Transcript Performing Website Maintenance

Chapter 7
Managing a Web Server and Files
Performing Website Maintenance
• It’s important to perform maintenance tasks
frequently to make sure your website
operates smoothly and remains “clean.”
Performing Website Maintenance
• You should use the Assets panel to check the
list of images and colors used in your website.
• If you see images listed that are not being
used, you should move them to a storage
folder outside the website until you need
them.
Performing Website Maintenance
• Before and after you publish your website,
you should use the Link Checker panel to
make sure all internal links are working.
• If the Link Checker panel displays any broken
links, you should repair them.
Performing Website Maintenance
No broken links listed
Link Checker panel displaying no broken links
Performing Website Maintenance
Summary
No orphaned files listed
Link Checker panel displaying no orphaned files
Performing Website Maintenance
• If the Link Checker panel displays any
orphaned files, you should evaluate whether
to delete them or link them with existing
pages.
Performing Website Maintenance
• You can use the Reports command in the Site
menu to generate five different HTML reports
that can help you maintain your website.
• You choose the type of report you want to run
in the Reports dialog box.
Performing Website Maintenance
Report on list arrow
Scope of report choices
Reports dialog box
Performing Website Maintenance
• Design Notes:
– are separate files in a website that contain
additional information about a page file or a
graphic file.
Performing Website Maintenance
– work collaboratively to design a site because they
can record notes to exchange information with
other design team members about the status of a
file.
– are a good place to store information about the
source files for graphics, such as Flash or
Fireworks files.
Performing Website Maintenance
Status list arrow
Current date
and note
added
Show when
file is opened
checkbox
Insert date icon
Design Notes dialog box
Performing Website Maintenance
• It’s important to ensure that the various
language versions are compatible.
• To address this need, Dreamweaver can
validate markup.
Performing Website Maintenance
• To validate markup, Dreamweaver searches
through the code to look for errors that could
occur with different language versions.
Performing Website Maintenance
• The Results tab group displaying the
Validation panel opens and lists any pages
with errors, the line numbers where the errors
occur, and an explanation of the errors.
Performing Website Maintenance
The café page has no
errors or warnings listed
The Validation panel with no errors or warnings found
Performing Website Maintenance
• You should test your website using many
different types and versions of browsers,
platforms, and screen resolutions.
Performing Website Maintenance
• You can use the Check browser compatibility
button on the Document toolbar to check for
issues with your site pages that might cause
problems when they are viewed using certain
browsers.
Performing Website Maintenance
• Adobe has an application called Adobe
BrowserLab that is a useful tool for crossbrowser and cross-platform compatibility
testing.
Performing Website Maintenance
• If, in your testing, you find any pages that
download slowly, reduce their size to improve
performance.
• Consider optimizing graphics by cropping or
resizing images, reducing the number of
media files, or streamlining the page code.
Performing Website Maintenance
• As part of your ongoing site testing, you
should present the web pages at strategic
times in the development process to your
team members and to your clients for
feedback and evaluation.
Publishing a Website and Transferring
Files
• A web server is a computer with software that
enables it to host websites and is connected
to the Internet with an IP (Internet Protocol)
address so that it is available on the Internet.
Publishing a Website and Transferring
Files
• Before you can publish a site to a web server,
you must first define the remote site by
specifying the Servers settings in the Site
Setup dialog box.
Publishing a Website and Transferring
Files
Servers
tab
Add new
Server
button
Accessing the server settings in the Site Setup dialog box
Publishing a Website and Transferring
Files
• You can set up a server for testing purposes
only and a server for the live website.
• The most common connection setting is FTP
(File Transfer Protocol).
Publishing a Website and Transferring
Files
• If you choose FTP, you need to specify a server
address and folder name on the FTP site
where you want to store your site root folder.
Publishing a Website and Transferring
Files
• You can also use Secure FTP (SFTP), an FTP
option, which lets you encrypt fi le transfers to
protect your fi les, user names, and
passwords.
Publishing a Website and Transferring
Files
Server name
User login
information
to access
remote
server
FTP site location
Connection method
Folder on
FTP site
where site
will be
published
Viewing remote server settings
Publishing a Website and Transferring
Files
• Once you have set up a remote server, you can
then view the remote folder in the Files panel
by choosing Remote view from the View list.
• If your remote site is located on an FTP server,
Dreamweaver will connect to it.
Publishing a Website and Transferring
Files
• After you set up a remote site, you need to
upload, or copy, your files from the local
version of your site to the remote host.
Publishing a Website and Transferring
Files
• If a file you select for uploading requires
additional files, such as graphics, a dialog box
opens after you click the Put File(s) button and
asks if you want those files (known as
dependent files) to be uploaded.
Publishing a Website and Transferring
Files
• If you are developing or maintaining a website
in a group environment, there might be times
when you want to transfer or download files
that other team members have created from
the remote site to your local site.
Publishing a Website and Transferring
Files
• The Synchronize command instructs
Dreamweaver to compare the dates of the
saved files in both versions of the site, then
transfers only copies of files.
Publishing a Website and Transferring
Files
Instructs
Dreamweaver to
synchronize all
files in the site
Synchronized Files dialog box
Checking Files Out and In
• When you work on a large website, chances
are that many people will be involved in
keeping the site up to date.
• Different individuals will need to make
changes or additions to different pages of the
site.
Checking Files Out and In
• Checking files in and out is similar to checking
library books in and out or video/DVD rentals.
• Using Dreamweaver’s Check Out feature
ensures that team members cannot overwrite
each other’s pages.
Checking Files Out and In
• When this feature is enabled, only one person
can work on a file at a time.
• When a file is checked in, you cannot make
edits to it unless you check it out again.
Checking Files Out and In
Check Out File(s)
button
Check In button
Check Out File(s) and Check in buttons on the Files Panel toolbar
Checking Files Out and In
• Another file management tool is Subversion
control.
• A remote SVN (Apache Subversion) repository
is used to maintain current and historical
versions of your website files.
Cloaking Files
• There may be times when you want to exclude
a particular file or files from being uploaded to
a server.
• You can exclude such fi les by cloaking them,
which marks them for exclusion from several
commands.
Cloaking Files
• In addition to cloaking a file or group of files,
you might also want to cloak an entire folder.
• For example, if you are not concerned with
replacing outdated image files, you might
want to cloak the assets folder of a website to
save time when synchronizing files.
Cloaking Files
Panel options
button
Red slash indicates folder
and files in it are cloaked
Cloaked assets folder in the Files panel
Importing and Exporting a Site
Definition
• When you move a site, you need to move its
site definition.
• The site definition for a website contains
important information about the site,
including its URL, preferences that you’ve
specified, and other secure information.
Importing and Exporting a Site
Definition
Import Site dialog box
Importing and Exporting a Site
Definition
• If you want to be able to access the site
settings in a website that someone else has
created, you can import the site definition file
once you have the necessary .ste file.
Importing and Exporting a Site
Definition
Saving The Striped Umbrella.ste file in the su_site_definition folder
Importing and Exporting a Site
Definition
• Intellectual property is a product resulting
from human creativity.
• It can include inventions, movies, songs,
designs, clothing, and so on.
Evaluating Web Content for Legal Use
• Copyright protects the particular and tangible
expression of an idea, not the idea itself.
• Trademark protects an image, word, slogan,
symbol, or design used to identify goods or
services.
Evaluating Web Content for Legal Use
• A copyright owner has a “bundle” of six rights,
consisting of:
– reproduction (including downloading)
– creation of derivative works (for example, a movie
version of a book)
– distribution to the public
Evaluating Web Content for Legal Use
• A copyright owner has a “bundle” of six rights,
consisting of:
– public performance
– public display
– public performance by digital audio transmission
of sound recording
Evaluating Web Content for Legal Use
• The law builds in limitations to copyright
protection.
• One limitation to copyright is fair use.
• Fair use allows limited use of copyrightprotected work.
Evaluating Web Content for Legal Use
• Work that is no longer protected by copyright
is in the public domain; anyone can use it
however you wish for any purpose.
• In general, the photos and other media on
Federal government websites are in the public
domain.
Evaluating Web Content for Legal Use
• A licensing agreement is the permission given
by a copyright holder that conveys the right to
use the copyright holder’s work under certain
conditions.
Evaluating Web Content for Legal Use
• Websites have rules that govern how a user
may use its text and media, known as terms of
use.
• The Library of Congress website states clear
terms of use.
Evaluating Web Content for Legal Use
Link to legal
information
regarding the
use of content
on the website
The Library of Congress home page
Evaluating Web Content for Legal Use
Library of Congress website copyright information
Evaluating Web Content for Legal Use
• The permissions process is specific to what
you want to use (text, photographs, music,
trademarks, merchandise, and so on) and how
you want to use it (school term paper,
personal website, fabric pattern).
Evaluating Web Content for Legal Use
• How you want to use the work determines the
level and scope of permissions you need to
secure.
• Your request should contain the following:
– Your full name, address, and complete contact
information.
Evaluating Web Content for Legal Use
– A specific description of your intended use.
– A signature line for the copyright holder.
– A target date when you would like the copyright
holder to respond.
Evaluating Web Content for Legal Use
• The familiar © symbol or “Copyright” is no
longer required to indicate copyright, nor does
it automatically register your work.
Evaluating Web Content for Legal Use
• When you post or publish it, you are stating
clearly to those who may not know anything
about copyright law that this work is claimed
by you and is not in the public domain.
Evaluating Website to a Client
• Before you present a website to a client as a
finished project, you should do a final check
on some important items.
– Do all your final design and development
decisions reflect your client’s goals and
requirements?
Evaluating Website to a Client
– Did you follow good web development practices?
– Did your final delivery date and budget meet the
timeframe and budget you originally promised the
client?
Evaluating Website to a Client
• Client communication, both at the beginning
of a project and throughout a project, is
critical to a successful web design and a solid
customer relationship.
Evaluating Website to a Client
• To communicate with your client and ensure a
mutual understanding of the project, you
could also use BaseCamp, a web-based
project collaboration tool that many
companies use.
Evaluating Website to a Client
• To present the final project, consider
publishing the site to a server and sending the
client a link to view the completed website.
• Creating PDFs of the site and sending them to
the client for approval is another possible
method.
Evaluating Website to a Client
• Another communication option is to invite the
client to your office and do a full walkthrough
of the site with them, which offers them a
chance to ask questions.
• This is probably one of the best options if it is
• feasible.