Web training for MIT Libraries staff
Hands-on training:
- setting up your computer
- using Dreamweaver:
-- Define your site
-- Creating pages
-- Template-based pages
-- Customizing
your Dreamweaver template-based page
- Tips
- FTP
See also:
Web guidelines overview
Systems
and Technology Services: Computer support
Hands-on web training
Setting up your computer
Build a mirror site on your hard disk
First create a folder on your hard disk that mirrors the MIT Libraries' public web site:
- Make a directory named "www"
on the root level of your computer, which will hold all your Libraries public web pages. New! 1/08 Place your "www" folder in the "My Documents" folder of your PC, so that it will be backed up if you have TSM backup service. - Put folders into it in the order in which they sit on the live web site
Your www directory could contain:
- a copy of the Libraries' main home page , or other pages that matter to you
- some of the central images used on our site
The www directory has to contain:
- copies of the pages you'll be editing
- a folder full of Dreamweaver templates, if you're editing pages built from templates
See below for examples & details, or skip to Using Dreamweaver
See also: Adobe Dreamweaver TechNote: How to define a site in Dreamweaver
To edit the Energy Sources in Print page, which has the URL:
http://libraries.mit.edu/guides/subjects/energy/sourcesinprint.html
- create your "www" folder
- make a "guides" folder in "www"
- make a "subjects" folder in "guides"
- make a "energy" folder in "subjects"
- download the page "sourcesinprint.html" from the live site (tip: downloading) to the "energy" folder
- define your site in Dreamweaver (more about that later)
and finally you can safely edit your page, without damaging any links.
The path on your HD would look like this:
My Documents:\www\ guides\subjects\energy\sourcesinprint.html
- which is a mirror of this path on the server:
/var/www/libraries.mit.edu/htdocs/guides/subjects/energy/sourcesinprint.html
(Note that the path is similar to, but not identical to, the URL.)
To put it another way: If it's your job to edit the energy subject pages, the www directory on the HD of your PC will look almost like this (except - new! 1/08 the www file is in My Documents instead of My Computer):
NB: "Guides" is a very deep folder, but there are no short cuts to this process! - if you put the page "sourcesinprint.html" directly into the www folder, or anywhere between that and the energy folder, your links will break.