Dreamweaver 8: Creating and Defining a Site Folder

For new Web developers, creating a Web site is challenging enough; learning Dreamweaver can seem impossible. And for many people who find Dreamweaver difficult to master, it’s creating a site folder that causes significant confusion. Let’s see if I can simplify the whole site folder deal.

Before starting Dreamweaver, the first thing you should do is select a folder on your computer (or create a new folder) to be used as a site folder. After you start Dreamweaver, you will "point" Dreamweaver to the folder. Every Web page you create from within Dreamweaver will automatically be saved to the site folder. You can manage multiple Web sites by simply defining more folders as site folders.

Create and Define a Site Folder on Your Desktop

1. If necessary, close or minimize all open windows so that you can see the desktop
2. If you are on a PC, right-click the desktop and choose New > Folder to create a new folder; right- click the new folder and choose Rename from the shortcut menu and name the new folder MyFirstSite

   If you are on a Macintosh, choose File > New Folder to create a new folder on the desktop and then name the new folder MyFirstSite

   There should now be a new folder on your desktop called MyFirstSite. Now it’s time to define this new folder as a Site Folder.

3. Start Dreamweaver
4. Choose Site > Manage Sites
5. Click the New button and choose Site
6. Select the Basic tab
7. Type Your First Name’s First Site into the Site Name area (e.g. Kevin’s First Site)
8. Click Next
9. Select No, I do not want to use a server technology
10. Click Next
11. Ensure Edit local copies on my machine, then upload to server when ready is selected
12. Click the little folder at the right
13. Navigate to the Desktop (this is where you saved the MyFirstSite folder)
14. PC users, open the MyFirstSite folder and click Select; Mac users select the MyFirstSite folder and click Choose

Want to learn more? Read our Web Authoring books.