Defining a Site and Naming Rules
Folders:
You can use letters, numbers or a combination
of the two. No spaces or special characters
(non letter symbols such as # and %). No punctuation
is allowed other than _ (underscore) and - (dash).
Also, recommended, use all lower case letters
and keep it under eight characters.
Files:
You can use letters, numbers or a combination
of the two. No spaces or special characters
(non letter symbols such as # and % or @). No
punctuation is allowed other than _ (underscore)
and - (dash). Also, recommended, use all lower
case letters and keep it under eight characters.
After the file name, put a . (dot/period) then add the extension. An extension, which some people call a suffix is a short bit of code that tells a computer what type of file it is. If it is a page, use the extension htm or html*. If it is an image file, you will use gif, jpg or jpeg, depending on the format of the image file. Of course, the file has to be that type of file, naming a file does not change it, it only describes it.
*(If you are using a UNIX server, such as the one at WCC, you can use 3 or 4 letter extensions.. If you are using a Windows NT server, use three letter extensions.)
Defining a site
The defining command identifies to the program where all the related files in a site are located. This allows you to create links between pages and between folders within the site. It will also remind you that a file that you are linking to a page is not in the root folder and give you the option of moving it there.
(File>New Folder means pull down the File menu at the top of the screen and choose the specified item. Site>Site Files View>New File mean find Site in top menu on the screen, pull it down to Site Files View and slide it over to New File. The symbol after a menu item refers to it's keyboard shortcut, a ... means that a dialog box will open and you will need to select an option before moving on.)
To define a new site:| step | check off step | Instructions for step |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Click on the desktop (the gray area of your screen where you see the documents folder icon). Create a folder for your site which you will use as the root folder for the site. (If you are using a zip disk , insert the disk, double click on the disk icon to open the disk, File>New Folder, then name the folder according to naming rules above. | |
| 2 | Launch Dreamweaver. (If you don't see the launcher, look under the Apple icon on the top of your screen and choose Control Panels, then slide over to launcher). With Dreamweaver as the active application (you will see the green, black and white icon in the upper right hand corner) Site > New Site... | |
| 3 | In the dialog box that appears, enter a name for your site. This is only for your reference, so it does not need to follow naming rules. | |
| 4 |
Click on the folder icon next to the local root folder field and navigate to the folder you have designated as the root folder for the site. When the folder is highlighted in the window in the dialog box, click on the select button. Do not open the folder. This will bring you back to the earlier dialog box, click on OK. |
|
| 5 | The program will ask you if you want to create a cache file. Select the Cache option to improve the speed of link and site management tasks. | |
| 6 | A window will open up showing the local folder (the site you are creating on your disk). | |
| 7 | Now you can add files (pages) and folders (individual holders for the pages) to organize your site. To add files (pages) click on the folder you want to put the file in and choose Site>Site Files View>New file to create a new blank page in the site. The first page in a site is named index.html. This file name is "invisible" but is recognized by the browser. To add a folder, select the folder you want to put the new folder in site and choose Site>Site Files View>New Folder. Once you create a file or a folder, name it according to the naming rules. | |
| 8 | Check that you have put the folders and files in the correct location in the root folder. To view the contents of a folder, click on the small arrow in the left hand column of the local folder window. If the arrow is pointing down, the files shown below it are inside it if the are indented. If the files or folders shown below it are aligned evenly with it, they are not in it and it is empty. | |
| 9 | To begin working on the site, double click on a file name. If it is the home page, double click on the file named index.html |
To edit or confirm that your site is set up correctly.
| step | check off step | Instructions for step |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Launch Dreamweaver. (If you don't see the launcher, look under the Apple icon on the top of your screen and choose Control Panels, then slide over to launcher). With Dreamweaver as the active application (you will see the green, black and white icon in the upper right hand corner) Choose Site>Open>"site name" | |
| 2 | The site window will open. If the disk the site was created on is not in the computer, you will get an error message. | |
| 3 | This will give you a view of all the files in the site and the folders for the site. |
To Edit the information about a site you have created.
| step | check off step | Instructions for step |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Launch Dreamweaver. (If you don't see the launcher, look under the Apple icon on the top of your screen and choose Control Panels, then slide over to launcher). With Dreamweaver as the active application (you will see the green, black and white icon in the upper right hand corner) Choose Site>Define Site... | |
| 2 | Click on the folder icon next to the local root folder field and navigate to the folder you have designated as the root folder for the site. When the folder is highlighted in the window in the dialog box, click on the select button. (Do not open the folder.) This will bring you back to the earlier dialog box, click on OK. |
Once you have started working on a site, remember:
- You should not rename files or folders within the site root folder. This will make links not work and images disappear.
- Don't rename the root folder. This will create problems.
- Don't rearrange files within a site. This will also break links and cause images to not appear.
- Don't add new folders with the existing structure. You can add folders within the lowest folder and create files to put in it, but don't add folders and put files into it that have links or images associated with them.
If you need to work on your site on another computer, do the following:
- Before you launch Dreamweaver, insert your disk. You may want to open the disk and make sure you know the location of your site root folder.
- Launch Dreamweaver. Edit>Preferences then click on" HTML rewriting" on the list on the left. Make sure the checkbox "Fix Invalidly..." is not checked. Follow the steps for Defining a site and navigate to the location of your root folder. This will allow the program to work on your site without adding information to your HTML code about the location of the files in the link and image tags.
- Open your files and work. When you move to another computer, do the same steps on that computer.