Defining your site

1. First step is to create a local copy of your web site. The local copy of your website can reside anywhere on your computer. To do this, create a folder on your computer that will store the files for your web site For the purposes of this tutorial, the folder will be called "Test web site" and will be stored in the "My site" folder.

If you already have a local copy of your site on your computer and are just using Dreamweaver for the first time, then you don't have to create a new folder.

2. The next step is to let Dreamweaver know where the local copy of your web site is stored so that you can edit and create web pages easily and efficiently from within Dreamweaver. To do this, on the menu bar, on the top of the main edit window, click Site Define Sites...

3. A window will pop-up

You may have other sites in the window above, not worry. You will create a new site, so click New...
4. You will then presented with a window like the following

5. In the Site Name field, type the name of your site.

6. In the Local Root Folder field, you must navigate to the new folder that you created above. If you are continuing work on a previous site, you can select the folder in which your site is located. To do this, click the folder icon and you will be presented with a file window. Navigate to your folder and then select it.

7. In the HTTP Address field, type the Web address. For example, web site with http://www.wvdg.westvallet.edu.

8. Ensure that the Cache field is checked as well as Refresh Local File List Automatically.

9. After you have completed that, look at the top of this window and find the heading entitled Category. Click the Remote Info option. Under the Access field, ensure that you have FTP as the selection.

10. When FTP is selected, you will need to fill in the associated fields, below:

In the FTP Host field, type the name of your FTP Server, where the files can be stored. For example, www.wvdg.westvalley.edu is the name of the FTP Host.

Note: You can also leave the Host Directory blank.

In the Login and Password fields, you can type the username and password given to you by your systems administrator, in this case would be "wvdg". Click Save.

Note: All other checkboxes should not be selected.

11. Press OK. Dreamweaver will now scan the files in your site. If you are defining a new site, this process should not take long. However, if you are continuing work on a previous site, expect to be delayed until Dreamweaver has finished scanning all the files.

12. In the Define Sites window, above, ensure that your site is selected and then press Done.