DW [WordPress]- Real Time Preview Issue

[ashleyc81532316]

Hi

I imported my Wordpress files via FTP to Dreamweaver as it is much easier to edit etc in Dreamweaver.

When I go to preview any page I have imported or any changes I have made, it loads up in the web browser but it just says "opps that page could not be found".

I have followed to my knowledge all the steps in setting up a testing server.

Can anyone help?

Thanks

Ashley

[Jon Fritz]

Try using Open In Browser instead of the Live Preview.

Right click the file name in the Files window, or if your documents are set as tabs in DW, right click the tab itself and choose "Open in Browser". that will open your page using the old Preview in Browser and doesn't use Adobe's servers to show you your work.

[ashleyc81532316]

Hi

I just tried that way and it still says "

Oops! That page can’t be found."

Any other solutions?

[Nancy OShea]

When you say editing WP is easier in Dreamweaver, what are you hoping to accomplish exactly?  WordPress doesn't contain any real pages to speak of -- just code fragments.  Pages are assembled from MySQL data & PHP code by the server.   Did you import the SQL data into your local database yet?

[ashleyc81532316]

It's a bit of a tricky one to explain, in a nut shell, my website which is live streaming site and has some has a ton of features on it, the developer I used did it in WP which until it was too late, I realized was the complete wrong way to have it done. I am changing servers and sorting all the coding out as well as making various changes myself to save further cost.

I used FTP and transferred absolutely everything which was on my WP/hosting files into Dreamweaver.

[Jon Fritz]

I don't know what your skill level is with PHP and database driven sites, but this may help: Establishing a Dreamweaver CC and WordPress Workflow | Creative Cloud blog by Adobe

[Jon Fritz]

ashleyc81532316  wrote

I used FTP and transferred absolutely everything which was on my WP/hosting files into Dreamweaver.

You can't get to your site's database via FTP, you would need to have exported that through a control panel like phpMyAdmin.

In most cases, that database is where almost all of your actual site content will be, aside from the theme/design of your site.

[Nancy OShea]

Before you deconstruct an advanced working website, can you tell us what's wrong with your current one?  Is it that you're not comfortable using WordPress yet?  Or perhaps something's not working as well as it should for users? 

[ashleyc81532316]

Thank you for the link.

I am very basic at actual coding myself but am quite knowledgeable on what I want and how I want things to work/flow (if that makes any sense).

My website is www.exposedx.com (an adult live webcam / chat website)

Basically, using Wordpress for this type of site (which I wasn't aware of at the very beginning)is the more members that join to pay and watch the models / the more models that join, the over all flow of the website will be very slow which I don't want.

I am not entirely convinced about the level of coding which was done overall so wanted a better base to keep an eye on things.

I am pretty much looking to re development this website but using Dreamweaver.

Any suggestions / ideas anyone?

[Nancy OShea]

I think before you do anything, you need to talk to some adult industry experts about which CMS platforms they use and why they use them.  Slowness could be at the server level.  Or it might be related to the amount of traffic on your site.   I see that you're already working with CCBill.  Their Integration Partners might be able to help you. CCBill Integration Partners | CCBill.com

Good luck!

[pziecina]

Hi,

I am not going to get involved with your original question, but instead the one about offering a streaming tv/video/audio service, in a general sense.

The first item to address is the use of wordpress, and whilst i do not recommend it, its use will very much depend on how good your developer was at writting custom code. I would also like to ask if it uses the flash player in any form, (if it does, ask for your money back) as all browser are making the use of flash extreamly difficult, before blocking any use in 2020.

You should also read the following -

https://www.w3.org/2010/11/web-and-tv/papers/webtv2_submission_62.pdf

and

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2016/04/html5-media-source-extensions-bringing-production-video-web...

The content of the second link should be read thoroughly, and most of the articles it links to regarding mpeg-dash, as this is how html5 streaming services now work, even companies like netflix and amazon are using it. I will not go into the complexity of codeing required, but if you know how to link to and use the api's, it is much simpler than one first thinks, as a few 'free' javascript librarys also exist to help.

Your biggest problem though will be estimating the bandwidth requirerments, and if you get this wrong you will almost certainly pay for it, either by extra costs to yourself, or your users not being able to use your sites services.

[Nancy OShea]

pziecina  wrote

Your biggest problem though will be estimating the bandwidth requirements, and if you get this wrong you will almost certainly pay for it, either by extra costs to yourself, or your users not being able to use your sites services.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)   offer Elastic Load Balancing solutions on their EC2 server instances.  So meeting high traffic demand is much less painful than it used to be.

Register or Deregister EC2 Instances for Your Classic Load Balancer - Elastic Load Balancing

[ashleyc81532316]

Hi all,

Thanks for all your replies.

What I intend to do is hire a new web developer to take it all over on Dreamweaver and set everything up on new servers etc as all of that is not my skill set.

Regarding the actual industry and concept, I am very knowledgeable on this as I have spent a long time researching and admittingly I have made errors which I have then corrected, one being using flash to find out the hard way browsers do not or are stopping supporting flash etc.

All of the live streaming and bandwidth are taken care of (I was using AWS) but the cost is so pricey, especially when you are starting out, so I will be going with something else which is just as good but a lot cheaper.

So even though I have used FTP to import all the files from Wordpress / my Hosting area, there are still files which won't be imported?

Is it not possible then to work on my website from Dreamweaver being originally done in Wordpress?

Regards,

Ashley

[Jon Fritz]

Your database, which will store pretty much all content other than media files (though it does store the links to those files for your PHP code fragments to pull them up and build your pages) is not part of the FTP-able files you have. Like I mention above, it will need to be exported and copied, then attached to your site in your local server to be of any use in DW.
How to Create a Local Copy of a Live WordPress Site - ManageWP

Working with WordPress outside of its admin panel is difficult for beginner PHP coders, it's especially difficult/near impossible for someone who is "very basic at actual coding" as you say you are. Dreamweaver assumes you already understand HTML and CSS to work efficiently with the program. To use DW with a massive PHP framework (what WordPress is) it assumes you know what to do there as well and will happily allow you to break basically everything without batting an eyelash.

Right now, your site is database driven. Going from database to a static html site is generally not a good idea, especially if you have a lot of content. If you don't know how to work with server-side scripting (PHP) and databases (mySQL), you're going to need to hire someone to take care of it for you. It's not something DW can do for you within the quasi-WYSIWYG interface.

[paulk7737514]

Do you use Amazon AWS?

[Nancy OShea]

  wrote

Do you use Amazon AWS?

For some things, yes.

[ashleyc81532316]

Hi

Thanks for your replies.

That is my plan, to hire someone as right now even though my site is live on the web, the live stream is currently disabled as I am intending to change domain names and servers so this is the time for me to change everything over before I re launch.

I was using AWS but part of going through these changes is I am setting up another company very similar to Amazon but tons cheaper.

[rayek.elfin]

ashleyc81532316​

Just by looking at the underlying html/css code, I can tell you the developer you hired before was rather average at best, if not below par.

The CMS itself is generally not the cause for slowdowns - server setup and streaming servers are.

You cannot edit your FTP downloaded WP site without running a local copy via a local webserver, such as XAMP or WAMP. Aside from the files you downloaded via FTP you must transfer the MySQL database to your local webserver and make changes to the wp-config file to match the settings required for your local webserver/MySQL database server. Ideally use a migration plugin like All in One WP Migration. You will need to install a fresh installation of WP on your localhost.

After setting it all up correctly, you cannot edit any content directly in Dreamweaver - only your website's theme files can be edited. Content is edited within the WordPress backend. You should not change or edit anything in the theme files if you haven't got a clue how themes in WP function.

All of what I mentioned is very basic knowledge for any WP/web developer. If you have no idea how to do these things, you are in for a very rough and frustrating ride.

On top of all this, converting a WP theme to a different CMS (Joomla, Drupal, Concrete5, etc) is generally not quite straightforward. It requires good knowledge of the original CMS used, and the target CMS to which you wish to migrate. And all information from the database must be migrated as well.

Easy for a seasoned developer (like myself - I could do it in a couple of days) - very, VERY difficult if you have no programming/web dev experience such as yourself.

Apologies for telling you the hard truth.

PS Dreamweaver is only a code editor, not a CMS. Anything beyond simple static pages must be handcoded in a server-side language (php, for example): login system, validation, credit card checking, and so on. Not worth the time, hassle, or effort. Choose a good CMS that will handle your website requirements.