route. It would be nice to know what could have caused this before I work for two weeks re-linking everything, since it could very well happen again.

[BenPleysier]

What is the URL to the site and which are the problem links? This will help us to help you.

[Dr_Atomic]

My site is www.faithalone.com

[magical_Skyline0D4A]

There are a number of common causes of broken links:

• External websites that have gone offline
• An orphaned link which points to an old page on a site that no longer exists on the server, usually caused by changes in file name or structure
• Misspellings in the link
• The person maintaining the website made a mistake

This tool helps to control, but why? it's a mystery it seems! W3C Link Checker

[Nancy OShea]

Most servers have SSL certificates now which means the protocol has changed from HTTP:// to HTTPS://  You might want to test your links with the newer protocol to see if that resolves your issues.

[Dr_Atomic]

I noticed that in DW, on the page in question, the image is a broken link, even though the location is present in the link field (in Properties). In order to make, say, the image link work again, I have to delete the image, then re-insert it.

What if I were to re-import my site from the laptop again? Would that re-link everything - or is this solely a DW issue?

[Nancy OShea]

I'm not sure any of this is a DW issue.   Bad code causes problems.

[Dr_Atomic]

It appears that I would need to learn all about how to code in CSS to get CS6 to work for me. In addition to the broken links problem, I've spent the last 20 minutes just trying to change the font color on a paragraph on this page, and without knowing how to code in CSS, it's not letting me do it, no matter what I do. I have no idea what I did before to make these changes. Like I said, it's been about a year since I've modified this site. I need something simpler to make a web site; I neither have the time nor desire to learn how to code something like this when I'm busy learning networking certifications. CS6 appears to be a program solely for professionals or those with lots of time to play around with coding.

If anyone has a recommendation for something simpler without a steep learning curve, please let me know.

[BenPleysier]

As Nancy says, this is not a Dreamweaver problem, but a problem regarding coding. To illustrate, have a look at https://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.faithalone.com%2F

However, the errors shown in the above link do not relate to the linking problem that you mentioned. If we look at one of the links on your page as an example

<a href="HTML files/Christian Articles/christian_articles_index.html">Christian Articles</a>

you will notice a space between HTML and files and a space between Christian and Articles. This could be a reason why the link is not working.

The solution is to rename the folders to HTML-files and Christian-articles (a hyphen replacing the space). Notice that I used a hyphen instead of an underscore. This is because a hyphen is easier to type when using a touch screen. Have a look at Characters to Avoid in Directories and Filenames | University Marketing and Communications | Michiga... for more info.

If I were to rewrite the link, it would look like

<a href="HTML-files/Christian-Articles/christian-articles-index.html">Christian Articles</a>

after making sure that the folders and the file are named accordingly.

[Nancy OShea · Accepted solution]

Dr_Atomic  wrote

I've spent the last 20 minutes just trying to change the font color on a paragraph on this page, and without knowing how to code in CSS, it's not letting me do it, no matter what I do.

Those old fashioned HTML styles are messing you up.   For example, you have a lot of these in your HTML code.

<font color="#FFFF00">

You would need to strip them out to make CSS work .   Or replace them with  inline CSS styles like this:

<p style="color: #FFFF00">This text is yellow.</p>

If anyone has a recommendation for something simpler without a steep learning curve, please let me know.

Have you considered using WordPress?  Most good hosting plans have one button installation from your server's console or C-Panel.  If you pick a nice devotional  WP Theme (free or premium), you could have a modern,  responsive website up and running in a couple of hours. 

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Best of all, you don't need DW.  The WP  admin panel is all you need to manage your site online. 

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