Section 9.6. Reference Panel | Dreamweaver 8[c] The Missing Manual

9.6. Reference Panel

When it comes to building Web sites, there's a lot to know. After all, Cascading Style Sheets, HTML, and JavaScript are filled with cryptic terms and subtle nuances . Fortunately, Dreamweaver's Reference panel makes your search for knowledge a little bit easier. It gives you quick access to reference excerpts on 13 Web topics from a variety of authoritative sources, including:

O'Reilly CSS Reference . In-depth information on Cascading Style Sheets.
O'Reilly HTML Reference . Complete guide to HTML tags and properties.
O'Reilly JavaScript Reference . A not-so-well-organized reference to JavaScript topics, concepts, and commands.
O'Reilly PHP Pocket Reference . A less-than - user -friendly reference to PHP. For seasoned programmers.
O'Reilly SQL Language Reference . If you plan to go deeper into database-driven Web development, this great reference can help you figure out how to write the perfect database query.
O'Reilly ASP Reference . Look up commands for Active Server Pages, one of Microsoft's server-side programming technologies.
O'Reilly ASP.NET Reference . More server-side commands, but this time for ASP's more powerful successor, .NET.
UsableNet Accessibility Reference . Guidelines for making Web pages more accessible to the disabled.
Macromedia CFML Reference . Complete reference to tags used in the Cold-Fusion Markup Language (used with Macromedia's ColdFusion application server).
Macromedia CF Function Reference . A reference of different functions (commands) built into ColdFusion functions. Includes helpful examples of how to use each function.
O'Reilly JSP Reference . Java got you down? Quickly look up Java Server Page commands here.
O'Reilly XML Reference . Dreamweaver 8 introduces some interesting XML features (see Chapter 24), but this general dictionary of XML terms and properties isn't the place to start your education.
O'Reilly XSLT Reference . To turn XML into readable XHTML, you'll turn to XSLT (and Chapter 24, where you'll learn how to use it). This reference describes the various XSLT functions.

To open the Reference panel, choose Window Reference, or press Shift+F1. Thankfully, the Dreamweaver 8 designers moved the Reference panel to a place where theres a little more reading room: you'll now find the Reference panel docked at the bottom of the screen with the Results panel group (see Figure 9-16). The first menu at the top of the panel lets you choose the "book" you want. Once you've selected a reference, choose a particular HTML tag, CSS style, JavaScript object, or appropriate reference topic from the menu to the right of the Book menu. A description of that item appears in the main window. Depending on the reference, there may be sample usage and browser-support details. A secondary menu to the right lets you access additional information about a particular property or details of the selected tag, style, object, or topic. For example, in Figure 9-16, to display information about the <a> tag's tabindex property, you'd choose "a" from the Tag menu and "tabindex" from the Attribute menu.

Tip: You can quickly see reference information for a tag by either clicking a tag or selecting a tag and pressing Shift+F1. The Reference panel opens, and information for that particular tag appears.

While you won't spend every waking minute in the Reference panel, it's a good way to keep your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript chops sharp.

Figure 9-16. If the print in the Reference panel is too small or too large, use the panel's shortcut menu (click the arrow in the upper-right corner of the panel), as shown here, and select a different size . When perusing the reference panel, Dreamweaver lets you copy examples of tags and code, so you can paste them into a page, but it won't let you copy the reference information that explains the tag or code. Oh well. You'll just have to handtype your "Plagiarist's Guide to the Web."