Sharing Site Information

[ LiB ]

When working on a site with many developers, it is obvious and important that you need to make sure that everyone is working on the same set of files and using the same set of options. To help ensure that everyone is on the same page, you can use a Dreamweaver feature to ensure that everyone is connected and set up properly. Dreamweaver MX lets you import and export site definitions. This feature exports a site definition file that can be saved or shared with others. It can also serve as a backup of the site definition.

When you use a site definition file to share with others, you ensure that all the sites are defined identically.

To export a site definition, follow these steps:

1. Select Site > Manage Sites to access the Manage Sites dialog box.
   
   
2. Highlight the site you want to export, and click the Export button.
   
   
3. A dialog box opens, asking whether you want to back up your site definition or share it with others. The first option saves your specific username, password, and local root folder path . The second option does not include this information. Select the Share Settings option.
   
   
4. Click OK. A dialog box asks you to save the file to your hard drive. Give the .ste (the file extension for site definitions) a filename, and save it to your desktop.
   
   

You can now send this file to other Dreamweaver users. When the other users get it, they can double-click it to automatically open Dreamweaver, and the import proceeds. Or they can go to the Manage Site dialog, click the Import button, browse to the .ste file, and click OK.

When the site is imported, they are prompted to establish the path to the Local Root Folder for their machine. This is the folder where the local copy of the site is kept. Users have to open the Site Definition and enter their login and password information if any is required. They also have to establish a Check In/Check Out name and email if this feature will be used.

[ LiB ]