index.html vs. mainpage problem

So close, yet so far... I'll see if I can discribe my problem accurately. It turns out my domain name [ which I want to open the webpage on the internet when typed in , in the address bar ] is turning out to be my index. page [ where all my files are stored ] I've uploaded my webpage and you can see all my files when I type in my web address. How can I change it in the Web Admin Panel so my web address can remain the same, so when I type in my web address I can actually see my site , but have a different address location for my index page? Where exactly can I find that in the web panel and what do I need to type in and where? A small tutorial would be super.

Not quite sure I understand the problem you're describing (posting the domain name so folks can look at what's wrong for themselves helps), but maybe I can help.

First of all, you log into the web panel at:
http://panel.dreamhost.com/

There's also a login box on the dreamhost.com front page.

Second, if I'm understanding your problem correctly, you've uploaded files to the directory that is supposed to be your site. But, when you go to your domain in a web browser, you get a list of all the files instead of the main page of your site.

If that's the problem, you need to make sure that the page you want to appear when somebody types in your web address has the filename "index.html" (without the quotes, of course). It should then appear automatically when somebody types your domain into the address bar.

hmmm... still doing something wrong. Now I have the opposite problem. My website is www.redskull13.com. When you type it in it will bring up the mainpage ( as lame as it is ). Ok, that's all fine and dandy... if you type in www.redskull.com/index.htm , you will get the same mainpage. Obvisously my index. htm is missing. On my FTP site I can see all my altered pics in the menu. I know they are working as I am making it with DreamWeaver and I can see the changes on the local browser.
Where the heck do I find the root folder for the remote site?
If I have to make one, then where?

Yours truely, knothead. = )

You've loaded index.html into the right directory or your site wouldn't look right; I think you're just a little confused about filename extensions. Oh, and don't apologize for your site.

Normally, the home page for a website is named "index.html".

Some brain-dead operating systems don't allow files to have four letter extensions. Those systems typically name the home page "index.htm"

If you want to use .htm instead of .html, it really doesn't make *that* much difference. To use index.htm instead of index.html you would want to create a file named .htaccess

Yes, "nothing dot htaccess". If you have trouble creating a file by that name on your puter, name it x.htaccess, upload it, and then rename the file once it is on the server to .htaccess.

This should just be an ordinary text file, containing these lines:

DirectoryIndex index.htm
Redirect /index.html http://www.fschobbies.com/index.htm

(You may eventually want to add *other* lines to your .htaccess - it's quite useful. If you already have one, simply *add* those lines to your existing file.)

What the first line does is tell Apache that if someone types in the URL of a directory - such as your plain, unadorned domain name - it should look for a file named "index.htm" and display it if it exists, rather than display a list of the files in the directory.

The second line says "if someone types in index.html, tell their browser to ask for index.htm instead and don't bother the user about it"

>>>My website is www.redskull13.com
>>>if you type in www.redskull.com/index.htm , you will get the same mainpage


Mmmm... are you the owner of these two different domain names (ie redskull13.com and redskull.com) ?

By reading whois database it seems you're not, so the previous reply will not help you...
We can help if you are precise in your questions, but you should find some basic tutorial on "how to setup a website" ;-)

BTW, index.htm files are already in dreamhost directory index, check :
https://panel.dreamhost.com/kbase/index.cgi?area=1780

Well, redskull.com seems to redirect to another domain which seems to have a site of a comic book or hobby store... there's no "index.htm" there, however, so that produces an error, but the unadorned domain works.

redskull13.com gets a raw directory listing, because no index page is present... in fact, there don't seem to be any HTML pages in that directory at all, only images, stylesheets, and other miscellaneous stuff. It seems like you've forgotten to upload your HTML at all.

-- Dan

I appreciate all the feedback from you all.
But now I have my problem all ironed out now. The problem was from my end. You see I am pioneering new ground here. I have never made a website before. I'm learning as I'm going along.

I made a typo on my website to you all. It's actually redskull13.com

Again thanks for the support...