Edit an Existing Page

Step 1: Identify a page (and file) to edit

1. Locate the page you want to edit in a browser. This will be somewhere within the site you got access to as a requirement for completing the training. Students, be sure you are viewing your specific student site.
   Example: http://medwebtraining.stanford.edu/practice/student6/education/
2. Examine the URL in the Address bar; the URL will tell you where to look for the file in your site
• The URL shows you the file's name and what folder it lives in
• http://yoursite.stanford.edu/2col_stationery.html
  OR http://med.stanford.edu/yoursite/2col_stationery.html
  This file would be "2col_stationery.html,"at the top level of the local directory
• http://yoursite.stanford.edu/education/fellowships.html
  This file would be "fellowships.html," within the "education" directory
• http://yoursite.stanford.edu/education/
  This file would be "index.html," within the "education" directory; a URL that ends in a slash calls to the index.html file
3. Switch to Dreamweaver and find the file in question within your local site files directory. Students, find the index.html file in the education folder.

Step 2: Get a fresh copy from the server

1. Connect to the server, if not already connected

2. Select the file for the page you wish to edit; it doesn't matter whether you do this in the "Local View" or the "Remote View."

3. Click the "Get" button (or, use the Check-out command, if using Check-in/Check-out); click "Yes" when prompted about "Dependent files."

Step 3: Edit the page

1. Open the page file by double-clicking on the file name in the "Local View"
2. Note the editable and non-editable regions of the page.
   • When you pass your cursor over locked regions of the page, it looks like this:
   • Editable areas are marked by green tabs with names
   • BreadCrumbs and LeftColumn editable areas contain server-side includes and aren't generally edited on pages; these will be explained in a later tutorial
   • Other editable areas (MainColumn, CenterColumn and RightColumn) are for body text; edit freely in these areas

3. Make whatever text or other changes are desired; for this exercise you can just update the main headline

4. Save the changes using the menu sequence File > Save

Step 4: Put

• Put the edited page to the server, either using the "File Management" button/menu at the top of the page document window, or by selecting the file by name from the Local View list and clicking the "Put" button.
  • Dependent Files: You can click "No" when prompted about dependents

Step 5: Validate

• Always confirm page changes in your browser by switching to the browser and reloading your view of the page you have changed. Test any new links you have added to the page. Continue making changes in Dreamweaver, putting the page to the server, and checking the page in your browser, until you are satisfied.

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