Section A.3. Getting Help from Macromedia

A.3. Getting Help from Macromedia

You can also get more up-to-date and personalized support from Macromedia, ranging from technical notes on the Macromedia Web site to pay-as-you-play support plans.

A.3.1. Free Help by Email

www.macromedia.com/support/email/ complimentary /

As a registered owner of Dreamweaver, you're entitled to free help by email for two problems within 90 days. In other words, you get help with only two problems (can you say "cheapskates"?) and only if you make both requests within 90 days. The clock starts ticking when you make your first request for help. It's available only if you've registered your copy of the software first by choosing Help Online Registration to register via the Web or Help Print Registration to print out a paper registration form (those still exist?) that you can fill out and mail to Macromedia.

To post a question, go to the Web site whose address appears above, where you'll find a Web-based support form to fill out. Macromedia says it'll usually send you an answer within one business day.

For phone assistance, call this not toll-free number: [phone]. Expect to wait on hold, but the support staff is usually very helpful and knowledgeable.

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Note: Dreamweaver users outside the United States should visit Macromedia's International Support page at www.macromedia.com/international/support/.

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A.3.2. Paid Support

www.macromedia.com/support/programs/

Once your free email help expires , you can turn to four levels of personalized feebased support, ranging from $99 for a single incident to the whole-hog luxury of the $3,000 Gold Support program. For more information on these programs, go to the Web page whose address appears above. Each program has its own phone number, so read the Web site to determine the type of support (Incident to Gold) that you need. If you have just a single nagging question, the single-incident help program gets you a Macromedia technician who will work with you until the issue is resolved. But at $99, make sure you've tried to answer the question yourself first using one of the free resources listed in this appendix. Customers in the U.S. and Canada should call [phone] to order this service. (More information on this option, as well as choices for international customers, is at www.macromedia.com/support/programs/singlesupp.html.)

A.3.3. Macromedia Web Site

www.macromedia.com

If you don't mind hunting around for the right answers, you'll find plenty of good, free information on Macromedia's Web site; select Dreamweaver Support Center from the Help menu to open a Web browser and load the main page for Dreamweaver's support. If you've got a question or problem, this is the best place to start. Here, you'll find useful tips, techniques, and tutorials, along with a searchable archive of tech notes (short articles on specific, tweaky problems) that just may hold the answer you're seeking.

For tutorials and in-depth articles on using Dreamweaver, turn to Macromedia's Developer Centerchoose Dreamweaver Developer Center from the Help menu. This site includes sample database applications, video tutorials, and in-depth articles. It's worth checking out frequently.

A.3.4. Online Documentation

You can also find all the documentation for the program on the Macromedia Web site at www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/dreamweaver/, or just choose Dreamweaver Documentation Resource Center from the Help menu. On this Web page, you'll find not only a downloadable version of the electronic documentation, but other helpful reference material such as a Quick Reference Guidea concise Dreamweaver cheat sheet.

A.3.5. The Forums

Macromedia provides both online forums that you get to with a browser and newsgroups that require newsgroup-reading software like the software built into Outlook Express. To get to either of these, choose Help Online Forums or visit www.macromedia.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=tn_12606. The forums are a terrific source of information, offering almost real-time answers on Dreamweaver and related Web design techniques. Macromedia sponsors several forums and newsgroups. Of most interest to average Dreamweaver users are the General Discussion forum for basic questions and the Application Development forum, where people discuss Dreamweavers dynamic Web page features. Odds are one of the many knowledgeable experts who always seem to be hanging around will come back with an answer, sometimes within minutes. (If you're new to forums, www.macromedia.com/support/forums/using.html explains how to use them.)

If you're a little late to the party, you can search previous forum questions as well, since these forums are all indexed at Google Groupssee http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search?q=+ group :macromedia.dreamweaver.