I am going to have by the time I am done well over 100 different large 20" wide by 72 res background images to this website. Each time I upload the site it appears to reload the background images as well. I have not made any changes to the images, I see the uploading process “comparing” files, but yet it goes through and re-uploads all the images. This is getting quite tedious.
Is this happening because the background image has become an actual part of that webpage and if there is a text change or the like on that page, then indeed, that causes the image to be uploaded again?
Trying to figure out what will be the workflow to this crazy project of mine. It is going to be huge, so I want to have a handle on things.
FTP is a very inexact science, particularly with regard to file modification times. You may have to upload the site, wait a half hour, then upload it again to see if it does everything again. Eventually it should settle down, but you might have to try a few times before it does.
Let me be clear, here: Freeway is designed to only upload images (or any other resources) that have changed since the last time you uploaded. Unless there is something desperately wrong with your Mac’s real-time clock, you shouldn’t see the same image going up more than once if it’s added in the normal “select an element or page, assign the background image to it, and let Freeway manage everything as is its wont” method.
If you are using an Action to upload these images, or if you are somehow modifying the creation time of the original images, then you may see this exact behavior.
One thing to check – these background images you are using, are they coming from a static collection of files on your disk somewhere? Do you have a folder somewhere with all these images in it? If some other process is messing with those files, then you will see this perpetual upload and it’s normal – Freeway will see that the files have changed their modification dates and will upload the “newer” version to your server.
All of the background images are in one separate folder on the desktop and there is nothing messing with them. They are static. As for how they come into Freeway, I am clicking onto the page and then the Appearance Button>Images>Select and to that folder of images.
So I am thinking that I am doing everything correctly. No?
Eventually I am going to want to take the files for the website off the desktop and hopefully off the computer as well. I’m hoping to have it on a couple external HDs instead, later down the road.
That all sounds correct, and points to the problem being in the FTP side of things.
One other idea – are these images that are being uploaded again and again on pages where you are also making other sorts of changes (text or layout or adding other graphics)? Because whenever a page changes – even a little – everything on that page is re-generated and uploaded again. This can be particularly vexing when QuickTime movies are involved…
But if these pages are not being worked on, yet are uploading again, there might be something else going on in the FTP upload process. Certain FTP servers are harder to talk to than others, and give inconsistent results such as you describe. If you have access to a different server somewhere else, try it and see if you get the same or different results.
Thanks, that explains it. Yes, I am making changes in the HTML text on these pages. I thought that might be the situation, any change whatsoever to any page makes it upload the background image all over again.
It is probably best to keep a folder associated with your Freeway document
that you keep the original media being used in that document / website.
If Freeway cant find the original it will give a warning and mark it as
missing and continue to use its own internal copy.
You could redirect missing resources to a new location - on another disk
etc. But unless there was some extraordinary reason not to, I would
recommend keeping the media in an appropriately named folder with the
Freeway document.
I believe Freeway 5 Pro can collect a copy of everything used in the site
but I haven’t needed to use it yet.
hope this helps
regards
Brian
Rgator said recently:
Walter,
All of the background images are in one separate folder on the desktop and
there is nothing messing with them. They are static. As for how they come into
Freeway, I am clicking onto the page and then the Appearance
Button>Images>Select and to that folder of images.
So I am thinking that I am doing everything correctly. No?
Eventually I am going to want to take the files for the website off the
desktop and hopefully off the computer as well. I’m hoping to have it on a
couple external HDs instead, later down the road.
And this brings up something that I am sort of worried about and it was not an issue before using Freeway and hopefully won’t be now.
I have all my files for this project scattered out on my desktop. How do I put everything together in one main folder when I am done and then put it on the external drive without confusing Freeway?
Can I just have Freeway launched and then it will “watch and know” where all the files have been moved to, or just what has to be done when everything is consolidated together?
Here’s some good news.
Because of your question I just tried out the Save archive… command under
the file menu. Far out.
Freeway made a copy of the Freeway document, and a folder named Media - with
a copy of every file referenced in the Freeway document - as well as an
empty Site Folder that I bet the copied Freeway file will be set to publish
into. And it put them into a folder I named and where I chose.
So you can either gather everything using this method and work to that
schemata from now on - or continue in a scattered way until you are ready to
gather it all up .
Is that worth a smile?
all the best
Brian
Rgator said recently:
And this brings up something that I am sort of worried about and it was not an
issue before using Freeway and hopefully won’t be now.
I have all my files for this project scattered out on my desktop. How do I put
everything together in one main folder when I am done and then put it on the
external drive without confusing Freeway?
Can I just have Freeway launched and then it will “watch and know” where all
the files have been moved to, or just what has to be done when everything is
consolidated together?
Wow!!! Biggest smile yet for this software! I was hoping this part would be easy. It could have been a real drag, because I always start scattered out and slowly bring it all together. The only thing I really plan in advance is the SEO for any site. After that comes the secondary stuff. I do not picture how a site will look until after the SEO is planned out first.
There’s also another trick up Freeway’s sleeve. If you do lose track
of your scattered files, just go to the Edit menu - Resources. The
dialog will tell which files are OK and which are missing and from
there you can locate the missing ones. What’s more, if several are
missing from the same location, it is intelligent enough to gather
them all back in one pass.
I have all my files for this project scattered out on my desktop.
How do I put everything together in one main folder when I am done
and then put it on the external drive without confusing Freeway?
File>Save Archive.
This will gather everything that’s been used in the site together,
including the site file itself, and put it all in a folder that you
designate. Very useful.
Ehm, I followed the discussion some time earlier about background-images, and noticed that you want to keep all of your files on the server for SEO reasons.
That can be done easely also for background-images (but please pardon me if someone already mentioned this already)
How to do that in FW?
If you draw a HTML item on your page in FW, then choose → element -->extended →
Another bit about the file links in a Freeway project – they’re based on Mac OS Aliases, so as long as a referenced original file isn’t moved to another disk entirely, or to another server volume (if that’s where it was originally), the reference will not be broken. You may rename the original, move it to a different or new folder on that same disk/volume, pretty much anything you like. Freeway will even find remote resources in the Trash (until you empty it, of course).
Another bit about the file links in a Freeway project – they’re based on Mac OS Aliases, so as long as a referenced original file isn’t moved to another disk entirely, or to another server volume (if that’s where it was originally), the reference will not be broken. You may rename the original, move it to a different or new folder on that same disk/volume, pretty much anything you like. Freeway will even find remote resources in the Trash (until you empty it, of course).
Walter
More good info to know. Now I can stop worrying somewhat about where my files are until I complete a project. Of course, once I have it all together, then I will consolidate it all, but while I am working, I am kind of scattered out.
(sort of like my brain!)
Thanks,
Robert
PS… When it comes to websites, it is the opposite of my specialized construction work in the OR, where I know a month in advance basically every move I am going to make in there. With websites, it is like painting a picture where you are not sure how it is going to come out until you start working on it.
Around two weeks ago Hans gave me this answer and I am now trying to make this work. I understand what he is telling me to do, but I do not know how to properly (or improperly, for that matter) write CSS. I need to start having my background images come from my server, rather than my Mac.
So Hans said to do this:
If you draw a HTML item on your page in FW, then choose —> element —>extended —>
and there you create three styles for the DIV: 1) background-position gets value: center 2) background-image gets value: url(http://www.yourserver/path-to-image) 3) background-repeat gets value: no-repeat
I have the div style panel open, but I do not know what to write. But I see what will happen if properly executed.
Now I have a question about the third style: Does this mean that it does not tile and the background image appears only once? If so, GREAT!
Now if that is so, then if I use the inspector to pick a background color, that color will appear below the background image. Correct?
I am going to have dozens and dozens of these background images, so it is a good idea to get them up on the server and be done with it.
So could anyone please write these styles for me so that I can just copy and paste everything into the Extended Attributes for
and then I can just change the url many times?
I am really just a drag and dropper and do not do code because of severe dyslexia.
My first project with Freeway is turning into a monster now and there’s still plenty to learn. (still battling the SEO problems though, but the visuals are cool)
step1) choose: new
paste in the name field: background-position
paste in the value field: center
press OK
step2) choose: new
paste in the name field: background-image
paste in the value field: url(http://www.yourserver/path-to-image)
press OK
step3) choose: new
paste in the name field: background-repeat
paste in the value field: center
Are you sure about this bit? I’ve never ever seen this as a legal
value for this property. In my experience, the only way to get this
(using multiple properties like this, i.e. not short-hand all rolled
into background: ) is like this:
background-repeat: no-repeat
background-position: center center
Walter
On Mar 19, 2009, at 8:55 AM, atelier wrote:
paste in the name field: background-repeat
paste in the value field: center
