Dear Janine,

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your personal reply to my e-mail. All of the “manage site” issues have been resolved, but no matter what I do, I cannot see my Web site on Internet Explorer. I can’t imagine what hasn’t been resolved, because there seems to be nothing else to do.

I don’t know if it is a Dreamweaver issue or a host server issue.

A month (or so) ago I used a trial version of Expression and was able to upload my site with no difficulty. However, I spent a considerable amount of time taking a class in Dreamweaver and feel comfortable with the creation end of Web site design. Unfortunately, the class did not include any information on how to publish the Web site.

This has been a real learning experience for me. I am adept at using Publisher — and have created some pretty nice things for print (including that cookbook — I think I owe you one). However, it appears to be less burdensome to publish through a printer than the Internet.

While what I have created so far is fairly simple (plan to do much more later), it at least has up-to-date info on our Christmas programs. However, I haven’t made much progress — yet. It is now two weeks before Christmas Eve, and I have wasted — so far — three days this week with nothing to show for it. I promised that I would get all of this posted on the web this week but can’t figure out what else to do. I honestly appreciate your calm letter and your helpful technical support.

Thanks,
Jean

Hi Jean,

So sorry you’re having such a tough time trying to upload your site. Here are a few suggestions that may help you:

1. First let me reassure you a little: Getting the FTP settings right in Dreamweaver can be challenging, but you only have to do it once. After you get it set up, Dreamweaver should remember and you won’t have to go through this again (at least not until you change computers or servers).

2. The server settings are specific to your hosting company, so if you use 1and1, you will have to get their FTP information and that’s why the instructions in my book and on the Adobe site may be different.

3. FTP information for servers must be entered exactly the way your server is set up. That means you need to make sure you use the right case in all names, passwords, etc.

I looked over the instructions on the 1and1 site and they are for very old versions of Dreamweaver, so that may be part of why they are not working for you. I’ve attached a screenshot from Dreamweaver CS4 for your reference (if you are using a different version, things may look slightly different, but should work the same).

1. First, choose Site > Manage Sites in Dreamweaver to open the dialog.

2. Make sure you choose the Remote category on the left. There are really only a few pieces of data that matter in the remote settings, but they must be entered exactly.

3. From the Access drop-down list, choose FTP.

4. In the FTP host field, enter yourdomainname.com — nothing else, no spaces. Some web servers ask you to enter ftp.domainname.com, others just domain.com, still others use something else. This depends on your server, but from what I found at 1and1, you should enter just the domain.com, meaning you enter your domain name (no www’s or anything else like that).

5. The Host directory field is optional, but if you don’t enter a directory, you may need to open a folder after you log in to upload your files to the correct location. (See my notes on this below for more details once you get logged in.)

6. You must enter your login and password exactly; these are case-sensitive and any extra characters or typos will cause this not to work. Again, this is information specific to your account on your web server.

7. Important: On the 1and1 server, they specify that you need to check the box next to Use Passive FTP (this is just below your password field).

8. When you have finished all that, click on the Test button. If you’ve entered everything correctly, you’ll get a message that you connected. If not, keep playing with these settings until you can connect.

9. Here’s the link to the instructions I found on 1and1. Again, if you use a different version of Dreamweaver, things may look slightly different, but this is what they say should work.

http://faq.1and1.com/web_space__access/ftp_account/dreamweaver_guide/3.html

10. Keep testing until you get a connection. Once you do get it right, click OK to save your settings and then use the little connection button (it looks like a small blue electrical plug) at the top of the Files panel to connect to your server.

When you’re connected, here are a few tips about getting your files in the right place.

Note: To better see the folders on the server, click on the tiny icon at the far right top of the Files panel; it kind of looks like a box inside a box and when you roll your cursor over it, it says “Expand and show local and remote sites.”

When you click on this tiny icon, the program changes and you’ll see the Files panel split in two. The left side is what’s on your server; the right side is your local computer (unless you change this in preferences). If the left is blank, click on the Connect button (the one that looks like a plug) again to connect to the server. Note: To close the dual view and go back to the regular Dreamweaver workspace, click on the small box within a box icon again.

Keep in mind that FTP is just a matter of copying files from your computer to the server. That part is easy, but you need to make sure you copy them to the right place. When you open the Files panel, the left side shows the files and folders that are on the server and you can click on them to open folders there to see what’s inside. You need to copy your Web site into the right folder. Usually, that folder is called something like httpdocs, or web, or public, or something like that. Even if you get the FTP to work and you can log in, if you don’t copy your files into the right folder, you’ll never see them when you visit the site in a browser.

To copy your files to a specific folder on the server, click and drag each file from the right side (your local computer) to the left side and make sure you drag the file onto the folder you want to copy it into. (The folder will change color when you drag the file onto it, and after copying, you’ll see the file in the folder.)

Here’s a tip: Copy just your index.html file (that’s what you should name the first page of your site) to the folder you think is the right one. Then look with a web browser to see if it’s there. Once you get one file in the right place, copy the rest and you should be all set.

I truly hope this helps you get your site online and I wish you all the best with your web site.
Janine