1. In the toolbar menu at the top go to SITE/NEW SITE.
2. Click NEW.
3. Click on LOCAL INFO on the left hand pane.
4. In SITE NAME type your website's name.
5. In LOCAL ROOT FOLDER click on the yellow folder icon to browse for the folder containing your local web site files. Create a new folder if necessary.
6. Under HTTP ADDRESS, type "http://www.yourwebsite.com"
7. Check the cache ENABLE CACHE box .
8. Click on REMOTE INFO on the left hand pane.
9. Under ACCESS, choose FTP.
10. Under FTP HOST, enter the ftp host details from your website hosting provider.
11. Leave HOST DIRECTORY blank, unless you have been given one.
12. Enter the details you were given by your hosting provider under LOGIN/PASSWORD.
13. Check the SAVE box.
14. Check the PASSIVE FTP box.
15. Check Enable Check In and Check Out" and "Check Out Files when Opening.
16. Enter your details under CHECK OUT NAME and EMAIL ADDRESS.
17. Click OK.
18. Your site structure should be viewable now

If you do not have your FTP details, just leave ACCESS as none. ALso you don't need to check in/check out files if only one person is accessing the files.

At the end of this section, you’ll understand how to designate a root folder, how to add subfolders, and how the site structure can be viewed and modified using Dreamweaver’s site management features. back to top

Step-by-Step
1. Dreamweaver handles most of the work of helping you to create and define your site, but it cannot create the root folder. To do this, find a convenient spot on your hard drive and create a new folder called poinbch. Hint: I like to keep sample and exercise files on my computer's desktop. Creating new folders is easier this way, and it’s a simple job to get back to something I’m working on for further practice.

2. Open Dreamweaver and press the F8 key to open the Site window. (If this is the first time you’ve used Dreamweaver, you may get a message that says the root folder is not defined. Don’t worry. Just click OK.)

3. In the Site window, select Define Sites in the Site drop-down list box to open the Site Definition dialog box. (If you’ve already used Dreamweaver, simply select New.)

4. In the Site Definition dialog box, you need to give Dreamweaver some basic information so that you can get started. Be sure that the category Local Info is selected, as shown in Figure 4.

In addition to defining your site locally, this is the window that you’ll return to when you’re ready to upload your files to a server.

5. Give your site a name. Consider this your project name for this site. Since it isn’t something that will be posted on the Internet, you can name it as you like. Select inside the Site Name box and type Poinciana Beach CofC.back to top

6. To associate the name of the site you’re creating to the root folder where it will reside, you need to let Dreamweaver know the location of that all-important folder. Click the small folder icon to the right of the Local Root Folder box and you’ll be able to browse to the poinbch folder that you created in step 1. Double-click the poinbch folder and then choose Select (Choose on a Macintosh). When you’re finished, the name of the folder on your hard drive, as well as its path, will be displayed in the Local Root Folder box of the main Site window.

7. Be sure that the two check boxes in the Site Definition dialog box (Refresh Local File List Automatically and Enable Cache) are checked. This allows Dreamweaver to automate some of the site management tasks you’re facing, and makes your life that much easier. Click OK to let Dreamweaver know that you’re finished defining this first site.

8. You may receive a notification at this point that says “The initial cache site will now be created. This scans the files in your site and starts tracking links as you save them.” Click OK to continue.

9. Dreamweaver now displays the Define Sites dialog box. Click Done, because you’re not going to be working on any other sites at this time.

Hint: Now that you’ve defined your first site in Dreamweaver, the preceding Define Sites dialog box is the one you’ll see every time you want to make a change to a site or add a new one. If you want to maintain a folder so that you have a place to try out new skills or just play around with sample files, you can create a folder called Practice and then define a new site called Practice Files. Gaining access to the Define Sites dialog box is as simple as choosing Define Sites from the main Site window (as you did in step 3) and choosing the name of the site you want to work on. back to top

You can consider the preceding steps to be basic housekeeping for your web site. As you become more accustomed to using Dreamweaver, you’ll find yourself returning to this site definition process again and again to add, edit, and even delete sites that you’ve created.

Creating a Site Structure
Your next task is to duplicate the folder structure for your web site that you created at the beginning of this module. Dreamweaver lets you create new folders and files directly within the main Site window, which enables you to work much more efficiently. Review the site structure you defined earlier. You’ll next work step by step to create that identical structure using Dreamweaver.

Step-by-Step
1. In the main site window, you see that the web site consists of only one folder—the root folder. Dreamweaver provides the folder name and the path to the folder (your path will probably be different from the example), as well as its type (folder) and the date it was last modified.

Note: Be sure the Site Files button is selected—it’s just below the File menu in the menu bar.

2. Add a subfolder to the root folder by right-clicking the folder icon and choosing New Folder, or clicking File | New Folder. An unnamed folder appears, and a line is drawn to indicate that it is a subfolder of the root. Name this new folder Visitor.

3. To add the other folders for your site, repeat the process outlined in step 2 and create the following folders: Resident, Business, Events, and Members. When you’re finished, your budding web site should look like this:

Tip: Clicking the Local Folder bar, just above your root folder, puts your folders in alphabetical order.

4. Your next task is to add subfolders to each of the folders you created in step 3 where you will store images that you use on your site. The process is identical to the one outlined in the preceding steps. Right-click the folder you want to add the images subfolder to and then choose New Folder (or select the folder by clicking its icon and then choose File | New Folder). Create a new folder named Images in each of the five folders you just created. When you’re finished, the folders on your site will look like this and will be ready for you to start adding files to them.
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