Dreamweaver in a Nutshell

Defining a Site

Before plunging into the Site window, you should define your site, which is done in the Site Definition dialog box. If you are a graphical thinker, you may prefer to read Section 6.3 later in this chapter, to see how the Site window looks and operates, before returning here. As discussed in that section, you can view the Site window in several different ways.

Whereas “creating” a site entails building HTML pages, “defining” a site tells Dreamweaver to treat your collection of pages as part of a larger whole. Although you can define your site at any time, the earlier you do so, the sooner you can take advantage of Dreamweaver’s site management features.

Tip

Whether you start a new site or manage an existing site with Dreamweaver for the first time, the site definition procedure is the same. Dreamweaver can manage any set of files contained in a single local development folder and its subfolders (see Section 6.6 later in this chapter).

Create a separate site definition for each site you want Dreamweaver to manage. Site definitions can be created and edited under Site → Define Sites (and you can switch between existing sites using Site → Open Site). When defining a site, you specify such things as its home page, local directory, remote directory, access method, server configuration, and file tracking method.

To define a new site, use Site → New Site to open the Site Definition dialog box shown in Figure 6-2. This dialog box’s options are broken down into five categories ...