How Dreamweaver Handles Local Sites

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At the core of Dreamweaver site management is the concept of the local site. The local site is a complete version of your website that exists on your computer. It consists of all the same documents and resources that will eventually become your published website, in the same arrangement of files and folders. Your local site is your developmental testing ground. You store pages that you are currently working on, as well as any other resources, in the local site. You create an organized folder structure for your elements and manage your page content from here. Local site tools built into Dreamweaver allow you to perform spell checks, find-and-replace operations, and consistency checks.

You define a local site in Dreamweaver by pointing Dreamweaver to the folder on your computer where you plan to store all of your local site files. This folder is called the local root folder. After you've designated a folder as the local root folder, Dreamweaver treats any item placed within that folder as part of your site. To add a document or resource to your site, simply put it in this folder; to remove a document or resource without actually deleting it from your computer, move it out of this folder. All the while you're working on the various files in your site, Dreamweaver is watching the local root folder, keeping track of which files are being added or removed, noting whenever files or folders are renamed or rearranged, and examining the relationships between documents to make sure the site's relative links are accurate. The local root folder is integral to your Dreamweaver site-building experience.

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