Before uploading your site to a server and declaring it ready for viewing, it's a good idea to test it locally. You want to make sure that your pages look and work as expected in the browsers you're targeting, that there are no broken links, and that the pages don't take too long to download.
The following guidelines will help you create a good experience for visitors to your site:
|
Make sure your pages function as expected in the browsers you're targeting and that they "fail gracefully" in other browsers. Your pages should be legible and functional in browsers that do not support styles, layers, or JavaScript. See Checking a page for compatibility with target browsers. For pages that will fail badly in older browsers, consider using the Check Browser behavior to automatically redirect visitors to another page. See Check Browser. |
|
Check your site for broken links (and fix them). Also, Dreamweaver generates a list of links to external sites when you run a link check; periodically follow these links to make sure they're still valid. Other sites undergo redesign and reorganization too, and the page you're linking to may have been moved or deleted. See Checking links between documents and Fixing broken links. |
|
Preview your pages in as many different browsers and on as many different platforms as possible. This gives you an opportunity to see differences in layout, color, font sizes, and default browser window size that cannot be predicted in a target browser check. See Previewing in browsers. |
|
Keep an eye on the size of your pages and the time they take to download. Keep in mind that for pages that consist of one large table, visitors will see nothing until the entire table has finished loading. Consider breaking up large tables; if this is not possible, consider putting a small amount of content—such as a welcome message or an advertising banner—outside the table at the top of the page so users can view this material while the table downloads. See Checking download time and size. |