Overriding files in an existing website

Someone created a website for me and now I’d like to replace that with one I have created myself in Rapidweaver. I want to use the existing Domain name. I am a complete beginner and also not at all familiar with the non-mac file structure of the hosting company. How do I replace the existing website with my new one? Here is what I believe to be true. Please correct me if I have made a mistake:

  1. In Rapidweaver select Publish
  2. Upload the files to the Public folder of my website using Cyberduck

But how do I delete the existing files? Just trash them? And where do I keep files I wish to Warehouse? Sorry for such a basic question. I just don’t want to delete any files that I should be leaving in place.

CyberDuck or any other FTP program will allow you to upload, download or delete files on the webserver.

If you choose Publish from RapidWeaver, you don’t need to upload the files using CyberDuck. You only need to upload using an FTP program such as CyberDuck if you choose to use the Export option. However, I would advise removing all the files on the server using CyberDuck first AND, if there are any files you might want later, I suggest downloading all the files first before deleting them from the web server.

RapidWeaver uses a folder called resources to store various files but you can use any folder on you web server to warehouse files such as images, fonts, etc. Assuming you have plenty of space, you can also move you existing files to a folder on the server (call it something like old_files) rather than removing them from the server.

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Very helpful, thank you. Why use Cyberduck to delete the files, as opposed to moving them to Trash? I want to use Warehousing so that images load faster. So I should first upload all images to the server so that I can reference them when building my website in RW, correct? or is Resources simply the RW name for a Warehouse folder?
Thanks for the useful tip about using an old_files folder to archive the old website. All very useful

If you mean move them to the trash via your hosting control panel, yes you can do that instead.

I’d create your own folder and upload warehoused images. I usually use a folder unimaginatively called images. Warehousing won’t make the images load faster but will prevent the RW project file getting very large and (poosibly) slowing down.

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