One of the most difficult concepts for new users to understand is the concept of the Dreamweaver site. This is probably because the word "site" can refer to different things in Dreamweaver:

Website A set of pages on a server, to be viewed by a visitor to the site using a web browser.

Remote site The files on the server that make up a website, from your (the author's) point of view rather than a visitor's point of view.

Local site The files on your local disk that correspond to the files at the remote site. You edit the files on your local disk, then upload them to the remote site.

Dreamweaver site definition A set of defining characteristics for a local site, plus information on how the local site corresponds to a remote site.

But a Dreamweaver site is very similar to a HomeSite project: it is a way to organize and manage all the files for your website.

You need to set up a site for each website you develop. Organizing your files in a site enables you to use Dreamweaver with FTP to upload your site to a web server, automatically track and maintain your links, manage files, and share files. You cannot take full advantage of Dreamweaver features unless you define a site.

Setting up a Dreamweaver site consists of as many as three steps, depending on your environment and the type of website you are developing:

	Defining a local folder to use as your working directory. This is the folder where you store your "in progress" files for a Dreamweaver site. Dreamweaver refers to this folder as your "local site."
	Defining a remote folder to store your files, depending on your environment, for testing, production, collaboration, and so on. Typically, your remote folder is on the machine where your web server is running. Dreamweaver refers to this folder as your "remote site."
	Defining a folder where Dreamweaver can process dynamic pages. This folder resides on what is known in Dreamweaver as the testing server, and is usually located where your web server runs. For more information, Dreamweaver Help (Help > Using Dreamweaver).

When you set up a local folder, you establish a Dreamweaver site. You can then add remote and testing folders (for dynamic content) as necessary. The local and remote folders enable you to transfer files between your local disk and web server; this makes it easy for you to manage files in your Dreamweaver sites.