Why not develop your site on the testing server?

Report · Aug 21, 2008

Hi,

With the excellent help from some forum-members here, a few Lynda.com tutorials and some insight from other websites, I am slowly starting to understand how to make the PHP/MySQL thing work. I finally got my testing server working and it is displaying first results.

There are still a number of things that confuse me. I would appreciate any insight you might give...

1. What is the logic behind developing your site in one folder, then uploading it to a testting server (using the 'preview in browser' function? Why not develop your site straight away in the folder that is the testing-server? I think this is what I did on the ASP side of things (probably not the proper way there either). It would seem to me that in transfering files from your 'sites directory' to the testing-server folder, you are just duplicating the files. What's the use? Why not develop the sites on your testing server straight away?

2. When I first start developing my site, I use the 'Local/Network' option in the dropdown box on 'Remote Info' in the Side Definition Window. When I want to put my site online (on a proper server), I change Access to FTP. Are the Local/Network definitions still retained?

3. The DW Help file distinguishes between local computer, a development server, a staging server, and a production server (see "Set up a Testing Server". I know what a local computer is - but when is a server a development server, when a staging server and when a production server?

Any help to these three questions will help me get fursther ahead in developing dynamic applications.

Thanks in advance!

Sincerely,
Rogier

Report · Aug 21, 2008

RogierBos wrote:
> 1. What is the logic behind developing your site in one folder, then uploading
> it to a testting server (using the 'preview in browser' function?

None. However, some people work in teams, so the testing server might be
on a different computer. In that case, it makes sense.

> Why not
> develop your site straight away in the folder that is the testing-server?

That's how I have done it for years.

> 2. When I first start developing my site, I use the 'Local/Network' option in
> the dropdown box on 'Remote Info' in the Side Definition Window. When I want to
> put my site online (on a proper server), I change Access to FTP. Are the
> Local/Network definitions still retained?

No. When testing, you need only the testing server information. The
Remote Info is for your remote server. They are completely different.

> 3. The DW Help file distinguishes between local computer, a development
> server, a staging server, and a production server (see "Set up a Testing
> Server". I know what a local computer is - but when is a server a development
> server, when a staging server and when a production server?

A development server is any computer that has a web server installed for
development purposes. A staging server is normally a separate server,
either on the internet or a local network, where various people can test
the site's performance. A production server is the real shebang, live on
the internet.

--
David Powers, Adobe Community Expert
Author, "The Essential Guide to Dreamweaver CS3" (friends of ED)
Author, "PHP Solutions" (friends of ED)
http://foundationphp.com/

Report · Aug 21, 2008

.oO(David Powers)

>RogierBos wrote:
>> 1. What is the logic behind developing your site in one folder, then uploading
>> it to a testting server (using the 'preview in browser' function?
>
>None. However, some people work in teams, so the testing server might be
>on a different computer. In that case, it makes sense.
>
>> Why not
>> develop your site straight away in the folder that is the testing-server?
>
>That's how I have done it for years.

Me too. I'm working on an SVN working copy, which is directly used as
the document root for the testing server.

Micha