Publishing overview
Site Designer offers three distinct paths to put your project on the web. Which one is right for you depends on where you’re hosting and how much control you need over the final files.
The three publishing methods
1. S-Drive (one-click CoffeeCup hosting)
S-Drive is CoffeeCup’s included hosting service. Every Site Designer license comes with an S-Drive account. Click Publish, and your site is live at a *.s-drive.io subdomain within seconds. No FTP credentials, no file management, no server setup.
Best for: Getting a site live fast, client previews, personal projects, and anyone who doesn’t already have web hosting.
2. FTP publishing
Site Designer has a built-in FTP client. Enter your host’s FTP credentials once and publish directly from inside the app. Changed files are replaced; unchanged files are left alone. Supports both FTP and SFTP.
Best for: Designers who already have a shared hosting account (like GoDaddy, Bluehost, SiteGround, etc.) and want to publish without leaving Site Designer.
3. Manual export
Export a complete, self-contained folder of HTML, CSS, JS, and assets. You then upload those files to any host you choose — Netlify, Vercel, GitHub Pages, Amazon S3, your own server.
Best for: Developers who want full control, teams using Git-based deployment workflows, or anyone hosting on a static hosting platform.
Decision table
| S-Drive | FTP | Manual Export | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup effort | None | Enter credentials once | Export + upload manually each time |
| Hosting cost | Included with license | Pay your host | Free tiers available (Netlify, Vercel) |
| Custom domain | Yes (CNAME) | Yes (through your host) | Yes (through your host/platform) |
| HTTPS | Automatic (Let’s Encrypt) | Depends on your host | Depends on platform |
| Git integration | No | No | Yes — export to a repo folder |
| PHP/dynamic pages | No | Yes (if host supports it) | Yes (if host supports it) |
| Update workflow | Publish again | Publish again | Re-export + re-upload |
What happens during publishing
Regardless of method, Site Designer performs the same export step before transferring files:
- Validates all pages and assets.
- Generates clean HTML, CSS, and JS files.
- Optionally minifies code (configurable in Export Settings).
- Copies all referenced images, fonts, and media into the output.
The difference is only in where the files go after export: S-Drive servers, your FTP host, or a local folder.
Next steps
- Publish to S-Drive — the fastest path to a live URL.
- FTP publishing — publish to your own host from inside Site Designer.
- Export to a folder — full control over the output files.
- Setting up a custom domain — point your own domain at your published site.
