File Structure for Remote TESTING site: NOVICE Ques

[Guest]

I am new to Dreamweaver CS3 software and would like to structure my website for the following:

Local site: to be used to develop webpages  ==  E:\Website\Newland_site\newland/.....

Remote site: to be used for "published website" == ftp.readyhosting.com/newland/....

Testing site: to be used to "test" webpages before publishing to published website == ftp.readyhosting.com/testing/newland1/....

I want to have a remote testing site because I will not be the only person working on this website and I want my associate to have the same access to the testing site as well as the published site.

(1)  Is my "suggested" file structure for the testing site the preferred setup?

(2) With the structure shown I think that I need a separate domain to access the testing site as opposed to the published site, is this correct?

(3) From literature that I have read there should be a way to use the SAME domain for both a remote testing site as well as a remote published site but I am confused about how I should structure these files.

(4) Also, how would I share a domain between remote testing site and remote publised site? 

Any suggestions, has anyone done this before?

[David_Powers · Accepted solution]

JLeut0598 wrote:

I am new to Dreamweaver CS3 software

I see this is your first post to one of the Adobe forums. Welcome. If you haven't already done so, take a few moment to read How to get help quickly. You should also take a look at the Dreamweaver FAQ, because a lot of common questions are already answered there.

Your question has been moved to the Dreamweaver Application Development forum, which deals with PHP/MySQL and other server-side issues.

Local site: to be used to develop webpages  ==  E:\Website\Newland_site\newland/.....

Remote site: to be used for "published website" == ftp.readyhosting.com/newland/....

Testing site: to be used to "test" webpages before publishing to published website == ftp.readyhosting.com/testing/newland1....

The first setting is OK. The other two are not.

For Remote site, FTP host should be the ftp address given to you by your hosting company.

For Testing server, FTP host should also be the ftp address given to you by your hosting company. The location of the testing site goes in the Host directory field.

(3) From literature that I have read there should be a way to use the SAME domain for both a remote testing site as well as a remote published site but I am confused about how I should structure these files.

(4) Also, how would I share a domain between remote testing site and remote publised site? 

Using a live remote server for testing is not usually recommended. However, since you want two people to be able to work on it, you probably have no reasonable alternative. The way in which I would do it is to create a subdomain, e.g., testing.example.com. You can then test in the subdomain, while leaving the main domain unaffected. If your hosting company doesn't let you create subdomains, you should create a subfolder called testing.

The key to working with a testing server is getting the URL prefix correct in the Testing server site definition. If you use a subdomain, the URL prefix becomes http://testing.example.com. If you use a subfolder called testing instead of a subdomain, the URL prefix becomes http://www.example.com/testing/.

[Guest]

Thank you, you have cleared the "fog"!

I have added a subdomain (www.testing.leuterassoc.com) which points to my testing directory (/testing/newland1/).

I will attempt to set this up in the Testing Server within Dreamweaver and then give it a "whirl", wish me luck !