CSUN ITR

Technology Training Guides

Web Publishing at CSUN
   

Web Publishing to a Group Web Folder with Dreamweaver 4

The instructions in this document pertain to group web folders — special accounts with web privileges but no shell access (i.e., you cannot log directly into a web folder). Access is through the campus account of an authorized user. If your department or organization publishes to a campus account rather than a group web folder, see Web Publishing to a Campus Account with Dreamweaver 4. If your department maintains its own web server, please contact the server administrator for publishing instructions.

Defining a Site

Dreamweaver's site maintenance function includes the ability to transfer files between your desktop computer and the campus web server. Once you have defined a site as described below you can use Dreamweaver's "Site Files" window to view the local and remote locations and transfer files between them.

Note: Only the settings required to publish pages to central CSUN web server are described in this document. Please refer to your Dreamweaver manual for additional information.

  1. From the Site menu, choose New Site.
  2. In the Local Info category (already selected), enter the following information.
Site Name: Type a short, descriptive name to identify your site (e.g., COMSweb for the Communication Studies department website)
Local Root Folder: Click the folder next to the text box and locate the folder on your desktop computer where your site files are or will be stored (e.g., C:\MyFiles\COMSweb)
  1. In the Category panel of the dialog box, select (click) Remote Info.
  2. From the Access drop-down menu, choose FTP.
  3. Enter the following information in the text boxes that appear.
FTP Host: ftp.csun.edu
Host Directory:

~webfolder/public_html (where webfolder is the group's web folder)

Note: If your access is to a subfolder of public_html (rather than the main folder), include the subfolder name: ~webfolder/public_html/subfolder
Login: Enter your campus account here (e.g., xyz12345)
  1. When finished, click OK.

New Site dialog boxes (Local Info and Remote Info) are shown in Figures 1 and 2, below.

FIGURE 1. Local Info Dialog Box for a New Site Definition
Remote Info dialog box
 
FIGURE 2. Remote Info Dialog Box for a New Site Definition
Remote Info Dialog Box
 

Transferring Files

To transfer files from the local folder (on your desktop computer) to the remote site (on the University's central web server), do the following:
  1. From the Site menu, choose (click) Open Site.
  2. From the cascading menu that appears, choose the site you defined. The Site window will be displayed (as shown in Figure 3, below).
FIGURE 3. Site Window
  1. Select the folder or file(s) you want to transfer (upload). For example:
    • To transfer the entire site, select (click) the top-level folder. You may want to make this selection the first time you publish the site. Once the site is published you'll probably want to transfer only files that you add or modify.
    • To transfer a single file, select (click) the desired file.
    • To transfer several files, hold down the CTRL key and click each file to be transferred.
  2. Click the Put File(s) button (a blue upward pointing arrow) —or choose Put from the Site menu.
  3. When the "Enter Password" dialog box appears, enter the password for your campus account and click OK.
  4. A question appropriate to your transfer selection — file(s), folder(s), or the entire site — will appear in a dialog box. For example:
    • If you choose to transfer the entire site, the question will be "Are you sure you wish to put the entire site?" Click OK to continue with the transfer; click Cancel to cancel the procedure.
    • If you choose to transfer one or more files, the question will be "Include independent files?" Make your selection — Yes, No, or Cancel. You can also choose not to see this question in the future by clicking the box next to "Don't ask me again".

Other File Management Features

In addition to uploading files (put) to the campus web server, you can also download (get) files from the site — using the Get File(s) button (a green downward-pointing arrow) or choosing Get from the Site menu. Deleting files from your site is simply a matter of selecting (clicking) the desired file(s) and taping the Delete key. Note that if the files on the Remote Site side of the Site Window aren't displayed, you'll have to make connection before downloading or deleting files. Use the Connects to remote host button to log on (or choose Connect from the Site menu). To update the file listings, click the Refresh button.

In short, you can use the Dreamweaver Site window in much the same way as you can use any FTP (file transfer protocol) software. For additional information about the Site window click the Displays help for this window button (a question mark in a gray circle).

The Web Address(es) of a Group's Published Site

The web address — or URL (Uniform Resource Locator) — for any page published on CSUN's central web server includes either the name of the web account or some form of a group name (see Custom Web Addresses, below).

If your group's main web page file is called index.html your web page address is:

http://www.csun.edu/~webfolder

The web page address for any page other than index.html is of the form:

http://www.csun.edu/~webfolder/filename

where filename is the name of your web page file (homepage.html, for example).

Custom Web Addresses

If a custom web address (URL) has been assigned for your department, organization, or other campus group, replace the "~webfolder" portion of the URL with the assigned alias.

If an alias exists for the group and the main web page file is called index.html, the web page address is:

http://www.csun.edu/GroupAlias

where GroupAlias is a unique name assigned to your group.

The web page address for any page other than index.html is of the format:

http://www.csun.edu/GroupAlias/filename

where filename is the name of your web page file (homepage.html, for example).

To request a custom web address, contact the University Help Desk at campus extension 1400.

A Note About Multiple URLs: If more than one alias has been assigned for your group, any one of those may be used. 

Example: Academic departments might have four custom addresses, as exemplified by those for the Department of Communication Studies shown below. All four URLs are correct and all go to the same site.

  • Full department name:
    • http://www.csun.edu/CommunicationStudies
  • Lowercase department name:
    • http://www.csun.edu/communicationstudies
  • Catalog abbreviation:
    • http://www.csun.edu/COMS
  • Lowercase abbreviation:
    • http://www.csun.edu/coms

 

Questions?

If you have questions about these procedures, please contact the University Help Desk at (818) 677-1400 or via email to helpdesk@csun.edu.
 

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October 1, 2003

Prepared by Gail Said Johnson, User Support Services

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