Defining a local site in Dreamweaver

Now that I’ve emphasized the importance of creating a local site, here’s how you do it:

Start by collecting your entire site content in a single folder. You can create subfolders (subdirectories) for images, media, web pages, and so on. But all these folders must be within the folder that will serve as your local site folder.
From the Document window menu, choose Site > New Site. The Site Definition dialog opens.
At the top of the dialog, click the Advanced tab to see all options at once, instead of a wizard that reveals only one element of the site at a time. In the Category list, choose Local Info (Figure 1).

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Figure 1: Defining a local site.

In the Site name box, enter any text you wish. Nobody will see this but you and other developers; it is simply descriptive information to help you remember which website this is.
In the Local root folder area, click the folder icon at the right and navigate to the folder in which you saved all your files.
If you want Dreamweaver to automatically save images to one folder on your local storage system (usually a hard drive), you can navigate to a folder using the folder icon next to the Default images folder field. This is not a particularly essential option, and it can get in your way if you want to make conscious decisions on where files are stored.
Choose the Links relative to Document radio button; this is the most efficient and reliable way to generate and update links between files, and to define links for embedded images.
The only other important option is the Enable cache check box. This activates the Asset panel that displays all site content.
With your local site defined, click OK. Dreamweaver is now ready to organize your files for you.

For more information about setting up a Dreamweaver CS3 site, check out the following resources: