Open a Web page that you want to preview in Dreamweaver, choose File

Study the page carefully, testing all the links, rollovers, and any other special effects to make sure that the page appears how you want in this browser.

Return to Dreamweaver to make any changes you want to the page. Then test the same page in other Web browsers. To add browsers to the preview list, choose File

After the Preferences dialog box opens to the Preview in Browser settings, click the plus (+) sign at the top of the dialog box to open the Add Browser dialog box. Enter a name for the browser. (I like to include the version number as well as the name, as I have here, with Firefox 3.) Then click the Browse button.

Find the browser you want to add on your hard drive, click to select it, and then click Open to add it to the browser list in Dreamweaver. Note: You can add only those browsers to Dreamweaver that are on your hard drive. (See the nearby sidebar "Downloading new browsers" to find out more about finding and downloading new browsers for testing.) Look for the browser's executable file (with an .exe extension) rather than a shortcut on your desktop that you may use to launch the browser.

Repeat Steps 3–5 to add more browsers to the list. You can then designate which browser you want as your primary browser: the browser that's launched when the F12 key is first pressed. You can also designate a secondary browser, which appears second on the list and will launch and display the same Web page if you press Ctrl+F12 on Windows or

You can also preview a page in a browser by clicking the Preview/Debug in Browser icon (it looks like a globe), at the top of the workspace, and selecting any browser from the list.

Adobe Device Central is available in Dreamweaver versions CS3 and CS4. (You don't have this option if you'reusing an older version of Dreamweaver.) Device Central is designed to help you create and test Web sites for mobile devices, such as cell phones. Using Device Central, you can preview your Web pages in many different cell phone models by first clicking the plus sign next to the device type and then any of the devices listed within each group.

At www.browsershots.org, enter the URL of the page you want to test in the Enter URL Here field. (Note: You can test only those pages that are published on a Web server, but you can test any of those pages. For example, I can test www.californiawildlifephotography.com (as I'm doing here), and I can also test www.californiawildlifephotography.com/gallery to (test the gallery page separately). Browsershots can test only one page at a time.

Browsershots offers an exhaustive array of browser options (more than 92 different Web browsers and versions to choose from), and you can choose to test any browser available on any or all of the major operating systems, including Linux, Windows, Mac OS, and BSD. You can't, however, select specific versions of these operating systems. Place a check mark next to each browser you want to test, but keep in mind that the more options you choose, the longer it will take.

The result is a collection of thumbnail screenshots that give you a literal snapshot of how your page looks across many different browsers and systems. It can take a few minutes or a few hours to complete testing, depending on how busy the service is and how many options you choose.

Click any of the thumbnail images to see a slightly larger version. If you find that a page doesn't display properly in a browser, such as the one shown here in IE6, you can then use Dreamweaver to make adjustments to the page layout and test it again to see whether the display improves.

Make sure that the site you want to test is selected and active in the Files panel. (To open the Files panel, choose Window

To test the links in a Web site, choose Site

The report from the Check Links feature is displayed at the bottom of the workspace. If Dreamweaver reports a broken link, like the one shown here (to the about me.html file), double-click the filename. Dreamweaver highlights the corresponding text or image with the broken link so that you can easily see where you need to fix the link.

You can fix broken links in a number of ways; the simplest is to reset the link by following the same steps you find in Chapter 6 for creating links. As in the example shown here, where I'm fixing a link from one page in a Web site to another page in the same site, start by making sure that the linked text is selected. Then click the Browse button (the yellow file folder icon next to the Link field) in the Property Inspector to locate the correct filename. (For more detailed instructions on creating links, see Chapter 6.)

In addition to identifying broken links to pages within a Web site, the Dreamweaver link report lists other kinds of links. For example, you can use the drop-down list shown here to view all the external links, or links in a site that go to other Web sites. This makes it easy to test links to other sites to make sure that the Web site address hasn't changed. Note that to check external links, you must preview a page in a browser on a computer with an active Internet connection. You also display a list of unused files in a site by choosing Orphaned files from the drop-down menu. Orphaned files are HTML pages that aren't linked to any other pages, as well as images and multimedia files that aren't inserted into any pages in your site.

Choose Site

In the list of defined sites, select the site you want to publish. Then click the Edit button.

Select the Advanced tab at the top of the Site Definition dialog box, and then select the Remote Info category from the left side.

Click the arrow for the Access drop-down list box, and then choose the publishing option best suited to your Web server and development environment. If you're using a commercial Web host (the most common option for small do-it-yourself sites), choose FTP. If you're working at a university, a large company, or an organization that has its own Web servers, refer to the nearby sidebar, "The multiple Dreamweaver publishing options," to understand your choices here, and check with your system administrator to find out which option is best for your system.

In the FTP Host text box, type the host name of your Web server. In my example, I used ftp.austinrelax.com. In the Host Directory text box, type the directory on the remote site in which documents visible to the public are stored. In my example, I used /web/austinrelax/. The information you enter in this field depends on your server. In some cases, you can leave the field blank if you log in directly to your site; in other cases, you use a different path, such as users/mysite/domain. Check with your service provider or site administrator to find out how your server is set up.

Enter your login name and password. Web services require a username and password to gain access to your Web server to ensure that you're the only person who can make changes to your Web site. If you select the Save check box, Dreamweaver stores the information on your local computer and you don't have to retype it every time you log in to your Web server. Click the Test button to make sure that you entered everything correctly. If there are no problems, Dreamweaver responds with the message Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 connected to your Web server successfully.

Select the Use Passive FTP option or the Use Firewall option only if your service provider or site administrator instructs you to do so. If you use a commercial Web hosting service, you shouldn't need to select any remaining options in this section of the dialog box. Select the use Secure FTP check box if you have a secure Web server, but be aware that not all hosts support secure FTP. If you select this option and see an error message when you press the Test button, deselect the option and test again.

Select the Maintain Synchronization Information check box; Dreamweaver then automatically keeps track of any changes you make to pages on your local computer that haven't been uploaded to the server. Note: I never recommend that you select the Automatically Upload Files to Server on Save check box because I think that you should test your pages on your local computer before you publish them to the local site. Leaving this box deselected prevents the possibility of accidentally uploading errors automatically every time you save a page on your local computer. The Enable File Check In and Check Out option opens an advanced feature that can be used to track files when multiple people are working on a Web site. You can find more information on this and other site management features in my book Dreamweaver CS4 For Dummies (Wiley).

Click OK to save your Web server information settings and close the Site Definition dialog box. You're ready to start using the Dreamweaver FTP features, covered in the next section.

Make sure that the site you want to upload is selected and visible in the Files panel and that you entered all the FTP settings described in the previous section. Then, in the upper-left corner of the Files panel, click the Connects to Remote Host icon. (It looks like a plug and an outlet.)

When the connection is established, the blue Connects to Remote Host icon changes to look like the plugs are connected (or, dare I say, plugged in). After the connection is established, you can view the files and folders on your Web server by choosing Remote View from the drop-down list in the upper-right corner. (It's shown open in this figure.) Using the drop-down arrow, you can easily switch between Local view (displays the files and folders in the root site folder on your local hard drive) and Remote view by selecting each one in turn.

To see both Local and Remote views simultaneously, expand the Files panel by clicking the Expand icon, in the upper-right corner of the Files panel. With the panel expanded, you can upload and download files by dragging them from one pane to the other. To minimize the Files panel, click the same icon again. In this figure, the Files panel is expanded and the cursor is hovering over the icon, which is labeled Collapse when the Files panel is expanded.

To upload a file (transfer a file from your hard drive to your Web server), select the file from the Local View panel (which displays the files on your hard drive) and click the Put Files icon (the up arrow) in the Files panel. If a dialog box appears with the message Put dependent files, choose No to upload only the selected file. Choose Yes, and Dreamweaver uploads the selected file, plus any files that appear within that file, such as images or multimedia files that are inserted into a page.

Files are copied to your server when you transfer them, leaving the file on the local computer untouched. You can select multiple files or folders to be transferred simultaneously.

To download files or folders (transfer files or folders from your Web server to your hard drive), select the files or folders from the Remote Site panel (which displays the files on your server) and click the Get Files button (the down arrow) in the Files panel. The files are automatically copied to your hard drive when you transfer them.

Sign up for an account at Google Analytics (www.google.com/analytics). If you already have a Google account, such as one you use for Gmail, just click the big blue Access Analytics button, and you can use your existing account as you sign up for Analytics. If you're new to Google, click the Sign Up Now link and create a new account when you sign up for Analytics.

After you set up an account, just enter your user name and password to access your account. When you log into Google Analytics, if you already have sites set up with tracking, you'll see them listed on the Overview page. To set up a new site, click the Add Website Profile link at the bottom of the Overview page.

On the Create New Website Profile page that appears, select Add a Profile for a New Domain if you're setting tracking for the first time, or select Add a Profile for an Existing Domain if you want to track a domain with a second profile. Enter the URL of the site you want to track, select the country and time zone from the drop-down lists, and then click the Finish button at the bottom of the page.

Google Analytics provides you with two options: New Tracking Code (ga.js) or Legacy Tracking Code (urchin.js). I recommend using the new tracking code so you have access to the latest and greatest new features that aren't available via the legacy code. Select the entire code block in the input box and copy it. Then click the Finish button at the bottom of the page to return to the Overview.

To add the code to a page in Dreamweaver, click the Code button at the top left of the workspace, and then scroll down to the bottom of the Web page where you want to add the code. With the cursor or mouse, select the line immediately before the </body> tag and then press Enter on your keyboard. Choose Edit

To add Google Analytics code to a WordPress blog, log into the Administrative tools for your blog (as if you're going to add a new post) and then choose Appearance from the left side of the Dashboard. Under Appearance, choose Editor; then, on the right side of the page, under Templates, choose Footer (footer.php). Scroll down to the bottom of the page code; just above the close body tag </body>, paste the code from Google Analytics. Click Update File, and all the pages in your blog will be tracked automatically.