A path is an address

Every file has one. Folders nest inside folders, and the path spells out the route.

• Windows: C:\Users\Amina\Documents\cv.pdf
• Mac and Linux: /home/amina/Documents/cv.pdf

Absolute versus relative

An absolute path starts from the very top and works from anywhere. A relative path starts from where you are:

• images/logo.png, a folder beside me
• ./logo.png, right here
• ../logo.png, one level UP, then logo.png

Every broken image on a first website is a relative path pointing somewhere that does not exist. Once ../ makes sense, most of them stop happening.

Naming files like a professional

• No spaces in anything a web server will serve, use - or _
• Lowercase, because Linux servers treat Logo.PNG and logo.png as different files
• Dates as 2026-08-19 so they sort correctly
• final-final-v3-REAL.docx is not a versioning system