Hello! New to bluehost and had some questions...

[cszachary71]

Hey I got a hosting plan spontaneously tonight, and was trying to get things up and running.

I am waiting for my domain to transfer from my previous site, but I have already uploaded my site files from my computer. Only thing is I can't view them on the internet. I uploaded them to the /public_html folder. Do I need to delete all the files that were on the server before I uploaded anything? I thought I could just type my shared ip address into my browser followed by my index.html root file to view my website. Do I have to wait until my domain transfer has competed before viewing the site online? Also, I had to call blue host to verify my domain, and it said to leave a message with my name and domain and they will verify. Anyone have an idea on how long this takes?

Sorry for all the rambling, just trying to get this baby up and running as soon as possible. Thanks for any help.

[EricJ]

You're close on that one.. you can view your files before your domain is transferred however you'll need to go to.

yo.ur.ip.ad/~yourusername

Then it will display those files :)..

[felgall]

It would be IP address then the folder name of your account and then you would access what is uploaded. Alternatively you could update the "hosts" file on your own computer to point the domain name at the IP address and use that since the domain name lookup on the server finds the right folder for the domain automatically.

[Early Out]

Do I need to delete all the files that were on the server before I uploaded anything?
Definitely NOT. A new account is provided with certain files that are needed for the account to operate properly. The only thing you should delete is the default.html file, if you see that sitting in public_html.

[plee]

Hello,
I am new at learning how to do website design. I am having a problem with viewing my pages.


It would be IP address then the folder name of your account and then you would access what is uploaded. Alternatively you could update the "hosts" file on your own computer to point the domain name at the IP address and use that since the domain name lookup on the server finds the right folder for the domain automatically.

so, if i may ask for a little personal clarification...
I have uploaded my files with the file manager to my subdomain folder under public_html. When I type my domain name in a browser I get an index file listing on my page. So, if I understand correctly, what I need to do is type in a browser... 'my ip address.mysubdomain folder name' to see my page? What is someone that is trying to access my page seeing?

Paulalee

[felgall]

Once your domain name works you can forget about using the ip address.

[Early Out]

I have uploaded my files with the file manager to my subdomain folder under public_html. When I type my domain name in a browser I get an index file listing on my page.
If you point your browser to http://example.com, the server will cough up the index.html file that's sitting in public_html, if there's one there. If it can't find an index.html, it will look for several other default names, like index.htm, index.php, default.html, and so on. If it can't find any of those, it will produce a simple list of the files in public_html.

If you have a subdomain, and you have put an index.html page under public_html/subdomain, then pointing the browser to http://subdomain.example.com will yield that page.

If you have an addon domain, and you have put an index.html page under public_html/addondomain, then pointing the browser to http://addondomain.com will yield that page.