WebCT Vista File Formats and File Naming Conventions

Common file types: 

All files that you link in your WebCT Vista section must be in a format that is useable on the web. The following table lists some common formats which will display in the user’s browser window.

File Format	Description	
.htm or .html	Hyper Text Mark-up Language (file format used for web pages)	
.txt	Text document, created by Notepad or SimpleText	
.gif	Graphics Interchange Format (image format for flat color graphics)	
.jpg	Joint Photographic Experts Group (image format for photographic type graphics)	

File types that require a helper application: 

The following table lists several of the file types that can be linked in a WebCT Vista section if users have the application or plug-in installed on their computers. A link to the required application is provided. 

Type of document and file extension	Required Application	
MS Word .doc	MS Word or Word Viewer	
MS Excel .xls	MS Excel or Excel Viewer	
MS PowerPoint .ppt	MS PowerPoint or PowerPoint Viewer	
Portable Document File .pdf	Adobe Acrobat Reader	
Shockwave Flash .swf	Flash Player	
Sound files .wav, .aif, .ram	Windows Media Player, QuickTime, RealPlayer	
Video files .avi, .mov, .mpg, .rm	Windows Media Player, QuickTime, RealPlayer	

Note that most Windows Office Viewers are not available for Macintosh users, with the exception of PowerPoint Viewer. It is recommended that you save word files as web pages (filtered) or Rich Text Format (.rtf). Most word processors can open .rtf files.

File and Folder Naming Conventions:
Names of files and folders must be alphanumeric and must not contain any of the following:
• spaces
• tabs
• line breaks
• paragraph returns
• : ~ {} ! @ # $ % ^ & * () + [] | \ < > / ? ; ‘ “

Audio/Video and Streaming Files:

Due to the complexity and size of audio and video files, users should not include these types of files within WebCT Vista. WebCT Vista does not have the capacity to handle large files well. Audio and video streams must be uploaded to a streaming server.