Defining a Site Profile

The site management feature of Dreamweaver is based on a site profile that needs to be created. This profile contains all the data necessary for administering a site, both on your local disk and on the Internet. Among other things, it contains information for connecting to your hosting server at your provider's site and about the local configuration of your site.

The first step is to create a profile for your site:

1. In Dreamweaver, select Site > New Site from the Document window.
   
   
The site definition process opens the Local Information window. This information relates to the configuration of your site on your hard disk.



Figure 1: Local information about your site


2. Enter a name for your site profile in the Site Name field.
   
   
3. Select the working folder on your hard disk using the browsing button to enter the information in the Local Root Folder field.
   
   

The second step concerns information for connecting to your remote hosting server:

1. Click on the Remote Info option in the left-hand list of the dialog box.
   
   
2. Select FTP in the Access field.
   
   
The window changes to allow you to enter your connection parameters.



Figure 2: Connection information for your site


3. Fill in the various fields displayed with the connection data appropriate to your hosting provider. This could be:
   
   
. FTP Host: ftp.hostingprovider.com

. Login: your user id with the provider

. Password: your password


4. Tick the Use Passive FTP check box if your provider requires it.
   
   
5. Click on OK to validate the information entered and to create your site profile.
   
   

The profile contains other information which will only be useful when collaborating with a site designer to avoid the overwriting of files that are updated or when publishing information about the work progress.