Chapter 2. Developing Site Structure

What You Will Learn

In this lesson, you will:

• Set up a local and a remote site in Dreamweaver

• Create folders to make a new site structure

• Bring existing site elements into the new organization

Approximate Time

This lesson takes approximately 45 minutes to complete.

Lesson Files

Media Files:

None

Starting Files:

LessonFiles/Lesson_02/All files and folders

Completed Files:

None

The underlying structure of a site often develops organically. As the developer creates the various pages and subsections of the site, files are stored in a variety of folders; as more sections are needed, any new folders created are placed wherever it seems appropriate at the time. Often, the site organization reflects the designer's own preferences (which is fine if the designer is the only one who ever modifies the site).

Macromedia Contribute, of course, changes the playing field. A site intended for use in Contribute is potentially modified by many people. More importantly, it's often vital that content contributors be restricted to their own area of interest: You don't typically want administrative assistants in human resources updating press release announcements. Contribute gives you the power to define who can edit which pages, but you need to structure the site with these requirements in mind. An organically organized site is no longer an option: The overall site must be laid out as carefully as any individual page. This lesson describes one structure that can be adapted to a variety of situations.

Dreamweaver has some real power features to help you bring an existing site into a Contribute-ready structure.

Frequently, Contribute capability is added to an existing rather than a new site. Designers are then tasked with modifying the site structure to accommodate the new features and restrictions of Contribute. Web pages within a site often use relative links to connect to one another, and changing the location of a file can alter the link required. Another goal of this lesson is to demon strate how you can restructure a site without tediously fixing a vast number of broken links.