Defining a Site Dreamweaver MX
What is defining a site?
This seems to be the most confusing aspect in getting started with Dreamweaver. When you define a site in Dreamweaver, you associate a folder and the related files inside Dreamweaver. For example, most people have recipes which inform them how to make a specialty dish. People collect and store these recipes in a cookbook, which has a name of Mom’s Specialties. Using this example, Mom’s Specialties is our folder and the recipes are the related files. You simply instruct Dreamweaver where to find this folder in your site definition. Your site definition can be named anything you want. In our example, it could be Mom’s Specialties.
In this tutorial, let’s define a site for Midwest Web Design. Do note the screen shots may differ slightly from version to version.
Create your folder
First, we’ll create a new folder on our hard drive. Follow these steps:
- From the Desktop, double-click My Computer
- In this window, double-click Local Disk (C :)
- In this window, from the main menu select File>New>Folder
- Type Midwest, and press enter
- Keep this window open but minimize it by clicking the left outer button at the top of the window:
Open Dreamweaver
Follow these steps to open Dreamweaver:
- From the Desktop, locate the Start button
- Select Start>Programs>Macromedia>Macromedia Dreamweaver MX
Create the site
In Dreamweaver, on the right side you will see a files panel:
If we had a site defined it would appear. Follow these steps to define a site which associates our folder, Midwest, in Dreamweaver:
- Left click the blue link Define a Site, the following window shows:
- We need to give our site a name, type Midwest
- Left click Next and the following window shows:
We need to select whether we are using a server technology. Server technologies include ASP, ASP.NET, aspx, Coldfusion, etc. Since we are not using a server technology, leave the settings in this window as is.
- Left click Next and the following window shows:
In Dreamweaver you have three options when working with your files:
- Edit Local Copies on my machine, and then upload when ready
- Edit directly on server using local network
- Edit directly on server using FTP or RDS
Leave the default option selected. We also need to instruct Dreamweaver where to find our Midwest folder. Follow these steps:
- Left click the yellow folder icon:
- The following window shows:
- Select the drop down list and Local Disk (C:):
- Select Midwest:
- Left click Open, which shows this window :
The Midwest folder has no content because we have not created any files.
- Left click Select, the window will close
- Site definition wizard in Dreamweaver shows a modified path in the text box:
Notice that Dreamweaver is showing the correct hard drive partition and location.
- Left click Next, this window will show:
We need to inform Dreamweaver how to connect to our remote server:
- Select FTP and this expanded window shows:
The fields are explained below:
- What is the hostname or FTP address of your Web Server?
- This comes from your hosting provider. It can take two values:
- FTP address:
- IP address:
- 122.34.56.9
- What folder on the server do you want to store your files in?
- Servers are just like your computer. They have folders to store your files. This will also come from your host.
- What is your FTP login:
- This comes from your host. Though it’s not clear, you enter your username
- What is your FTP password:
- This comes from your host.
Once this information is entered, left click Test Connection. If it succeeds, you get this window:
- Left click OK
- Left click Next and this window shows:
We need to inform Dreamweaver whether to enable check-in/check-out. This concept ensures that two people cannot edit and publish the same file at the same time. If you work in a team, this is typically used. If you work by yourself, it would be rather pointless. Leave the default option selected.
- Left click Next and this window shows:
Dreamweaver summarizes our information.
- Left click Done, the site definition wizard closes and the files panel shows:
Our site definition, Midwest has been created. You can have as many site definitions as you want. You should notice Dreamweaver isn’t showing any files, because none exist. You should also notice Dreamweaver shows the path to your folder on our hard drive. It should be clear now that creating a site definition in Dreamweaver maps the location to the hard drive so that Dreamweaver can reflect changes and subsequently upload files to your server, all stored in one convenient location.
Creating an HTML file
We can create an HTML file in Dreamweaver by using the Files panel. Follow these steps:
- Right click the root site definition and select New File:
- Untitled.htm will show below your site definition:
We can also see untitled.htm inside our Midwest folder from my computer. Follow these steps:
- Left click the Midwest folder on your taskbar to restore the window
- Double-click the Midwest folder
- There should be a file named untitled.htm:
Each file or folder you place inside the Midwest folder or that’s created inside the Files panel of Dreamweaver will be seen in both places. You are now ready to start creating the site of your dreams!
If you questions, contact me.