How to Upload a ZIP and Publish a Static Website

To publish a static website from a ZIP, put the finished site files—including an index.html entry page—into the archive, drop it on the homepage canvas at Dropley, and share the live URL. Dropley keeps your HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and fonts together so their relative paths continue to work.

Use this route when a website has more than one file. For one self-contained page, share an HTML file directly instead.

Before you upload

Your ZIP must contain the finished static output, not the source project that needs a server or build command. It should include:

an index.html file to open first;
the CSS, JavaScript, images, and fonts that index.html references;
relative asset paths that match the folders in the archive.

For example, if you built a project with a framework, upload its exported static output only after it contains an index.html and the assets it needs. A project that requires Node.js, PHP, Python, a database, server-side rendering, or an API you have not made publicly available cannot run on Dropley.

Project Structure

Your ZIP should follow this structure:

12345678my-project.zip
├── index.html           ← Entry point (required)
├── styles/
│   └── main.css
├── scripts/
│   └── app.js
└── images/
    └── logo.png

Entry Point

The entry point is the index.html file that serves as the root when visiting https://preview.dropley.app/p/{shortId}. Dropley automatically uses the shallowest matching index.html in your project.

An entry point may be nested in a subdirectory. For example, if your structure is:

123my-project.zip
└── src/
    └── index.html

Dropley automatically finds and serves src/index.html. There is no entry-point setting during upload.

Check that the ZIP contains the finished static files and at least one index.html.
Open dropley.app and drag the ZIP anywhere onto the page, click the canvas and select it from your computer, or press Tab and then Enter to open the file picker.
Wait for publishing to finish, then copy the generated URL and open it once in a browser.
If you need a different lifetime than the default 3 days, set 1, 3, or 7 days in the manage panel under your URL.
Send that URL to the people who need to view the site.

If publishing fails — most often an oversized ZIP or a missing index.html — the troubleshooting guide lists specific fixes for each case.

The URL is a public, temporary share link. The default lifetime of 3 days applies automatically at publish, and every artifact expires — there is no permanent option. Once its expiration passes, the artifact is deleted; publish it again if you need a new link. See service limits for the current file, path, and expiration constraints.

Supported File Types

Extension	Type
`.html`	HTML pages
`.css`	Stylesheets
`.js`	JavaScript
`.json`	Data files
`.png`	PNG images
`.jpg`, `.jpeg`	JPEG images
`.svg`	SVG images
`.gif`	GIF images
`.webp`	WebP images
`.woff`, `.woff2`	Web fonts

Files with other extensions are not included in the published artifact. Keep only supported site assets in the ZIP, and make sure your page does not reference unsupported files.

Make the site work after upload

Prefer relative paths

Relative paths keep an exported project portable and match the folder structure in the ZIP:

1234567<!-- Preferred -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles/main.css">
<script src="scripts/app.js"></script>
<img src="images/logo.png" alt="Logo">

<!-- Also supported in HTML: Dropley rewrites this root-relative asset path -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/styles/main.css">

External URLs such as https://example.com/style.css are not included in the ZIP and remain dependent on that external service.

Keep the archive ready to serve

Keep the folders in the ZIP exactly as the HTML expects them. Do not upload only index.html when it references separate local files. For example, this link expects the images folder to travel with it:

1<img src="images/logo.png" alt="Logo">

After publishing, open the share link before sending it. If the page is blank or an asset is missing, compare the referenced path with the ZIP structure and check the browser console. The troubleshooting guide covers common upload and serving failures.

Stay within the supported limits

ZIPs are limited to 50 MB per upload and 1,000 files. Entries with unsupported extensions are not included or served, so remove them and make sure the site does not depend on them. Optimize large images, remove unused files, and review the supported types and full limits before uploading.

What Gets Served

Dropley preserves the exact directory structure of your ZIP. Files are served with their original paths relative to the entry point:

123456789Original ZIP:
  index.html
  styles/main.css
  scripts/app.js

Served as:
  https://preview.dropley.app/p/abc12345/         → index.html
  https://preview.dropley.app/p/abc12345/styles/main.css
  https://preview.dropley.app/p/abc12345/scripts/app.js

What Dropley can and cannot publish

Dropley serves a static website: files the visitor’s browser can load, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and fonts. It does not execute server-side code, run server-side includes, or provide a database. If your site depends on one of those services, publish a static export only when it can work without them.

For the underlying terminology and lifecycle, see core concepts. For a complete one-file page, see how to share an HTML file online.