Evaluating & Maintaining a Site Domain 6. Conduct Technical Tests Dreamweaver provides many tools to assist in finalizing and testing your website for

Evaluating & Maintaining a Site

Domain 6

Conduct Technical Tests

• Dreamweaver provides many tools to assist in finalizing and testing your website for publication on the Internet


• One of the first steps in preparing your website for publication is to check the spelling

• Use the Check Spelling command on the Commands menu


• When Dreamweaver finds an unrecognized word from the selected dictionary, the Check Spelling dialog box opens where you can:– Add the word to your personal dictionary– Ignore OR– Change the word for that instance of the word or all

instances of the word

• Dreamweaver provides a list of suggested words to choose from, or you can correct the spelling yourself


• Before publishing a website, it is very important to verify the links works properly

• Dreamweaver provides three different levels for checking links:– In the current document– Portions of the local site– Across the entire site


• To check links in the current document or selected files or folders:– Click File (Drop down menu)– Point to Check Page– Click links


• To check the entire site:– Click the Check links Sitewide command on the

Site menu

Conduct Technical Tests• When you check the links in the current

document or site, the Link Checker panel opens, above or below the Property Inspector

• You can select a report from the Show pop-up menu:• Broken links• External links• Orphaned files:• Files that exist in the site but are not linked to any

other file


• The External Links report identifies all external links, but does not verify that the links work properly

Identify Techniques for Basic Usability Tests

• You can perform a usability test used to verify how well your site functions among different users

• You should develop a checklist or script before testing begins to determine what you want to measure

• Next, assemble a diverse group of participants to review your website against the checklist and determine the usability of your site

Identify Techniques for Basic Usability Tests

• Usability.gov– Federal site the provides a guide to assist in the

process– You can find a wide range of templates that are in

the public domain and available to be used and modified as you see fit for any of your projects

Identify Methods forCollecting Site Feedback

• Once your website is published, you may choose to receive feedback from actual visitors to your site by asking them to complete a brief survey before they leave the site

• You can create a pop-up box that appears when the user enters the site, prompting them to choose whether they would be interested in answering some questions about their experience


• Surveys are often also requested after an individual has made a purchase at a commerce website

• The actual survey is created as a form, and the data submitted to a database where the responses can be analyzed

• You can also create an e-mail link for those visitors who wish to leave a comment about your site


• You can also gather site feedback without visitors even knowing it

• Services are available for purchase that will proactively monitor your website to report on broken links and digital assets that may not be tagged correctly

• Assets that are tagged correctly provide information about how visitors interact with the site


• Proactively evaluating a website helps you create a better experience for your visitors, which will keep them returning to your site


• Other information you can gather includes learning which of the following your visitors use:– Platform– Browser– Browser version– Screen resolution– Connection speed


• This can help you determine critical information that will:– help you in the design and publication of your site– make the visitors’ experience more enjoyable

• You will need to consider your visitors’ computer or mobile device configuration, and ensure that you site works with that configuration


• Services are also available that can track and analyze how visitors are:– Getting to – Using– Navigating your site


• Which keywords can your visitors use in search engines to find your website?

• Where do visitors go on your website?• Does your site appear in the search engine’s

results?• If you are a commerce site, which navigation

paths did visitors follow most often that ended in a purchase?

Present Web Pages to Others for Feedback and Evaluation

• You can also form a focus group to help you determine how visitors feel and think when they visit your site

• The information gathered is used to improve your site

• Focus groups can be used before a website is published, after implementation, or when planning a redesign

Present Web Pages to Others for Feedback and Evaluation

• Before forming a focus group, it is important to see who you identified as the target audience

• Next, identify specific goals and objectives• The focus group is assembled and observed

while members share their opinions, feelings, thoughts and attitudes about the site

Manage Assets, Links and Files for a Site

• The Files Panel is where:– manage assets locally– files can be deleted– files can be renamed– files can be moved

• You can set up the Files Panel to publish files to a remote or testing server

• When a file is changed, Dreamweaver prompts you if a link needs updated


• You can manage files in the Files panel by:– right-clicking a file OR– clicking the Panel options menu

• These menus differ from one another• On the right-click menu:– Point to Edit to access Delete and Rename commands

• On the Panel options menu:– The Delete and Rename commands are accessed by

pointing to File


• To create a new file or folder:– Right click a file in the Files Panel– In the Panel options menu: point to File and click a

command

• When you rename a file, Dreamweaver prompts you to update any links associated with that file

Publish and Update Site Files to a Remote Server

• When you want Dreamweaver to connect to a remote folder, you specify the remote folder in the Server category of the Site Definition dialog box

• The remote folder is also referred to as the host directory

• The remote folder should match the local root folder of your Dreamweaver site


• A remote folder can have name• A common practice among ISPs is to name the

top-level remote folder public_html or pub_html

• Your ISP will inform you of the type of connection you should use when setting up your remote connection


• FTP:– Common protocol– File-Transfer protocol– Default option in the Connect Using pop-up menu

• If you simply want to connect to a local or network connection to test your site, click Local/Network on the Connect Using pop-up menu


• When a remote connection is first established, the remote folder is usually empty

• Publishing:– Uploading the files in your local root folder to remote

folder– Populates the remote folder

• The directory structure of both these folders should always be the same to ensure that Dreamweaver uploads files to the current location and the files will be visible to visitors


• Put command:– Used to publish your files to the remote folder

• Select the local root folder in the Files panel before executing the Put command to upload the entire contents of your local root folder

• If you do not need to update the entire site, you can select the individual pages or folders and click the Put button, and only selected items will be uploaded


• Get command:– Used to download files from the remote site to

the root folder– Usually done when more than one individual edits

the site

• Check Out command:– Used to ensure that more than one person does

not work on a file at the same time


• If the Check Out command is used instead of the Get command, Dreamweaver alerts other users that the file has been checked out and by whom

• If the Check Out command is used, the file needs to be placed back in the remote folder using the Check In command


• Expand:– To view panes displaying the remote server and

local site folder

• If you are unable to see the remote folder, you may need to click the Connect/Disconnect button to connect to the remote site

• Click Collapse button to show only local or remote site and return to single-pane view

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Evaluating & Maintaining a Site Domain 6. Conduct Technical Tests Dreamweaver provides many tools to assist in finalizing and testing your website for