Sandra Smith-Gordon's Basic Instructions for Dreamweaver

Checklist Before Publishing

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This is a check list of things to do and to check before publishing your web site online.

 

see also the Inserting Meta Tags and Search Engine Listing information page

 

First decide whether your folder and files are arranged and named as you want them as it is quite important that you do not move them or change the names after you have published.   Your files and folders should have clear names and your files should be in appropriate folders.  See files and names page.

 

The Results Panel

The results panel shows the results of running site reports that DW will do to show whether you have broken links, untitled documents, etc.  From top menu bar choose Site > Reports.... > choose from the menu.  Notice the top choice is the current page or the entire site.

 

Window > Results  will show the results panel below the Properties Inspector bar at the bottom of your screen.

To open Results: click on black arrow.

Click on the green arrow on far left edge of Results panel to have more choices.

 

Index page

Make sure that it is called this (index) and that it is inside your root folder but outside any other folders.

Make sure that it has a full title that describes your site using key words and that this information is also repeated near the top of the page.

 

Titles

Make sure all pages have good titles.  Site > Reports.... > Untitled Documents

 

Site Reports and Accessibility

Link Checker also appears on the Results panel; check for broken links, orphaned files and external links.

 

 

 

To check for missing alt text: Site > Reports > from pop-up menu choose which document(s) to check and tick the Missing Alt Text box > Run.

Double click on item in report list to show and correct it.

 

 

Set Keywords and Description

These will help search engines find your site.

From blue Insert panel choose the Head icon (about 4th from right) click on down arrow and choose Keywords. Write in about 10 - 15 carefully chosen words that best suit your site name and contents.

OR

Select Insert > HTML > Head Tags > Keywords.

 

Repeat to select Description. Write in two or three succinct sentences to describe your site and its contents.

 

Browser Compatibility Check

Click on the browser compatibility check tab on the Results panel. Choose the green arrow (play button) and drop down settings. This will enable you to select which browsers to test for. Whatever version you select DW will check for that version and higher. When the results box come up, if there are any problems you will find a link to solutions at Adobe.com

 

page updated 27/5/10

 

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