Aim:
When you start to build your web site, you may find you are instantly hit with seemingly archaic terms and phrases that make no sense. What is a local directory? What is a root directory?
Resources:
Details:
It can be very confusing if you aren't certain. Searching each individual term online can be time consuming and frustrating as so many professionals disagree on web site topics. You may find definitions that completely contradict one another or words that have entirely different meanings at each site.
In the lesson we're going to get started with the real basics...
The best approach to crafting your web site is to think of it as a "mirror" of sorts. The files you store on your host's computer will be a mirror image of those on your hard drive. You will make changes to your pages with your computer. The copy of your web site that is stored on your computer is called a "local" web site. This just means it's closest to you.
When you first begin to make your web site, you will need to tell Dreamweaver where this local folder will be. I like to create a new folder called My Websites inside the “My documents” folder I then create one folder for each new website within the “my websites” folder.
Once you create this new folder, which we'll call "My domain" as an example, you will need to click on it. Open the empty folder and create another folder inside it. You will simply call this new folder "images."
Dreamweaver does create this for you, if you choose, but having a few folders ready is often easier. You know precisely where everything is and where it will go. All you need to do is inform Dreamweaver of where this file is.
The second copy, or mirror image, of this web site will reside on your host's computer, commonly called a "server" or “web server” .A server is exactly as the name implies. It is a computer that constantly runs online and constantly "serves" information to anyone requesting information from it. This is your storage area. You will publish (also known as upload) the files (another name for copy and transfer) to the "root" directory on your web hosting server.
Your root directory will be the new home for your web page files, scripts, and graphics. It is called a "root" because it is the very heart of your web site
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