Dreamweaver

Jing Xie (Jean)

Sept. 29, 2003

Index
• Background

• Getting Started

• Editing Pages

• Site Management

• Advantage and Disadvantage

• Reference and Additional Resourses

Background
Two kinds of HTML editors:

• Text HTML Editors:

provide a lot of control and speed for Web Developers. A Developer who
understands HTML can often edit Web pages much more quickly using a
text editor than another developer can using WYSIWYG. If you're planning
on doing Web Development professionally, use these editor.

• WYSIWYG HTML Editors:

"What You See Is What You Get" HTML editors are very easy to use. Most
novices start out with a WYSIWYG editor because you can get a new Web
page up quickly. But while WYSIWYG editors offer more design flexibility,
they don't result in pages that are better looking - Designers can create
beautiful pages with as easily as with Dreamweaver or Notepad.
What’s Dreamweaver?

• A very popular web authoring tool developed by Macromedia,

which helps you build and maintain a website.
• A WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) HTML editor
• A program that replaces the need to understand the basic
concepts of HTML and web page construction.
• A member of DREAMTEAM together with Flash and Fireworks
which were especially designed for webpage construction

If you have knowledge of web page construction and HTML

• use Dreamweaver you WILL build a GREAT website.

What if you know nothing about it?

• use Dreamweaver you MIGHT be able to build an OK website.

Getting Started
Palettes

Properties Palette
This tool allows you to
manipulate highlighted text,
Objects Palette
images, frames and tables
This tool acts as a
shortcut for inserting
various objects and
commands
Editing Pages
• Setting page properties
• Formatting text
• Inserting table
• Inserting image
• Inserting forms
• Adding layer
• Adding links

three types of document paths:

Absolute paths are complete paths that include the server protocol (usually
http:// for web pages). You must use an absolute path when creating a link to a
file outside the current site.
Root-relative paths always begin at the root of the current site. Root-relative
paths begin with a slash that tells the server to start from the root.
Document-relative paths are relative to the folder containing the current
document. Document-relative paths are often the simplest paths to use for links
to files that will always be in the same folder as the current document.
• Looking at and editing your HTML
• Adding flash Nevbar

“Insert Flash Button” in the objects palette

Site Management
• Define a site
• Use site window
Advantage

• don't need to know HTML to put up a Web page.

• Direct and easy-learning.
• more built-in developer tools, support for more plug-ins, and transparent
support for other Macromedia products such as Fireworks.
• It's more robust than FrontPage and could meet the requirements of
experienced web developers
• Powerful capability for site management

Disadvantage

• Slower to edit HTML changes compared with Text HTML Editors

• Not absolutely WYSIWYG
Reference:
• Melissa Pedersen & Lisa Waters & Eddie Gose, How to use
Dreamweaver 4, Spring 2002
• http://webdesign.about.com/library/reviews/aabyb-htmleditors.htm
• http://www.edtech.neu.edu/workshops/materials/dreamweaver/overview/
• http://ccl.english.ohio-
state.edu/handouts/defunct/dreamweaver/Dreamweaver4_Intro.htm
• http://www.webaim.org/howto/dreamweaver/
• http://ag.arizona.edu/ecat/dreamweaver4/

Additional Resources
Further information on the Dreamweaver program can be found at:
• http://www.macromedia.com/support/dreamweaver/: official Dreamweaver
support page by Macromedia
• http://www.lynda.com/products/books/dw3hot/dw3movies.html: short online
training videos from web-design guru Lynda Weinman.