FTP'ing to the HSTA Server

The webpages you have created and linked together in your root folder form a local site that is stored on your hard drive or disk. In order for your site to be accessible on the Net, you need to copy them to a remote site, in this case the HSTA Server. The remote site could also be a local network like the your school network. This process is called FTP or file transfer protocol. You can ftp from within Dreamweaver using the following instructions.

Before Proceeding, you will need to contact Michelle Rodney, HSTA Information Systems Specialist, mrodney@hsc.wvu.edu,to have a folder created on the server to accept your webpages and a password for accessing that folder. If ftp'ing to another remote site or network, contact the Web administrator to obtain the information needed.

Before you can upload your local site, make sure that you have defined the home page for your site and checked all of the links.

Defining a Home Page for Your Site: The home page is the index or default page for your site, meaning it is the page that appears first and contains links to all of your other pages. The file name for home page can anything you want, but you should include index or default somewhere in the file name. If you name the file simply default, Dreamweaver automatically assigns that page as your home page.

1. Choose Site on the tool bar and select Open Site.

A menu of all the sites you have created appears.

2. Select your site from the list of sites on the menu.

The Site window appears with the files contained in your local site listed on the right.

3. Select your home page file from the list.
4. Choose Site from the tool bar and select Set as Homepage.

Once you have defined your homepage you can create a site map. For information of working with site maps, see your manual.

Checking Links Sitewide: Dreamweaver can check all your links and generates a report on their status. There are numerous ways to do a sitewide links check

1. Choose Site from the tool bar and select Open Site.
2. Select the site you want to check from the menu list. It should have a check mark to the left of its name when selected.

3. Choose Site from the tool bar and select Check Links Sitewide.

A Link Checker report appears.

Broken links are just that, links that are not working because they are not properly defined or because the files that support them are missing from the root folder. External links are links to URL's or other files sources outside of your site. Orphaned links are files within your root folder to which no links currently exist. It is always a good practice to cleam up you folder and remove any extra files that are orhphaned, but you can leave them until your are finished with all of your web pages since you may need them for creation of additional pages or editing of existing pages.

You can see a listing of the broken links, orphaned files, and external links by selecting the desired item from the drop-down menu on the link checker. You can save your report for future reference by selecting Save on the link checker. Make changes as needed until you get a clean report on the links sitewide.

Once you have checked your links, you are ready to upload your site to the server.

Setting up a connection to the HSTA Server (remote site): This procedure is required for the first-time connection only. Once the site has been defined and the connection parameters set, you will be able to access and connect to the HSTA server simply by following the setps described below under Reconnecting to the HSTA Server.

1. Choose Site from the toolbar and select Define Sites from the menu.

The Define Site dialog box appears.

2. Select (highlight) the desired site from the list and click Edit.

The Site Definition diapog box opens.

3. Select Remote Info. from the Category List on the left. .
4. Select ftp from the Access menu.
5. Type the following information into the text boxes in the Site Definition dialog box:

   FTP Host - www.wv-hsta.org Host Directory - LEAVE THIS BLANK Login - [your first initial and last name, no spaces, goes here] Password - [password provided to you via email goes here] NOTE: Leaving the Save password checked will allow anyone using your computer to access the server. Uncheck the Save password box. You will be asked to re-enter your password later in the ftp'ing process. Choose Use Passive FTP

6. Click OK.
7. Click Done on the Define Site dialog box.

Connecting to the Server:

1. Choose Site from the toolbar and select Open Site.

The Site window appears.

2. Either select Connect from Site on the tool bar or click on the Connects to remote host tool icon.

3. Enter your password in the dialog box.

4. Click OK. Your computer will search for and establish a connection to the HSTA server and open your folder.

When you initially connect to the server and open your folder, it will be empty. Once you have uploaded the folder and all of its files it will open with a full display of all the files in it. Your local site files are on the right and the remote site files are on the left.

Uploading your Local Site to the HSTA Server:

Uploading is accomplished by simply selecting your root folder on the right and clicking and dragging it into the remote site on the left or by using the blue up arrow on the Site tool bar.

Uploading of your entire may take some time so be patient.

As you make chnages to your web pages, you may wish to switch to uploading specifc files.

The hardest part of uploading you site files to the server is making sure that what you want to upload gets uploaded and that you don't miss any additional files you have created or changes that you have made. To prevent any confusion, I strongly suggest using the Select Newer Files option from Edit on the Site window.Using this option causes Dreamweaver to compare the modification dates on all local files to the dates of the files on the remote site and selects only the newer local files.

1. Choose Edit from the Site window tool bar.
2. Select Newer Local. Your newer files will be highlighted on the local site list.
3. Choose Site from the Site window tool bar.
4. Select Put.
5. Select Yes in the Dependent Files dialog box.

Dreamweaver will upload all the highlighted files from your local site to the remote site including any image or other files that are linked to or embedded in your the newer versions of your pages. Just be sure that you transfer all the files that you want and that they are placed in the correct folders in the remote site.

There are other ways to upload changes to your pages. As you become more familiar with uploading, you may want to explore these options. For information on other options, see you manual.

Downloading files from the HSTA Server:

You can download your entire site or specfic files from the remote site by simply clicking and dragging the desired files from the remote on the left of the Site window or by using the green down arrow.

A variety of dialog boxes will appear asking about overwriting existing files. The "Yes to All" option will allow the process to proceed in the fastest way, but limits your control over the overwriting process.