Publishing your website

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This tutorial shows you how to set up a remote site in Dreamweaver. A remote site is usually a place on a remote computer, running a web server that holds copies of your local files. Users access the remote site running on the web server when they view your pages in a browser.

In the previous tutorial we covered how to add links to a website using the properties panel, how to change a links colour using the page property window, from the properties panel an how to create the about and pictures pages by using save as.

In this tutorial, you will complete the following tasks:

• Define a remote folder
• Upload your local files

Please be sure to visit all previous tutorials. You have to have knowledge of or a good understanding of the previous tutorials before starting this tutorial.

Learn about remote sites

After you create a website, the next step is to publish it by uploading the files to a remote folder. A remote folder is where you store your files for testing, production, collaboration, and publication (depending on your environment). Dreamweaver refers to this folder as your remote site.

Before you can proceed, you must have access to a remote web server—such as your ISP's server, a server owned by the client you're working for, an intranet server within your company, or an Internet Information Services (IIS) server on a Windows computer. If you don't have access to such a server, contact your ISP, your client, or your system administrator.

Alternatively, you can run a web server such as IIS (Windows) or Apache (Macintosh) on your local computer. For more help and support please click here. You can also use our follow along video tutorials to help with this section.

Define a remote folder

Now you will set up a remote folder so that you can publish your web pages. The remote folder often has the same name as the local folder because your remote site is usually an exact duplicate of your local site. That is, the files and subfolders that you post to your remote folder are copies of the files and subfolders that you create locally.

1. In Dreamweaver, select Site > Manage Sites.

2. In the Manage Sites dialog box, select the Bath Company site. If you did not define the Bath Company site, create a local folder for the site before you proceed. See Setting up your first site.

3. Click Edit.

4. In the Site Definition dialog box, click the Advanced tab if the Advanced settings aren't showing.

5. Select Remote Info from the Category list on the left.

6. Select an Access option.

The most common methods for connecting to a server on the Internet are FTP and SFTP; the most common method for connecting to a server on your intranet, or to your local computer if you're using that as a web server, is Local/Network. If you aren't sure what to select, ask the server's system administrator.

7. Select FTP, enter the following options:

• Enter the host name of the server (for example, ftp.yourdomain.com).
• In the Host directory text box, enter the path on the server from the FTP root folder to the remote site's root folder (bath_company). If you're not sure of the path, consult your system administrator. In many cases, this text box should be left blank.
• Enter your user name and password in the appropriate text boxes.
• If your server supports SFTP, select the Use Secure FTP (SFTP) option.
• Click Test to test your connection.
• If the connection is unsuccessful, consult your system administrator.

8. Click OK. 9. Dreamweaver creates a connection to the remote folder. 10. Click Done to close the Manage Sites dialog box.

For more help and support please click here or visit the video tutorial section by clicking here.

Upload your local files

After you set up your local and remote folders, you can upload your files from your local folder to the web server. To make your pages publicly accessible, you must upload them even if the web server is running on your local computer.

1. In the Files panel at the right of the design window (Window > Files), select the site's local root folder (bath_company).

2. Click the blue Put Files arrow icon in the Files panel toolbar (see below).

3. When Dreamweaver asks if you want to put the entire site, click OK.

Dreamweaver copies all of the files to the remote folder you defined in the previous section. This operation may take some time, as Dreamweaver must upload all of the files in the site.

4. Open your remote site in a browser to make sure all of the files uploaded correctly.

Note: If you encounter problems with FTP access, ask your local system administrator for help.

For further help and support please check the online Dreamweaver
forum. Or visit the video tutorial for this section.

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