Dreamweaver MX: The Missing Manual

Find and Fix Broken Links

Broken links are inevitable. If you delete a file from your site, move a page or graphic outside of Dreamweaver, or simply type an incorrect path to a file, broken links and missing graphics may result. In the B.D. era (before Dreamweaver), the only way to fix such problems was to methodically examine every page and every link on every page in your site. Fortunately, Dreamweaver’s link-checking features can automate the process of tracking down broken-link problems.

Note

In this context, a link doesn’t only mean a hyperlink connecting one page to another. Dreamweaver also uses the term to include the paths that identify external files incorporated in your Web page, such as GIFs, JPEGs, external CSS style sheets, and Flash movies. For example, if a graphic is missing or isn’t in the place specified by the Web page, Dreamweaver will report a broken link.

Finding Broken Links

The Check Links Sitewide command scans an entire site’s worth of files and reports all links and paths that don’t lead to a file. (It’s one of Dreamweaver’s site management features, meaning that you have to define a local site before using this command; see page 25.) Note that Dreamweaver only checks links and paths within the local site folder; it doesn’t check links that lead to other people’s Web sites.

Note

If your local site contains a lot of pages, you may want to not check the links in one or more folders whose pages you know have no broken links. You can exclude files from the Check ...