This book consists of 12 chapters with a total of 100 sections, each focusing on a specific technique. I am making these notes as a way of reinforcing my understanding of the various features of Dreamweaver CS3.

I prefer my hierarchical structure for thinking about the creation of a web site.

Using my structure, I can easily fit the 100 techniques into the appropriate category (or I can omit many of the techniques).

The introduction to Chapter One emphasizes the importance of beginning by creating a web site. One should (i.e. MUST) do this before one creates any Web pages.

The introduction to Chapter One also mentions that the two most important Dreamweaver windows are the Document Window and the Files Window. I agree. The real trick when first learning about any new software package is learning what to ignore. Usually the screen is full of icons and information, the majority of which are relatively unimportant. Learning where to focus, where to notice what is important, takes time. It comes with experience. An experienced user rarely sees more than 10% of the screen. She simply zeroes in on the area where she is going to find the necessary tool to accomplish what she has in her mind.

In fact, I always have 4 windows open. In addition to the Document Window and the Files Window, I keep the Insert and Properties Windows open as well. I have these arranged on my screen with the Insert Window immediately above the Document Window (since it it really a form of menu bar) and the Properties Window just below the Document Window. I keep the Files Window on the right side of my screen where it is out of the way but easily accessible.

Thus a more accurate diagram would be:

One can open or close all Windows from the Windows menu item at the top of the Dreamweaver menu bar. Each window can be dragged to any desired place on the screen by grabbing the appropriate menu bar and sliding it to where you wish to place it.

Now lets have a look at the techniques in Chapter One:Creating a Web Site.

• Technique #1 Collecting Site Content
  • This describes how to import files from other locations into your web site. I prefer to ignore this and assume one is going to create their own content.
• Technique #2 Defining a Local Site
  • Absolutely critical!
  • Create a new file folder and place it on your hard drive where it is easily accessible.
  • This folder will contain ALL of the files in your Web site.
  • Then from the Dreamweaver Menu, choose Site -> New Site... ->
  • A Site Definition window opens. Fill in the options.
• Technique #3 Organizing a Local Site
  • This describes the normal procedure for creating folders and sub-folders, new files, changing the names of folders or files, and moving folders and files from one location to another.
  • What is important is to make sure that you do ALL of these file activities from within this Dreamweaver Files Window.
• Technique #4 Managing Site Views
  • This provided a couple of advanced views that I have never used.
• Technique #5 Managing Sites
  • Ignore
• Technique #6 Defining a Remote Server Connection
  • This is important but requires that you know the necessary login procedures and directory names of the remote Web server.
• Technique #7 Connecting to a Remote Server
  • This is important and assumes that you have already completed Technique #6.
  • Simply click on the connect icon in the Files Window. Once you have connected to the remote server you can upload your files from your hard drive to the server.
• Technique #8 Transferring Files Between Remote and Local Sites
  • Basically this involves clicking on the appropriate upload icon in the Files Window.
• Technique #9 Synchronizing Local and Remote Content
  • Ignore.

Chapter Two: Working in the Document Window

• Technique #10 Exploring the Document Window
  • The Document Window contains a display of the web page as it may appear in a browser. Since different browsers sometimes display web pages is slightly different ways, one still needs to verify how the web page will look in various browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, ...). The Document Window displays how the web page looks in Dreamweaver (which is usually the same, or very close) to how it looks in a browser.
  • The Document Window has 3 different views of the web page: Code, Split and Design.
    • Design is the normal view and shows how the page will look in a browser
    • Split view divides the Document Window into two parts. One part shows the way the page looks in a browser and the second part shows the actual XHTML code that is generated by Dreamweaver. This view is often useful when one is making some small adjustment to a display. But it requires that one be somewhat familiar with the nature of the XHTML coding language.
    • Code view only gives the XHTML code for the web page.
• Technique #11 Viewing Panels and the Property Inspector
  • The Properties Window (also called the Property Inspector) contains a set of options very similar to those found in a word processor. This is a useful way to edit the appearance of the text in a web page. However this does violate the principle of separating the content from the formatting commands.
• Technique #12 Editing Page Content in Three Views
  • Ignore.
• Technique #13 Examining Dreamweaver Toolbars
  • I keep the Insert and Document Toolbars open ( View -> Toolbars )
  • I can preview my web pages using Firefox and Safari.
• Technique #14 Using the Insert Toolbar
  • I keep this toolbar open at the top of the screen. I often use it instead of the Dreamweaver menu bar.
  • I often use the Tables and Images icons to insert those items.
  • But there are many tabs that I have yet to explore.
• Technique #15 Using the Insert Menu bar
  • This is the alternative to the Insert Toolbar.
  • Once again, there are many options that I have yet to explore.
• Technique #16 Creating a New Page From Scratch
  • Select File -> New and then Blank Page, HTML, none for layout, and XHTML 1.0 Transitional.
• Technique #17 Defining Links
  • I use the Property Inspector for this.
• Technique #18 Creating Pages From Blank Templates
  • Possibly useful, but I haven't used this.
• Technique #19 Creating Pages From Sample Starter Pages
  • Similar to technique #18
• Technique #20 Creating Pages From Sample Style Sheets and Framesets
  • Similar to technique #18

Chapter Three: Designing Pages With Tables and Frames

I prefer to ignore this chapter as it describes an approach that violates the recommendations for separating content and design.

Chapter Four: Designing Pages with Absolute Placement Objects

• Technique #30 Designing Pages with Absolute Placement Objects

Tags: web authoring, Dreamweaver CS3, XHTML, CSS