Website building problem.

TornadoTom

Anyone out there know how to use Dreamweaver ????

I've made a website using a template and uploaded the site to the server.
The site looks great when viewed with explorer and firefox during testing, but after uploading to the server there seems to be something missing.

Firstly, the home page wont open, but I can view the rest of the site ok. I was told to name the home page index.html ????
I get an error message saying the home page cannot be found on the server when I click on the links in the other pages....I checked and made sure the links on all the pages are directed to the index page ????

Secondly, I seem to have lost all the fonts and special effects that came with the template.
I had illuminated boxes acting as links down the left hand side, they lit up when I passed over with the cursor...they've gone and I'm left with the boring blue links.

I dont understand it ??? It all works perfectly when I view it during testing ??

any ideas ??

nickmack

Firstly, have you uploaded *everything* including any image/java files? It sounds like some elements could be missing.

Also, check your links and references, they should be relative or they may be referencing local images/locations that are not on your server.

What kind of server is it? You may need to specify index.html as the default page in the web server settings.

TornadoTom

nickmack wrote:

Firstly, have you uploaded *everything* including any image/java files? It sounds like some elements could be missing.

Also, check your links and references, they should be relative or they may be referencing local images/locations that are not on your server.

What kind of server is it? You may need to specify index.html as the default page in the web server settings.

we'll start with the index bit first if we may !
can't find anything to change to index.html ??
I uploaded to a FTP server. I've been through the settings and theres nowhere to specify....I think
Is naming the local root folder the same as specifying index as the default page ?? should the local root folder be the main folder containing the whole website or the first page that gets opened ...i.e the index page ??

regards
Tom

nickmack

TornadoTom wrote:

we'll start with the index bit first if we may !
can't find anything to change to index.html ??

That's why I asked what server it was, I guess you don't have remote control access to the actual server and that you have bought some space on a server somewhere?

I uploaded to a FTP server. I've been through the settings and theres nowhere to specify....I think

It won't be in the FTP server, most likely to be in your webspace settings.

Is naming the local root folder the same as specifying index as the default page ?? should the local root folder be the main folder containing the whole website or the first page that gets opened ...i.e the index page ??

The web server will look for the default document in the root of your webspace and in any subfolders if they are specified in the URL. You need to make sure you have named the default document correctly for it to work.

Chippy_Minton

>Is naming the local root folder the same as specifying index as the default page ??

No. The local root folder is the folder on your hard drive containing the web site, e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\Me\My Documents\MyWebSite\

The default page (Home Page) is specified in Site Map Layout settings, e.g.

C:\Documents and Settings\Me\My Documents\MyWebSite\index.htm

you might have named the home page index.html, or index.shtml etc - there is a browse button which allows you to browse to the exact file.

> should the local root folder be the main folder containing the whole website or the first page that gets opened ...i.e the index page ??

Both. The local root folder contains the index page and the rest of the whole website, either as files in the same folder or as files in sub folders of the root folder.

kevin.philips

The fact that the links "look boring - blue" is because you may have set Dreamweaver to use external CSS files - the controlling page of the site layout and theme.

With regards to the rest of the issues I agree with the others that it appears that you may have not uploaded all of the files in order to link the site and its resources correctly.

Some servers may also not have the default document (Can be index.htm, index.html, default.htm, default.html etc etc) set so just typing in your web URL may not be enough, have you tried to write the full address:

https://www.yourdomain.com/index.html

If the site is not sensitive, I'd be happy to try an upload to your own server for you, PM me if you wish me to try.

Regards

Kevin

TornadoTom

Thanks for all your replies so far, as you may have guessed...I'm a complete novice at all this...so bear with me please :beer:

Looking at the complete website folder, there is a file called _notes and this contains all of the css files. ...I think
Nearly all of them are called MNO files except one which is called XML document.
Every other file and folder from the complete website appears in the remote list and the local list ....except this one. I'm not sure why it hasn't appeared along with all the other files ready to upload. And I'm not sure how to get the files to appear with the others in the list.
Dreamweaver automatically lists the files when directed to the website folder, but appears to be blind to this file and its contents.

Tom

nickmack

TornadoTom wrote:

Looking at the complete website folder, there is a file called _notes and this contains all of the css files. ...I think
Nearly all of them are called MNO files except one which is called XML document.

The Notes folder is exactly that. If set to, Dreamweaver creates notes files with an MNO extension. These are not CSS files!

Every other file and folder from the complete website appears in the remote list and the local list ....except this one. I'm not sure why it hasn't appeared along with all the other files ready to upload. And I'm not sure how to get the files to appear with the others in the list.
Dreamweaver automatically lists the files when directed to the website folder, but appears to be blind to this file and its contents.

Can you see any files with extension CSS?

TornadoTom

nickmack wrote:

Can you see any files with extension CSS?

yes..just the one...which has already been uploaded to the server

Tom

nickmack

Have you checked your links and images? As I said before, you may be referring to local files that do not exist on the server.

For example:

This is an absolute path - you cannot use this! When uploaded the server will look at the folder c:\images for the GIF and will not find it.

<img src="c:\images\angry.gif" alt="Angry" />

You must use a path relative to the site. This will look in the images folder in the root of the web site:

<img src="images\angry.gif" alt="Angry" />

Look at this page if you need further explanation about relative v absolute paths.

martindow

I think the first thing is to get the index page up there and the links from page to page working and worry about appearances later. The home page must be called index.html and should be on listed on the right side in the same place as the other pages of your site in site view in Dreamweaver. The name of the page is not the same as the title (which can be whatever you like). Sometimes I find dreamweaver can get in a muddle and it helps to delete the files on the remote server - you can do this by right clicking on the pages in the left hand side of the Dreamweaver site view page - and then synchronising the site again. I am still on Dreamweaver 3 so some things may be different if you have a more recent version. Good luck!

Another thing to try is on Dreamweaver to click Site - Check links sitewide and see if that thinks you have any dud links.