Inside Dreamweaver MX
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Whether you are new to Dreamweaver or a seasoned professional, Inside Dreamweaver MX will help you use the new and powerful Dreamweaver MX to its fullest extent. Not just another rehash of the documentation, this completely revised and comprehensive book broadens your understanding through hands-on projects, tips, and techniques. These pages are your guide to:
Inside Dreamweaver MX's carefully designed exercises will demystify advanced techniques. Insightful interviews with industry leaders and enlightening deconstruction of a variety of web site elements will help you uncover common web design pitfalls and avoid them in your own work. 777 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright
About the Authors
About the Technical Reviewers
Acknowledgments
Tell Us What You Think
Visit Our Web Site: www.newriders.com
Email Us from Our Web Site
Introduction
What (and Whom) This Book Is For
How This Book Is Organized
How to Use This Book
What to Take Away from This Book
Chapter 1. What's New with Dreamweaver MX?
Improved Interface
Page Design
Site Design
DHTML and Multimedia
Code Editing
XML/XHTML Support
Dynamic Data
Summary
Chapter 2. Setting Up the Dreamweaver Workspace
How Dreamweaver Thinks
The New Dreamweaver Workspaces
Touring the Dreamweaver Interface
Getting Help
Summary
Chapter 3. Creating and Working with Documents
Creating New Documents
Workflow in Dreamweaver
Importing Pages from Other Sources
Dealing with Browsers
Summary
Chapter 4. Working with Text
HTML and CSS
Typing, Copying/Pasting, and Importing Text into Dreamweaver
Formatting Text with the Property Inspector
Text Formatting with the Dreamweaver HTML Styles Feature
Special Characters
Using Images as Text
Working with Dynamic Text Elements
Summary
Chapter 5. Working with Images
Images and the Web
Designing with Images
Interview: Marion Kaltenschnee
Special Uses for Images
Working with Dynamic Images
Editing Images: Working with External Editors
Summary
Chapter 6. Links and Navigation
How Links Work in the Browser
Basic Link Creation in Dreamweaver
Dynamic Links
Email Links
Named Anchors
Image Maps
Jump Menus
Rollovers
Navigation Bars
Summary
Chapter 7. Utilizing Head Content
How Head Content Works
Interview: Lisa Tannenbaum
Working with Head Content in Dreamweaver
Working with
Dynamic Tables
Working with Other Head Content
Summary
Chapter 8. Design Issues
Usability
Navigation and Site Structure Design
Methods of Page Layout
Interview: Corey Eiges
Page Composition Issues
Use of Color
Summary
Chapter 9. Building Tables
HTML Tables: Only for Tabular Data?
Working with Tables in Dreamweaver
Tables and Page Layout: If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em
Summary
Chapter 10. Using Dreamweaver's Page Layout Aids
Viewing Aids
Layout View
The Convert Layers to Table Command
Summary
Chapter 11. Working with Forms
How Forms Work in the Browser
Creating Forms in Dreamweaver
Behaviors and Forms
Strategies for Working with Forms
Dynamic Data and Forms
Taking Forms Further
Interview: Adrian Senior
Server-Side Scripts for Processing Forms
Summary
Chapter 12. Designing Frame-Based Pages
Frame Basics
Interview: Murray Summers
Building Framesets in Dreamweaver
Working with Frames
Setting Attributes
Linking and Targeting
Working with
Summary
Chapter 13. Using Cascading Style Sheets
What Are Cascading Style Sheets?
Styles, Style Sheets, and Where They're Kept
Creating Cascading Style Sheets in Dreamweaver
Interview: Nick Bradbury
Working with Redefined HTML Tags
Working with Custom Classes
CSS Selectors
Combining Style Sheets
Summary
Chapter 14. Using Layers for Page Layout
Layers: The Basics
Working with Layers in Dreamweaver
Clip
Taking Dreamweaver Layers Further
Interview: M. Kosloff
Summary
Chapter 15. Multimedia Issues
What Is Multimedia?
Designing with Multimedia
The Big Picture
Summary
Chapter 16. Getting Interactive with Behaviors
Behaviors and JavaScript
Working with Behaviors in Dreamweaver
Behaviors and Dynamic Data
Some Useful Behaviors
Working Sneakily with Behaviors
Summary
Chapter 17. Controlling Layers with JavaScript
Dynamic HTML: Layers and Scripting in the Browser
Controlling Layer Visibility
Controlling Layer Contents
Dragging and Dropping Layers
Controlling Other Layer Properties
Summary
Chapter 18. Animating Layers
How JavaScript Animation Works
The Timeline Interface
Animating Layers
Animating Images
Timelines and Behaviors
Working with Multiple Timelines
Summary
Chapter 19. Plugins, ActiveX, and Java
Extending the Browser with Plugins and ActiveX
Extending the Browser with Java
Summary
Chapter 20. Building Web Pages with Flash
What Is Flash?
Working with Flash in Dreamweaver
Interview: Jennifer Bennett
Working with Full-Screen Flash Pages
Flash and JavaScript
Flash Text and Flash Buttons
Summary
Chapter 21. Development Issues: Planning Your Site
What Do You Want to Do?
Who Is Going to Visit Your Site?
What Are They Going to See?
Other Considerations
Organizing Your Files
Interview: Angela C. Buraglia
Choosing a Web Host
Summary
Chapter 22. Local Site Management
How Dreamweaver Handles Local Sites
Defining a Local Site
Working in the Site Panel
File and Link Management Within a Site
Assets Management with the Assets Panel
Summary
Chapter 23. Site Publishing and Maintenance
How Dreamweaver Works with Remote Sites
Defining a Remote Site in Dreamweaver
Working with a Remote Site
Keeping Local and Remote Sites Synchronized
Summary
Chapter 24. Workplace Collaboration
Challenges of Working in a Design Team
Using Design Notes for Improved Workflow
Version Control
Creating Project Workflow Reports
Summary
Chapter 25. Templates and Libraries
Dreamweaver Site-Wide Content Tools
Working with Templates
Working with Library Items
Interview: Becky Tench
Strategies for Working with Templates and Library Items
Summary
Chapter 26. Introduction to Dynamic Dreamweaver
Dynamic Web Sites and How They Work
Getting Started with Dynamic Development
Dynamic Development Tools in Dreamweaver MX
Summary
Chapter 27. Building a Basic ASP Site
Setting Up Your Workstation to Work with ASP
Setting Up an ASP Site in Dreamweaver
Setting Up a Database Connection
Displaying Dynamic Data
Summary
Chapter 28. Building a Basic ASP.NET Site
Setting Up a Workstation for ASP.NET
Setting Up an ASP.NET Site in Dreamweaver
Displaying Dynamic Data Using ASP.NET
Summary
Chapter 29. Building a Basic ColdFusion Site
Setting Up Your Workstation to Work With ColdFusion
Setting Up a ColdFusion Site in Dreamweaver
Setting Up a Database Connection
Displaying Dynamic Data Using ColdFusion
Summary
Chapter 30. Building a Basic PHP Site
Setting Up Your Workstation to Work with PHP
Setting Up a PHP Site in Dreamweaver
Setting Up a Database Connection
Displaying Dynamic Data
Summary
Chapter 31. Building a Basic JSP Site
Setting Up Your Workstation to Work with JSP
Setting Up a JSP Site in Dreamweaver
Interview: Harlow Pinson
Setting Up a Database Connection
Displaying Dynamic Data
Summary
Chapter 32. Technical Issues
Markup Languages
Scripting Languages
Summary
Chapter 33. Writing Code in Dreamweaver
Using Dreamweaver as a Text Editor
Linking to External Text Editors
Tag Libraries and the Tag Library Editor
Advanced Search and Replace
Editing Non-HTML Markup with Dreamweaver
Writing JavaScript in Dreamweaver
Summary
Chapter 34. Customizing Dreamweaver
Setting Preferences
Modifying Keyboard Shortcuts
Automating Tasks with Custom Commands
Summary
Chapter 35. Working with Extensions
How Dreamweaver Is Configured
Working with the Configuration Folder
Installing and Using Extensions
Summary
Chapter 36. Creating Extensions
Before Getting Started
The Dreamweaver API
Creating Object Extensions
Creating Command Extensions
Packaging Your Extensions
Summary
Part VII: Appendixes
Appendix A. Using Dreamweaver and Fireworks Together
Placing Fireworks Files in Dreamweaver Documents
Launching Fireworks from Within Dreamweaver
Optimizing Fireworks Images or Animations in Dreamweaver
Placeholders
Appendix B. Online Resources for Dreamweaver Web Developers
The Macromedia Online Forums
Resources on the Web
Appendix C. Introduction to MySQL
What Is MySQL?
Setting Up MySQL (Windows)
Setting Up MySQL (Mac OS X)
Getting Around in MySQL
Resources and Further Reading
Appendix D. What's on the CD-ROM
System Requirements
Loading the CD Files
The Exercise Files
Read This Before Opening the Software
Copyright
Copyright 2003 by New Riders Publishing
FIRST EDITION: August 2002
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 752064711810
06 05 04 03 02 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Interpretation of the printing code: The rightmost double-digit number is the year of the book's printing; the rightmost single-digit number is the number of the book's printing. For example, the printing code 02-1 shows that the first printing of the book occurred in 2002.
Printed in the United States of America
Trademarks
All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. New Riders Publishing cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.
Dreamweaver is a trademark of Macromedia, Inc.
Warning and Disclaimer
This book is designed to provide information about Dreamweaver MX. Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as possible, but no warranty of fitness is implied.
The information is provided on an as-is basis. The authors and New Riders Publishing shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages arising from the information contained in this book or from the use of the discs or programs that may accompany it.
Credits
Publisher
David Dwyer
Associate Publisher
Stephanie Wall
Production Manager
Gina Kanouse
Managing Editor
Kristy Knoop
Acquisitions Editors
Linda Anne Bump
Deborah Hittel-Shoaf
Senior Development Editor
Lisa Thibault
Product Marketing Manager
Tammy Detrich
Publicity Manager
Susan Nixon
Project Editor
Suzanne Pettypiece
Copy Editor
Keith Cline
Indexer
Lisa Stumpf
Manufacturing Coordinator
Jim Conway
Book Designer
Louisa Klucznik
Cover Designer
Aren Howell
Proofreader
Linda Seifert
Composition
Jeff Bredensteiner
Gloria Schurick
Media Developer
Jay Payne
Dedications
To Caroline. She kick-started my career all those years ago, and has been a haven of sanity for me ever since.
Laura Gutman
This is for my parents, Donald and Lynn Ayers, who have always been confident that I would amount to something, despite some evidence to the contrary.
Patricia J. Ayers
I dedicate this book to my parents, who have supported me in everything I have done.
Donald S. Booth
About the Authors
| | Laura Gutman works as a multimedia developer, web application developer, and educator in the fields of multimedia, programming, and design. Her first experience in computer science was at an IBM training school in 1983, where she learned how to punch cards, dissect mainframes, and program in COBOL. In the intervening years, she earned her doctorate in English from the University of St. Andrews (Scotland) and has worked as a graphic designer and illustrator (for print and multimedia), technical writer, and multimedia developer. Currently, Laura lives with her dog, parakeets, and hundreds of computer toys in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In addition to her development and consulting work, she teaches a range of courses in multimedia and graphic design at the University of New Mexico. You can visit her online at www.rocketlaura.com. |
| | Patricia J. Ayers has been producing web sites professionally for more than 6 years, with more than 20 sites successfully completed in the past year. She is the owner of Carolina Web Solutions (www.carolinawebsolutions.com), a web design company specializing in small business web sites, and uses Dreamweaver and Fireworks as her primary design tools. |
Patty attended the State University of New York at New Paltz and Pace University, and is currently an avid student of marketing, advertising, and graphic design, in addition to web development.
As a Macromedia Certified web developer and regular volunteer on the Dreamweaver user forums, Patty maintains a Dreamweaver resources site featuring original tutorials at www.thepattysite.com and is involved in the beta testing of Dreamweaver extensions. She is also a member of the Carolina ColdFusion User Group.
Patty lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with her family, and depends on such occupations as biking, gardening, and playing guitar as antidotes to too much computer time.
| | Donald S. Booth currently works as a team lead on the Dreamweaver Technical Support Team at Macromedia. He has been working at Macromedia for two and a half years. He also works on the Authorware Support team as a technician and trainer. He has degrees in art and philosophy from the University of Rhode Island. |
When not building web pages, Don likes to build other things such as guitars, cameras, and a good library. He likes taking photographs and collecting cameras. Don loves music and has a fascination with spacecraft that borders on plain silly.
He currently resides in San Francisco. Learn more about him at www.dbooth.net.
About the Technical Reviewers
These reviewers contributed their considerable hands-on expertise to the entire development process for Inside Dreamweaver MX. As the book was being written, these dedicated professionals reviewed all the material for technical content, organization, and flow. Their feedback was critical to ensuring that Inside Dreamweaver MX fits our readers' need for the highest quality technical information.
| | Brad Halstead started out in the computer industry as a sales representative for a local company and moved up quickly to senior technician, where he performed service contracts for companies such as IBM, PC Service Partners, Xerox, and Olivetti for several years. In 1994, he became interested in web design and hasn't looked back since. Brad is very lucky and thankful for the support of his partner, Brenda, and children (Amanda, Aaron, and Megan) through his endeavors in this field. |
| | Julie Hallstrom is a team lead for the Macromedia Dreamweaver technical support team. She came to her love of Dreamweaver after hand coding HTML for a year and designing web sites for small companies. She sees her job of supporting Dreamweaver users as an opportunity to share her enthusiasm for a really wonderful product. |
| | Elaine Montoya is a principal of Zocoloco Studios a graphic design firm specializing in web development, motion graphics, and print. Founded in 1985, Zocoloco Studios has won numerous awards and has been published in HOW Magazine. |
From a young age, Elaine began to pursue her career in the creative field. At age 14, she started working in printing and graphics and has worked in advertising, graphic design, and multimedia since. Currently she has over 25 years of experience in the field of graphic design and multimedia. She has a degree in liberal arts from the University of NM as well as a degree in advertising design from the Colorado Institute of Art.
Elaine uses a combination of Macromedia products in her daily work with Zocoloco Studios. She finds the combination of Flash, Dreamweaver, and ColdFusion (or PHP) to be an excellent means to create rich media sites with database connectivity for her clients.
Acknowledgments
Laura Gutman:
Hats off to our terrific editors at New Riders Deb, Lisa, and Linda for getting us all together and keeping us afloat through all the dragon-filled waters of writing this big book. My technical knowledge was expanded and supported by my colleagues at the University of New Mexico and by Elaine, Jen, Becky, and the rest of the Girl Geeks. Lots of people's skill and experience got tucked into the pages herein!
Patricia J. Ayers:
I would like to thank David Pickens, who first suggested the wild idea that I could work at web design as more than a hobby and then helped and supported me every step of the way.
Many thanks to all of my dear friends and colleagues from the Macromedia user forums, who have helped, taught, supported, and amused me throughout this project, especially Martina Kosloff, Corey Eiges, Murray Summers, Jag Sidhu, Marion Kaltenschnee, Adrian (JoJo) Senior, John Waller, Bob Haroche, Becky Tench, Laurie Casolino, Colm Gallagher, John Tucker, and all the rest.
Donald S. Booth:
Thanks to Julie Hallstrom for her excellent technical editing and for providing daily laughs.
Thanks to Eric Lerner for recommending me for this project.
Thanks to my co-authors, Laura and Patty, for their help and insight with this project. You both made it more enjoyable for me.
Tell Us What You Think
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Introduction
Welcome to Inside Dreamweaver MX! It's an exciting place to be. Your authors have combined all their knowledge and diverse experience to provide you with a rich resource for learning all about the new Dreamweaver and learning how to apply your knowledge to deal with real-world web-authoring issues.
What (and Whom) This Book Is For
Our goal in writing this book was to give you a more in-depth experience of Dreamweaver, and of web page creation, than you'll find in the program manual or beginner-level books. If you've never fired up a copy of Dreamweaver before, you'll find plenty of good fundamental information about where things are and how they work. If you're already a Dreamweaver user, but aren't satisfied that you're taking full advantage of the software, or want to take your knowledge to the next level, there's plenty here for you as well. If you're a web developer just itching to wrap your brain around database-driven web sites, XHTML, DHTML, and other cutting-edge technologies, we have sections on each of those topics to help you play technology catch-up.
Dreamweaver in the Larger Scheme of Things
Working with web development software isn't like working with any other kind of program. Before you can use Dreamweaver effectively, you need to know how browsers work, and how HTML, JavaScript, and other web technologies function within the browser to create web experiences. One of our goals in this book is to help you look beyond the software, to start thinking about what's possible on the web and how Dreamweaver can help you accomplish that.
To that end, this book examines every topic as it relates to browsers and HTML standards, as well as how it's implemented in Dreamweaver. Instead of just learning how to format type in Dreamweaver, you want to know what all the possibilities are for type formatting in HTML, how they work, and what their relative advantages are. Then you want to know how to use Dreamweaver to make that formatting happen. That's the emphasis throughout this book.
Dreamweaver in the Real World
We also know that no one becomes a pro by memorizing program features. To really master any software, you have to know not only what the program can do, but also how to use its capabilities creatively to solve real problems and build real projects. This book teaches you how to use various program features. However, it also explains why to use them and how to use them well. Each chapter includes our own professional tips and strategies, as well as exercises showing you how to apply program features. We've also included several interviews with web professionals so you can see how Dreamweaver works in the trenches.
Dreamweaver and Live Data
| | The most dramatic change in Dreamweaver MX is the incorporation of UltraDev's dynamic data features into the main Dreamweaver program. If you're not yet versed in this aspect of web development but want to learn, we have some special features for you. In addition to a section of the book devoted to creating data-driven web sites (Part V, "Dreamweaver and Dynamic Data"), we've placed relevant dynamic data topics throughout the book's other chapters. They're marked with a special icon, so they'll be easy to identify. And for those of you who aren't interested in this aspect of web development, Dreamweaver hasn't abandoned you and we haven't either. You can ignore Part V and skip right past the dynamic data topics there's plenty of other information to absorb. |
Other New Features
| | There's more new to Dreamweaver MX than just database connectivity. The program sports a new, streamlined interface, organized around dockable panel groups. Dreamweaver now offers XML and XHTML support, including DocType declarations and validation. Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) support has been beefed up. Dreamweaver now makes it easier to write accessible code. And for the hand-coders among you, many HomeSite features have been integrated into Dreamweaver. Integration with Flash MX is a joy to behold. And that's just the highlights! Throughout the book, keep your eye out for the special "new features" icon. Wherever we show off a new feature, you'll see that icon in the margin. |
How This Book Is Organized
Each of the book's 36 chapters contains explanatory text, lots of pictures, and several hands-on exercises. The chapters are grouped into six sections:
Part I: Web Page Construction with Dreamweaver
These chapters cover the nuts and bolts of creating web pages with Dreamweaver, including setting up the workspace, creating documents, working with text and images, setting up links and navigation systems, and adding head content. Just because these are fundamentals doesn't mean this section is only for beginners! There's a lot to learn here about good, solid work skills for creating good foundation documents.
Part II: Design with Dreamweaver
This section looks at Dreamweaver as a design tool. This includes creating good page layout with tables and layers, using CSS, creating frame-based layouts, and designing forms. The focus is on creating attractive, functional and communicative page designs, and on developing good coding skills to create well-structured pages that will display well across browsers and platforms.
Part III: Interactivity, DHTML, and Multimedia
Web pages don't have to be static. An important part of the web experience is interactivity, whether it's for user engagement, efficient presentation of information, or entertainment value. The chapters in this section examine all the tools for making things hop and pop, turning the static web experience into something interactive. This includes JavaScript behaviors, DHTML (what it is and how you can use it), as well as working beyond HTML with Flash and other rich media content.
Part IV: Site Management with Dreamweaver
No web page is an island. This section covers Dreamweaver as an organizational tool for working with the dozens or hundreds of files that comprise a web site. This section covers creating a local site and taking advantage of Dreamweaver file management resources, working with remote sites, and using Dreamweaver tools for team-based or large-scale web development.
Part V: Dreamweaver and Dynamic Data
Dynamic data is the future of web development. Read this section of the book to start using Dreamweaver to work with ASP and ASP.NET, ColdFusion, PHP, and JSP. These chapters get you going from the ground up, explaining how dynamic web pages work and how to set up a workstation for dynamic development. One chapter is devoted to each of the major development environments Dreamweaver supports.
Part VI: Dreamweaver Under the Hood
Think of this section as Dreamweaver for geeks. Starting with an overview of the web from a coder's point of view, these chapters cover Dreamweaver as a coding tool; customizing the Dreamweaver workspace; working with extensions and the Extension Manager; and finally, using a bit of scripting to write your own extensions.
How to Use This Book
How you use this book depends on who you are and how you want to use it.
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What to Take Away from This Book
We hope you enjoy learning about Dreamweaver as much as we have enjoyed writing about it. We want you to close the covers of this book with a greater understanding of how web development works, and how to use Dreamweaver to work with it, than when you started. But remember, no one ever became a better web designer just by reading books. Read the book. Then go create some web sites. Then come back and read more of the book. Then go make more web sites. And just about the time you think you've got everything mastered, it'll be time for a new book!
EAN: 2147483647
Pages: 49