chapter 7 managing a web server and files. it’s important to perform maintenance tasks frequently...

Chapter 7

Managing a Web Server and Files

• 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.


• 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.


Link Checker panel displaying no broken links

No broken links listed


Summary

• If the Link Checker panel displays any orphaned files, you should evaluate whether to delete them or link them with existing pages.


Link Checker panel displaying one orphaned files

Three orphaned files listed


• 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.


Reports dialog box

Report on list arrow

Scope of report choices


• Design Notes– are separate files in a website that contain

additional information about a page file or a graphic file.


• Design Notes– 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.


• It’s important to ensure that the various language versions are compatible.

• To address this need, Dreamweaver can validate markup.


• To validate markup, Dreamweaver searches through the code to look for errors that could occur with different language versions.


• 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.


• You should test your website using many different types and versions of browsers, platforms, and screen resolutions.

• You should test every link to make sure it connects to a valid, active website.


• 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.

• You should analyze all feedback on the website objectively, incorporating both the positive and the negative comments to help you make improvements to the site and meet the clients’ expectations and goals.


• 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.


Accessing the server settings in the Site Setup dialog box

Servers tab

Add new Server button


• 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).


• 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.


• You can also use Secure FTP (SFTP), an FTP option, which lets you encrypt file transfers to protect your files, user names, and passwords.


• 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.


• 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.


• 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.


• 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.


• 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 that have changed.


Synchronize with Remote Server dialog box

Instructs Dreamweaver to synchronize all files in the site


• 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.

• Using Dreamweaver’s Check Out feature ensures that team members cannot overwrite each other’s pages.


• 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.


Check Out File(s) and Check in buttons on the Files Panel toolbar

Check Out File(s) button

Check In button


• 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.


• It is used in a team environment to move, copy, and delete shared files.

• You can protect files from being accessed using the svn:ignore property to create a list of files that are to be ignored in a directory.


• There may be times when you want to exclude a particular file or files from being uploaded to a server.

• You can exclude such files 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

Cloaked assets folder in the Files panel

Panel options button

Red slash indicates folder

and files in it are cloaked

Cloaking Files

• 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

• 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.


Saving The Striped Umbrella.ste file in the su_site_definition folder


• 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

• The purpose of copyright law is to promote progress in society, not expressly to protect the rights of copyright owners.

• However, the vast majority of work you might want to download and use in a project is protected by either copyright or trademark law.


• 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.


• 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


• A copyright owner has a “bundle” of six rights, consisting of:– public performance– public display– public performance by digital audio

transmission of sound recording


• By default, only a copyright holder can create a derivative work of his or her original by transforming or adapting it.


• The law builds in limitations to copyright protection.

• One limitation to copyright is fair use.• Fair use allows limited use of copyright-

protected work.


• 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.


• 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.


• Websites have rules that govern how a user may use its text and media, known as terms of use.

• The following figure is a page from the Library of Congress website stating clearly, the terms of use.


The Library of Congress home page

Link to legal information

regarding the use of content on

the website


• 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).


• 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.


– 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.


• The familiar © symbol or “Copyright” is no longer required to indicate copyright, nor does it automatically register your work.


• Before you present a website to a client as a finished project, you should do a final check on some important items:

Presenting a Website to a Client

– Do all your final design and development decisions reflect your client’s goals and requirements?

– Does the website not only fulfill your client’s goals and requirements, but those of the intended audience as well?

– Did you follow good web development practices?


– Did you check your pages against your wireframes as you developed them?

– Did you check each page against current accessibility standards?

– Did you run all necessary technical tests, such as validating the code, and searching for missing alternate text or missing page titles?


– Did you verify that all external and internal links work correctly?

– Did your final delivery date and budget meet the timeframe and budget you originally promised the 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.


• 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.


• 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.


• 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.


chapter 7 managing a web server and files. it’s important to perform maintenance tasks frequently...

Documents

active website

maintenance tasks

link checker panel

orphaned files

validation panel

assets panel

separate files

source files