As you can see from downloading the folder structures in staying organised, almost every website needs a few if not all of the following files.
a). Custom 404 page
404 Pages are important for search engines, who sometimes get lost or in a muddle and for visitors who are looking for previous versions of your site. It is good practice to main a good 404 page, you may wish to make it humourous, which could help in promoting the human side of your business, and make the difference in someone dealing with you or not.
b). Google Sitemap File.
Google sitemaps are a particularly useful tool in the webmasters arsenal. They allow you to see a whole plethora of information about how Googlebot is interogating your website, and allows you to see missing content, and what it isn't picking up and why. Maintain a sitemap also provides a way for your site to initially get spidered quicker. We have also found that Google loves Digg, and if you can manage to get listed in the Digg index, Google will notice you.
c). Prototype JS.
Prototype JS is needed for a varity of third party javascript libraries, including Lightbox (see later). Prototype is a JavaScript Framework that aims to ease development of dynamic web applications.
d). SIfr - Scalable Inman Flash Replacement
For any graphic designers who complain about not being able to get there own way with regard to the fonts used in a site. Here we have it, the solution you all need to present fonts the way you want. Add fonts to the flash file, and away it goes. Dont overuse though, as it can be resource intensive, and we recommend just using it on headings. All things in moderation.
e). Flash Object
Flash Object is designed to make embedding and detecting Flash player super easy. Flash has a nasty habit of being non-compliant when you embed it directly from Dreamweaver. Cut out those nasty W3C errors, and get some control over flash properties, such as passing variables in and out of flash easily by using Flash Object. It also gets rid of those nasty flash "Click to activate content" problems.
f). Moo fx
Moo fx is a yummy little JS module that lets you do all sorts of internet magic. Moo.fx gives your XHTML page the steriods it needs to do crazy drag and drops, ajax calls, and manipulate the html chassis that will bring stickiness to your site.
g). Robots.txt
Search engine robots use a special file called Robots.txt to determine which directories and files they are allowed to spider. This allows you to specify which directories you would rather they didn't see. A good example would be if you want to hide a cgi-bin folder (containing scripts). A robots text file should supplement (in other words not be the only measure) existing security precautions, such as correctly permissioning website directories. robots.txt files will prevent lots of 404 errors from appearing within your log files / analytics software, because website robots are not looking for them. Remember also that bad guys out there may start to prepare a website attack on your website simply by looking at what you are attempting to hide in your robots.txt.
h). Rss file of some sort.
Rss is becoming more and more important, as more and more software developers realise that interoperability of content and services will only help website promotion. Whether that means that content gets shown on numerous devices, or syndicated on other websites. RSS as Alex Barnett has pointed out is the glue of Web2.0 helping to promote a culture of sharing. Get in on the action and make sure you have some kind of RSS feed that other people can utilise.
i). My own personal social bookmark include file.
It really isn't that difficult to get in on the social bookmarking traffic boost. I've created an include file, which works out of the box to submit to a variety of social bookmarking sites including Digg, Del.icio.us, Spurl and Furl. It uses javascript to pick up the page title and URL, so you dont need to change any of it. Just pop into an include file and away you go.
j). Lightbox JS
Lightbox is one of my fav scripts. It takes very little to get it up and running, and produces very sexy results. Simply add rel="lightbox" to your images and link directly to the image file, and up it shall pop in a very nice little window for all to see in its enlarged beauty. Works wonders for image galleries.
k). Google Analytics Code.
Google are brilliant at giving away freebies. They are quite generous like that. One of their most exciting freebies of 2005, was the inclusion of Urchin into their code product offering, giving world class javascript based Analytics to the masses for free! You can learn so much about how your visitors are behaving online simply from a few lines of code. Its important to keep track of visitor behaviour, as this can show you where your site is falling down, or what parts are proving popular. For an ecommerce website this is particularly useful as it provides feedback on how successful your Adwords campaigns are - the main reason Google provides the service in the first place - to help increase conversions through its Adwords program.
