Adobe GoLive Guide/Site Creation, Structure, and Management

This chapter focuses on creating and designing a web site using Adobe GoLive

GoLive Site Wizard

The GoLive Site Wizard can be used to create anything from empty to template structured to imported web sites.

How it Works

The Site Wizard creates a project folder, a project file and three organizational folders to contain the elements of the site. These folders are the web-content folder, the web-data folder and the web-settings folder. While these various parts are used to organize and create the site, only the web-content folder is uploaded onto the server when publishing.

• project file shares the name of your site and uses the .site file extension. This file is used to manage your site's makeup.
• web-content folder contains pages, css, images and everything else needed for the published version of the site.
• web-data folder templates, components and other reusable elements.
• web-settings folder stores changes made in the Site Settings dialog box.

Creating a Site

The site creation process for the Mac or PC is identical and the resulting files are interchangeable across operating systems.

1. File > New Site
2. Select Single User
3. Select
   • Blank Site
   • Import from Folder
   • Import from Server
   • Copy from Template
4. Name the site (if applicable)
5. Choose a location for the site files to reside
6. Click Finish

Organizing a Site

Once your site has been created and populated with pages (see next chapter) you must link these pages and their elements together and to their sources to make a coherent and maintainable Web site.

Linking Pages, Objects and Their Sources

Once linked, objects will maintain their links even when their sources are moved or renamed so long as these changes occur within the site window. There are three types of links which can be applied to objects, images, etc.

• resource links (links in the HTML which locate the objects appearing on the page)
• navigational links (links that take a viewer from one page to another or between locations on a page)
• external links (still technically navigational links, external links refer to any link which opens another page or email)

resource links

Do one of the following:

• Drag the file from the site window and let GoLive create the resource link automatically
• Manually specify the resource location:

1. Select an object
2. Navigate to the Inspector
3. Change the source file

navigational links

1. Select item to house the link
2. If linking an image or object, click the Link tab and then the Create Link button (looks like a chain)
3. Type the destination file in the URL text box.
4. Use the Target menu to select a location for the link to open if you wish it to open in a frame or another window.
5. Enter a title for the link. The title will appear when the cursor is held over the link. (This only works in some browsers.)
6. Use the Name/ID menu to select Name & ID.
7. Type a link name on the Name/ID line.

External links

Follow steps 1 and 2 in the navigational links section. When entering the destination file in part 3 include "http://" or "mailto:" before the destination to link to an external location. Finish as a navigational link.