Publishing Files
When you create a DropPages site a folder is added to your Dropbox account in the location: /Apps/My.DropPages/(site-name)
Any files you add/edit in this folder are automatically published to your website.
This process usually happens very quickly but larger files may take a number of minutes before they are available on your website.
Serving Web Pages
Default Page
The index.html file in the root of the site folder is the default page displayed when your site is accessed. When your site is created a temporary index.html page is added to the site folder, you can replace this file with your own version.
Extensionless Routes
DropPages makes all HTML files available via an extensionless route e.g.
- /contact.html can be accessed via /contact
- /contact/index.html can be accessed via /contact/
Markdown Pages
Markdown files placed within a _pages folder in the root of the site folder will automatically be converted to web pages. See the site generator guide for further details.
Caching
By default caching is disabled on new sites. If you wish to improve the performance of your website you can enable caching which does the following:
- Uses a global CDN to store copies of your site files in data centers that are geographically closer to your site's visitors. The files are cached here for up to 2 hours.
- Caches your site files in your visitor's web browser for 4 hours.
All files are cached except for HTML files. You cannot use caching alongside password protection or file sharing mode.
File Sharing Mode
To access additional functionality for sharing files you can enable File Sharing mode from the Site Settings tab within the dashboard. Once enabled all file links will automatically display a download page which can be branded with your logo. You can also set password protection on individual files rather than the entire site.
Sync History
A sync is the process of synchronising the files in your Dropbox folder with your hosted website. It happens automatically when you add, modify or delete files in the Dropbox website folder.
You can view your sync quota from the Sync History page in the dashboard. You can also view the logs for recent syncs. Up to 100 of the most recent syncs within the past 24 hours are displayed.
Password Protection
Password protection requires visitors to enter a password before they can access your site. It can be enabled from the Site Settings tab within the dashboard. When adding/removing a password it may take a few minutes for the changes to take effect on your website.
Custom Domains
You can use your own domain instead of a droppages.site subdomain. To create a site with a custom domain you first need to add a CNAME DNS record pointing to custom.droppages.site e.g.
www.example.com CNAME custom.droppages.site
It may take between a few minutes to a few hours for the DNS changes to be detected by DropPages. Once they are detected you can create a site using your custom domain.
If you wish to use a root/apex domain (e.g. example.com instead of www.example.com) then please contact us for more details.