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Cleaning Up Files on the Web Server

  1. Archive site.

    Copy and paste your web server folder to your c drive and/or burn CD.
    You need to understand how to copy all or specific files back to the server if anyone reports broken links.
  2. Open the Dreamweaver Site for your web pages.

    If you have not defined your site yet, use the Dreamweaver menu commands Site > Manage Sites. The Site Definition dialog box will appear as shown below. Complete the following information under the Advanced Tab in the Local Info Category.
    • Site name: enter something meaningful to you, it can contain spaces and mixed case if desired.
    • Local root folder: use the yellow folder to browse to where you keep your working files. This is very important that it be correct!
    • Check the box for "Refresh local file list automatically"
    • Default images folder: you can leave blank or browse to your images subfolder if you have one.
    • HTTP address: leave blank???
    • Uncheck the box for "Enable Cache". This is very important! If left checked, which is the default, reports may contain invalid information.
    Site definition dialog box with Enable Cache unchecked
  3. Check Links Sitewide (Site > Check Links Sitewide or CTRL + F8).

    This identifies total number of files, number of HTML files, number of Orphaned files, number of links, number of broken links, number of external links.
  4. Save report to your local drive for reference and to compare "before and after" clean up.

    File > Save As (the .txt extension will automatically be added. You can name it something meaningful to you and it's a good idea to include the date in the file name as you will be generating at least two reports. Example: intech102004.txt)
  5. Delete orphaned files.

    You may need help identifying unknown files. A majority of orphaned files are duplicates, similar versions or old files.
  6. Fix broken internal links.

    You can double click on the file with the broken link listed in the report and Dreamweaver will automatically open the page and highlight the broken link so you can browse for a file to fix the link.
  7. Standardize file names: keep them short, lowercase, no spaces, dot three extension (htm vs. html)
  8. Organize images and other files into folders. It is very important that you do this in your Dreamweaver site. If a link will be broken, Dreamweaver will prompt you to update your links (answer "yes).
  9. Verify External Links are correct at http://validator.w3.org/checklink/ and correct or delete any broken links.
  10. Check Links Sitewide (CTRL + F8) . Repeat steps 5 and 6 until there are 0 broken links and orphan files.
  11. Save final report showing no broken links or orphaned files.
  12. Report the following "before and after" numbers at the next webmaster meeting: files total, broken links, and orphaned files.