Exporting a clean website?

[alpshiker]

Hi,
I have a local website which got pretty cluttered over the years, duplicate pages, unused images. I will keep a copy of it for resources, but wish I could work from a clean website while retaining all the elements present in the libraries.

There is a great feature in InDesign which allows to export a clean document without orphan files. Is there something similar in Dreamweaver? Or would that work by importing the website ?

Thanking you for any hint on how to proceed !

Kind regards, Paul

[Nancy OShea · Accepted solution]

There is no magic button that cures hoarding.  Ultimately, you must decide which files to keep or delete manually.

That said, Dreamweaver has a built-in Link Checker to help you make those decisions.

Go to Site ⇒ Site Options ⇒ Check Links Sitewide to generate reports of Broken Links and/or Orphaned Files.

View or "Save Report" for future reference.

Happy housecleaning!

[alpshiker]

Yes I am an incorrigible collector. I still had in mind some arborescence tool that did help point out orphan pages in Golive, or maybe it was in the preceeding program who's name I can't even remember. Or I just dreamed of it. In any case, thank you for your kind explanation! I will tackle the job with the hand broom.

Could you just let me know if it is a bad idea to replace the local site by the distant site? Would I lose some valuable data and items?

[Nancy OShea]

I can't answer that with any authority.  I will say that my local & remote site folders are similar, but NOT identical.

Certain essential server files should not be kept locally.  Conversely, some local files should not be kept on the public server.

You can expand your Files Panel for a side-by-side comparison of your Remote & Local Files.

[alpshiker]

That makes complete sense. Yes, it is probably best to take the time to evaluate each item before deleting it. Thank you again for taking the time!

Kind regards, Paul

[BenPleysier]

Worth a try, VSCode with Github Copilot, both are free of charge.

I have been using AI with my favourite IDE (Wappler) for a while now, Claude 3.7 Sonnet being the most used.

Give it a try, nothing to lose.

[alpshiker]

Thank you! I took a quick look at the app. The interface is very inviting. I wished I were 20 years younger to negotiate a switch. My current website still depends much on Spry actions, and good part of it was built on the infamous frames, and I just hope I can drag it along me as far as I can go. But I might be forced into a change at some point.

[BenPleysier]

You bring a smile to my face. In just few days, I will turn 82 and I can’t help but wish to be 40 years younger. 😉 

Spry! How I missed the framework when Adobe discontinued it a decade ago. It gave me a deeper appreciation for JavaScript. Nowadays, I develop my applications using NodeJS, a server-side JavaScript model. 

PS. A couple of weeks ago, I created a website for my son using AI. What would have taken me a few months during my Dreamweaver days, took less than a week. This includes a secure admin panel so that he can maintain the properties list himself.

[alpshiker]

I thought you were staying up late, but it's actually Downunder time! I spent what was certainly the best part of my life, but a much too short time, there, 50 years ago when I was 20. So it's nice to have some memories rekindled. I still miss sometimes the currawongs, magpies and other parrot's songs in the lukewarm morning. The website you built for your son looks great, and the mansions he is trading are very nice. I wished I were 30 to start something new over there! 😅

[Bilal3448616586bk]

Hey Paul,

I totally get where you’re coming from — I’ve been in the same boat! Over time, my local site got really messy too, with tons of unused media, duplicate content, and outdated files. I love that InDesign has that export-clean feature — super handy! I’ve been searching for something similar in Dreamweaver as well, but haven’t found a built-in way to export a “clean” version yet. What I’ve started doing is manually auditing the site and rebuilding from a fresh template while keeping essential assets backed up separately. Not ideal, but it gives a much lighter and more manageable setup. Would be great if Dreamweaver had a smart cleanup/export tool too. Hope someone here has a pro tip to share!

[alpshiker]

Hey Bilal,
Thanks for your support, I'm feeling less alone!
It certainly is a good move to start from a fresh template. I am told that my PHP is almost outdated for what it means, so it would probably not be a total waste of time for me to do that as well. But I wish you are younger than me, for clutter is in my head too with information rolling up like a snowball since the days of PageMill through Golive and now Dreamweaver, and perhaps a timely move to another program… Cleaning is a great thing once it's done, but there are so many distractions along the way and there is always something more interesting to do or more urgent...
Good luck on your side!

[kingkohfii]

Hey everyone! I have a quick technical question regarding my site QiratulQuran.com, which offers online Quran learning services. What are some of the best ways to improve page speed and Core Web Vitals for a content-heavy educational site that includes audio and video resources? Also, would implementing a CDN like Cloudflare significantly help with performance for global users? Any insights or suggestions would be much appreciated!