My website isn’t displaying

There are many reasons why your website isn't displaying, and none of them are good. If you can't see your website after you upload your site content, here are a few things you can check.

Make sure your billing is up-to-date and that your domain hasn't expired

This isn't a problem for brand-new domains and websites, but sometimes if you're super busy existing domains and sites can lapse before you know it.

• Go to you Renew Services page to make sure your payments are up-to-date and your domains are still active.

Refresh your Web browser

Occasionally you might need to clear the web browser cache to see your website:

• Chrome or Internet Explorer: press CTRL + F5
• Firefox: press CTRL + R
• Safari: press Command + Option + R

Make sure your DNS is pointed correctly

If your domain is registered with Heart Internet, we updated your DNS records when you set up your account and this shouldn't be an issue. But if your domain name is registered somewhere else, make sure that you're using the right nameservers to point your domain name to the website. For more, see:

• Find my nameservers to use when your domain is registered somewhere else.
• Change nameservers for my domains if your website is hosted somewhere else.

Make sure your website files are in the right directory

If you uploaded your website files to the wrong directory, you'll definitely have problems viewing the site. The name of the correct directory for your files depends on your hosting type:

• Linux Hosting with cPanel: /public_html for your primary domain. For a subdomain or addon domain, here's how to find the root directory:
1. In the cPanel Admin Home Page, in the Domains section, click either Subdomains or Addon Domains.
2. In the Modify Addon Domain or Modify a Subdomain section, the root directory appears below Document Root.

Check the file name for your home page

When your domain name is typed into a Web browser, the home page should display. The file name for your home page could be one of several names depending on how your website files were created (for example, index.htm or Default.html are possible). Here are valid index files in cPanel listed by order of precedence

1. index.html.var
2. index.htm
3. index.html
4. index.shtml
5. index.xhtml
6. index.wml
7. index.perl
8. index.pl
9. index.plx
10. index.ppl
11. index.cgi
12. index.js
13. index.jp
14. index.php4
15. index.php3
16. index.php
17. index.phtml
18. default.htm
19. default.html
20. home.htm
21. index.php5
22. Default.html
23. Default.htm
24. home.html

Check image file names and paths

If your images aren't displaying, make sure that the directory where the images are located and the path specified in your code match exactly.

 Note: Paths in Linux accounts are case sensitive - so if there are uppercase characters in your image name (for example, MyImage.jpg) then the path in your code must also use uppercase characters in the same places, or else the image won't appear.

Correct broken site links

If you developed your website locally, your code should adjust for the environment change that occurs when you upload site content. Web page URLs, image paths, and database names can all be environment-sensitive.

We recommend that you use relative URLs when referencing Web pages. Relative URLs identify a Web page in relation to, or in the context of, the current page. Because they do not reference the domain name, relative URLs do not require modification when changing environments.