Comments on: Project folder structure for a web designer

By: Dave Woods

Dave Woods — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:35:25 +0000

Hi Will, thanks for your detailed response. Getting my email organised it probably one of the next things on my list of things to do as at the moment I just export my accounts to one PST file so should probably get that a bit more orgasnised for finding old emails. Thanks for the tip.

By: Will Hattingh

Will Hattingh — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:21:48 +0000

I love the folder structure that you use and mine is almost 100% the same, I keep a zip file within my template zip file called template project which is used to quickly add a new project for a client. For instance if I’m adding a new CMS as a different project for the client I can just quickly unzip my project zip file that contains the folder structure that you currently have.

One addition to this is I keep an additional folder to that of the projects called _MAIL at the top level of the client which contains the outlook data files as I communicate with the client. I also keep multiple profiles in outlook for each client, that is if the client requires me to have an email box. For smaller projects this would probably never be required, however I do consulting for some clients where we act as a go between the client and the clients vendors, so essentially we act as employees and as such we have to have employee email. Which makes the _MAIL folder incredibly useful, especially since if a year after we are done with the project and I need access to an old email that was sent then I can just open the datafile directly in outlook even though I may have deleted that outlook profile already.

I develop and work through multiple workstations & laptops so I stick the entire client folder within subversion, that way everything stays in sync.

If I develop directly on my laptop it makes it easy to point apache’s DocumentRoot directly at the Code folder, that way if I update from my svn repo I automagically get the latest code and can view and display it to customer if need be.

By: Dave Woods

Dave Woods — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:35:27 +0000

I’d use SVN just on the Code folder personally but don’t think there’s any reason why you couldn’t use it on everything if you wanted. I use the date as a prefix to all my documentation and then have this run as an automatic backup so that works fine as version control for me but SVN would also be a good solution.

By: Ken Thompson

Ken Thompson — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 07:06:20 +0000

Great Post! Exactly what I was looking for. I’m a fan for life now. Quick question. How do you use SVN in relation to your folder hierarchy? Do you version control the entire project folder or just the code? It doesn’t seem that you keep the repositories with the project. Thanks.

By: Organize your workflow for design production – nina mehta

Organize your workflow for design production – nina mehta — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:38:53 +0000

[...] Other structures Developing a Sensible Folder Structure Folder Structure and Project Organization Best Practices Project folder structure for a web designer [...]

By: Dave Woods

Dave Woods — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:07:41 +0000

Hi Cheryl and thanks for the comment.

I think what you’re describing is what I have above? I currently have Client and then Project, followed by the folders for documents and graphics.

I definitely agree that the naming conventions are just as important, as I’m the only person dealing with the files though I tend to use a much simpler method by using the date on the front of the filename, e.g. yyyymmdd-proposal.docx. For work I’m sending the client, I usually do the same thing with zip files and then file them away (so should probably have included that within my folder structure as well).

I also use SVN for version control so that does get around the issue of naming conventions and version control to some extent.

Thanks for the feedback Cheryl and sharing your methods

By: Cheryl Oppenheim

Cheryl Oppenheim — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:01:15 +0000

This is very similar to a structure I’ve used for many years. The only difference is the addition of another layer. We start with a folder for the Client then inside that have separate folder for the Job (JobNumber/Project Title). Within that folder would be those folders you have above. This allows you to store all the jobs for that client within one folder.

Folder structure is just but the first step – naming conventions and version control should follow. Ours… job number_File Name_Version.Extension 1234_BAsketballImage_v1.jpg or 1234_Wireframes_v2.vis

Job Numbers are always a source of confusion for many firms. Our system is simple – consective running numbers. The number is assigned to the project and the client. So while a client may have non-consecutive number in their folder there is absolutely no duplication of numbers or concern over client name abbreviations in the numbers.