Dreamweaver 8: Create a Local Web Site

Before you begin to work on a web site, you should set up a folder on a local drive (that is, a drive on your own computer or computer network) where you will hold the pages of your site. Because I am paranoid and also because I often work on sites from more than one computer, I always save my web site folders to a flash drive or a zip drive. (A diskette often has too little storage capacity to hold an entire growing site.) As you develop the individual pages of your site, save all of them to this web site folder. When you are ready to post your site on the web, you will be moving the contents of your local folder to your folder on the server of your internet service provider.
To set up a web site in Dreamweaver, click on Site, New Site from the menu bar. The Site Definition dialog box will appear. Click on the Advanced tab.

Choose Local Info in the Category box to the left. Provide a name for your site in the Site Name text box. This name can be descriptive; it can use spaces and capital letters. Click on the folder icon to the right of the Local Root Folder text box. Navigate to the drive on your local computer or network where you want to keep your web site. Choose the folder for your site by double-clicking on it.
NOTE: If you have not yet created a folder for your site, do so now by clicking on the new folder button in the upper right corner of the Open box. Do not use spaces or capital letters in either your folder names or your file names. When you have chosen a site folder, click on Open, then on Select. Dreamweaver will place the folder name in the Local Root Folder text box.
Check the Refresh local file list automatically checkbox if it isn't already checked.
Now you will need to create an images folder to hold all of the graphics for your web site. Click on the folder icon to the right of the Default Images Folder text box. Open the folder you have already designated as your web site folder. If you have not already creates an images folder in your web site folder, do so now by clicking on the new folder button in the upper right corner of the Open box. Call the folder images. Click on Open, then on Select. Dreamweaver will place the folder name in the Default Images Folder text box. Click on the Links relative to: document radio button and the Enable cache checkbox. Click on OK.
At this point you have created a local web site. From this Site Definition dialog box you can also connect your site to the remote location to which you will publish your site on the Internet.
You can make this connection by choosing the Remote Info category in the left panel of the Site Definition dialog box.

Consult with your Internet Service Provider to determine how to publish your site to the World Wide Web.
To create additional local web sites, choose Site, Manage Sites from the main menu. The Manage Sites dialog box will appear. From here you can create a new site or edit an existing site. You can also duplicate or remove a site. You can also import or export a site. To manage an existing site, choose the site, and click on the appropriate button. To create a new site, click on the New button to bring up the Site Definition dialog box.
Follow the steps outlined above to create an additional site.




• Overview • Tour Dreamweaver 8 • Create a Local Web Site •