Configuring DW for sites

Report · May 15, 2012

Hi -

I've just installed a trial version of CS5.5 having been using CS3 for the last few years. It's very different and I was wondering if there were helpful tutorials/procedures specifically for configuring after installation.

In particular at the moment:

It takes around 5 minutes to load DW with my main site as the default site (it's a very large site), and this seems to mainly be taken up by 'loading site cache'. Should I expect it to take this much time, and are there options that I could change that would reduce this? When it is loaded, there is a general lag between clicking and typing and anything happening. Should I expect this as it is now linking several documents together (css/js/etc) or is this a configuration setting. My PC is new and pretty well specified.
I can't seem to work out the 'dynamic sites' function, which is new to this version (as far as I'm aware). Any setup documentation/tutorials that are useful here would be good.
CSS - the design view is pretty much useless at the moment - would this be helped if I had the dynamic sites function working properly.

And any other suggestions for getting set up and trying out this version without going back to scratch would be gratefully received!

Regards, Steve.

Report · May 16, 2012

Steve,

It sounds like you are working directly on a remote webserver. That isn't the normal way to work in DW. Normally you will set up a testing server on your local computer. If you are using PHP/MySQL, then you will also need to set up a webserver locally. I use the free ZEND Server community edition. Many people use XAMPP. You will also connect to a local copy of the database.

When using a testing server you upload files to the remove server only when you have finished working on them. DW has a "Maintain synchronization information" option in the site setup (advanced), but I prefer to maintain synchronization manually because often I work on one script for days whereas other scripts need to be updated right away.

Regarding Design View. Many users are disappointed by it. I have no use for it anyway, so it doesn't bother me.

I also don't use the dynamic sites function because I write my own code, so someone else may offer you suggestions there.

Report · May 16, 2012

I also just went from CS3 to CS6 and the testing server setup is a nightmare compared to CS3. I use a local server for testing and have a large Generic folder for many sites and also specific Folders for other sites. I get different results for different sites with the same settings when I try live view.

All the CS6 programs seem to try and predetermine a configuration, without easy or should I say logical ways to change them.

I may just scrap the CS6 before my 30 days is up and get my money back.

Report · May 16, 2012

Thanks Rob. I've just downloaded XAMPP as I belatedly realised it was the remote connection that was causing many of the delays. I haven't used a testing server before so this is new to me. If you (or anyone) can help I'd be grateful:

It seems to me as though I should create a folder called htdocs inside the Apache folder and put all my local files in there - is that right? No htdocs folder exists with the standard XAMPP installation I've just done and I can't figure out where else the 'server folder' might apply to. The only alternative I can think is to specify the folder I currently have my local website files in, which is a network drive and this doesn't currently seem to work.