Dreamweaver
Starting a Site
Setting up a Site
In Dreamweaver, a site organizes on your local computer all the documents
associated with your website and lets you track and maintain links, manage
files, share files, and transfer your site files to a web server. A typical
Dreamweaver site has at least two parts:
• Local folder: This is your working directory. Dreamweaver refers to this
folder as your local site. The local folder is usually a folder on your hard
drive.
• Remote folder: This is where you store your files on the computer that's
running your web server. The computer running the web server is often
(but not always) the computer that makes your site publicly available on
the web.
• Testing Server Folder the folder where Dreamweaver processes dynamic
pages.
The remote folder that you specify (also referred to as the “host directory”) should correspond to
the local root folder of your Dreamweaver site. Remote folders are usually public_html, httpdocs
or something similar.
The following example shows a sample local root folder on the left and a sample remote folder
on the right. The local root folder on the local machine maps directly to the remote folder on the
web server, rather than to any of the remote folder’s sub folders, or folders that exist above the
remote folder in the directory structure.
When you first establish a remote
connection, the remote folder on the
web server is usually empty. Then, when
you use Dreamweaver to upload all of the
files in your local root folder, the remote
folder populates with all of your web files.
The directory structure of the remote
folder and the local root folder should always be the same. If the structure of the remote folder
doesn’t match the structure of the local root folder, Dreamweaver uploads files to the wrong
place, where they might not be visible to site visitors. Additionally, image and link paths can easily
break when folder and file structures are not in synch.
The remote folder must exist before Dreamweaver can connect to it.
Setting Up a New Site
Site >> New Site • Local Info
Contains the File
information
• Servers
Contains the FTP
Information
(see next 4 slides)
• Testing Server
Contains the DB
information
Servers (1 of 3)
• Choose the + symbol to add
a new connection
• Dreamweaver saves your
password by default.
Deselect the Save option if
you prefer that
Dreamweaver prompt you
for a password each time
you connect to the remote
server.
• Click Test to test your FTP
address, username, and
password.
Servers (2 of 3)
Under More Options:
• Select Use Passive FTP if
your firewall
configuration requires
use of passive FTP.
Passive FTP enables your
local software to set up
the FTP connection
rather than requesting
the remote server to set
it up.
• Select Use IPv6 Transfer
Mode if you are using an
IPv6-enabled FTP server.
• Select Use Proxy if you
want to specify a proxy
host or proxy port.
Servers (3 of 3)
Advanced FTP Options
• Select Maintain Synchronization Information if you want to automatically
synchronize your local and remote files. (This option is selected by default.)
• Select Automatically Upload Files to Server on Save if you want
Dreamweaver to upload your file to your remote site when you save the file.
• Select Enable File Check Out if you want to activate the Check In/Out
system.
Advanced Settings
Local Info
• Default Images Folder : The folder in which you want to store images for your site.
Enter the path to the folder, or click the folder icon to browse to the folder.
Dreamweaver uses the path to the folder when you add images to documents.
• Links Relative To: Specifies the kind of links Dreamweaver creates when you create
links to other assets or pages in your site. Dreamweaver can create two kinds of
links: document-relative and site root-relative. By default, Dreamweaver creates
document-relative links. If you change the default setting and select the Site Root
option, make sure the correct Web URL for the site is entered in the Web URL text
box
• Web URL: The URL of your website. If you don’t have a remote server defined
Dreamweaver uses the Web URL to create site root-relative links, and to verify
links when you use the link.
• Case-sensitive Links Checking: Checks that the case of the links matches the case
of the filenames when Dreamweaver checks links. This option is useful on UNIX
systems where filenames are case-sensitive.
• Enable Cache Indicates whether to create a local cache to improve the speed of
link and site management tasks. If you do not select this option, Dreamweaver
asks you if you want to create a cache again before it creates the site. It is a good
idea to select this option because the Assets panel (in the Files panel group) only
works if a cache is created.
Manage Sites
Use the Manage Sites dialog box to create a new site, edit a site, duplicate a
site, remove a site, or import or export a site’s settings.
Site >> Manage Sites
New Enables you to create a new site.
Edit Enables you to edit an existing site.
Duplicate Creates a copy of the site you selected.
The copy appears in the site list window.
Remove Deletes the selected site; you cannot undo
this action.
Export Enables you to export a site’s settings as an XML file (*.ste).
(see 2nd to last slide)
Import Enables you to select a site’s settings file (*.ste) to import.
(see last slide)
Exporting a Site
Site >> Manage sites >> Export
Select one or more sites whose settings you want to export and click
• If you want to back up your site settings, select the first option in the
Exporting Site dialog box and click OK. Dreamweaver saves remote server
login information, such as the user name and password, as well as local
path information.
• If you want to share your settings with other users, select the second
option in the Exporting Site dialog box and click OK. (Dreamweaver does
not save information that would not work for other users, such as your
remote server login information and local paths.)
• For each site whose settings you want to export, browse to a location
where you want to save the site and click Save. (Dreamweaver saves each
site’s settings as an XML file, with an .ste file extension.)
Importing a Site
Select Site >> Manage sites >> Import
• Browse to and select one or more sites—defined in files with
an .ste file extension—whose settings you want to import.
• Click Open and then click Done.
• After Dreamweaver imports the site settings, the site names
appear in the Manage Sites dialog box.