Public_Access_Page Dreamweaver 4.0 Tutorial

Lesson Four: Publishing Your Web Site


Testing Your Web Site

Testing your site is essential. You want to be certain that your pages function properly. You want to repair any of your Web site's broken links. Test the pages in different browsers and on different platforms.

Use Dreamweaver 4.0's Check Target Browsers feature to test browser compatibility. Frequently previewing the Web site in a browser will help to identify and correct problems, particularly the site's links.

1. Open the File menu.

2. Click on the Check Links (Shift+F8) command.

Figure 34 The File menu with the
Check Links command highlighted.


The Link Checker dialog box appears.


Figure 35 The Link Checker dialog box. Note the 10 external links. These links are to other sites.

The Files column identifies what Broken Link files need repairing.

Setting Up Your Web Site/Remote Site

You need to set up your local site first before setting up a remote site. Follow the instructions in Lessons One through Four to develop your Web site. After this you do this, you can setup the remote site. If you do not know the remote site's location, ask your system administrator or host service provider.

This example uses California State University, Chico as the host service provider. To publish the Chico Chapter Society for Technical Communication Web site, you have several tasks to accomplish.

1. Apply for a Web server account.

For this example, setup an account through the California State University, Chico Web site. See the university Web page How to be a Web Contributor:

(http://www.csuchico.edu/computing/INTERNET/webtrn.html).

Follow the online instructions in applying for an account.

If you are hosting your Web site with another server, setup an account with the service provider.

2. Confirm your URL address.

The university, at the time of this publication, will email you a confirmation notice.

If you are using another host server, the service provider should provide a confirmation of the URL address.

3. Review your Web site.

Make sure your site conforms to any guidelines or policies the host service provider requires. For this example, review the university's Web Guidelines To review the California State University, Chico Web Guidelines you can go to the previous site, How to be a Web Contributor:

(http://www.csuchico.edu/computing/INTERNET/webtrn.html)

This page can link you to the California State University, Chico Web Guidelines page. It also has links to several other useful links, including HTML reference guides.

4. Upload your Web site documents.

For this example, the university requires you to use the following steps:

4a. Open your FTP application.

4b. Reference www.csuchico.edu as the host and your own userid and password.

Note: Before you open the connection, write down what directory you will be referencing when you open the connection. Leave the default directory (if supplied) blank. This will put you in your own www directory when you open the session.

4c. Issue an FTP command to change to the department Web directory in one of two ways:

i) Use the change directory command.
Usually in the FTP application pull-down menus. Change to your directory using the following convention:

--/user/webdocs/ "dept"

where "dept" is a valid department abbreviation.

Or use the following:

ii) Use the GUI (Graphical User Interface) navigational functions supplied with your FTP program to move to your directory.

Usually you do this with a series of "up-level" click until you reach the "/m3" directory. You can then navigate down to "/m3/webdocs," then proceed to your own department's directory.

4d. Upload your Web site documents to your Web directory.

4e. Set file permissions on your documents.

4f. Exit the FTP program.

5. Test your site.

To check the site for any errors, go to your Web server and type the URL into your browser.

For this example, use the following convention:

(http://www.csuchico.edu/"dept"/"docname")

To_Glossary Glossary of Terms

Go to: Getting Started | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Lesson 1 | Lesson 2 | Lesson 3 | Lesson 4 | Lesson 5 | Lesson 6 | Home Page | About | Administrative | Activities | Constitution | Program | Professional | Treasurer's | How to Join | How to Contribute | .

Copyright © 2001 Chico STC Chapter. Send comments to (jjayj@mail.csuchico.edu). Last Updated: 13 June 2001.