Can I edit a WordPress theme on a remote server with DW CS5?

Question

I'm sure this isn't that difficult, but I'm going nuts trying to figure it out.
How do I tell DW CS5 to open my WordPress theme on a remote server so I can edit it using all the great new features?  I'm not using my "real" blog/site for this.
I have gone through the tutorials to set up a local testing server, but I'd really like to be able to edit on my host too.  It's got to be possible, but I'm just not finding the answer.  Please help!

Answer 1

I use Dreamweaver CS4 to work on remote WordPress themes/sites all the time and it works very well.
I never bother setting up a testserver on my local machine since I work from different locations, so I work directly on the remote server from wherever I am.
I will try to give you step by step directions:
(I am on CS4 so it may be a little different for you but the basics will be the same),
Set up your site with site/manage sites/advanced
For the Local root folder you give the folder on your hard drive where you keep your files
Set links relative to document.
For Remote info set access to FTP
FTP host will be ftp.yoursite.com
Host directory is the path to your theme folder, in my case that is httpdocs/wordpress/wp-content/themes/mytheme/
Then give your login and password and check "use passive FTP"
check "maintain synchronization information" and "automatically upload files to server on save".
For testing server check "none"
For version control click "none"
(it could be a good idea to use version control through subversion but for a one-man operation it may be a little overkill, we leave that for now to keep things simple)
For cloaking check "enable cloaking", check "cloak files ending with" and give the file extensions of the files you keep in your local folder for building your website but don't want to be uploaded to your remote server, like .fla .psd .set .rtf .doc  etcetera.
Now you are ready to start working on your theme.
In your files panel you can switch from local view to remote view. You can use the "get" and "put" commands (the arrows) to move files from local to remote and vice versa. I always work with child themes*. So in my theme folder there will be only a style.css file, a functions.php file, maybe some template files and an images folder. I use my local style.css file to make changes. On save, they are automatically uploaded and Dreamweaver also handles the "dependent" files, like images. No need to bother about that, really easy. Use the browsers on your machine to check your site.
The downside of working on a remote server is off course that if you make a mistake you will mess up your site. Luckily, in this setup you can just use "undo", save the file and you are back to were you were, as long as you work on your local files (and let DW upload those automatically after you save)
For safety and convenience, I keep all my local files in a Dropbox** folder. Everytime I save the file, a version is saved. So I can always go back to versions I  made hours, days or weeks ago. If you're on a mac you could also use timemachine for this, but timemachine only backups every hour, where Dropbox keeps every copy you save(as long as you have enough free space in your Dropbox that is)
To sum it up:
• Setup your site with Site/manage sites
• work locally and let DW automatically upload the files you edited to the remote server
• setup your local machine so that versions are kept with Dropbox
• work on child themes instead of making changes to the original theme
• use a browser to view your work
* child themes are the easy and clever way of working with themes.
see: Working with Child Themes
** Dropbox is a free backup, file sync and filesharing utility.
Get a free 2Gb plus 250MB bonus account here:Dropbox Invite