Section 8.1. Using the New Document Dialog Box

8.1. Using the New Document Dialog Box

Choose File New from the main menu, and you get the New Document dialog box, as Figure 8-1 shows. This dialog box is a bit of a beast. The various categories of Dreamweaver documents appear in a list to the left. Select one, and the specific document types with their icons fill the list to the right.

Figure 8-1. Exploring the New Document dialog box

Table 8-1 offers a peek inside the categories to give you an idea of what you can build in Dreamweaver.

HOTKEY

Press Ctrl-N or Command-N to open the New Document dialog box.

Table 8-1. Dreamweaver document categories

Document category	Includes
Basic page	Standard client-side document types, such as HTML, ActionScript, CSS, JavaScript, and XML
Dynamic page	Standard server-side document types, such as ASP, ASP.NET, ColdFusion, JSP, and PHP
Template page	Blank Dreamweaver document templates for static and dynamic sites
Other	Specialized client-side document types, such as Java, WML, C#, VB, VBScript, and plain text
CSS Style Sheets	Predesigned stylesheets
Framesets	Predesigned framesets
Page Designs (CSS)	Predesigned layouts using CSS layers
Starter Pages	Predesigned layouts with images
Page Designs	Predesigned layouts using tables

TECHTALK

The home page of your site is the page that loads when your visitor types your URL into the Address field of the browser.

For the time being, stick with the basics. You want to create a standard, client-side-only web page, so what you need is an HTML document. From the Category list, choose Basic page. Then, from the Basic page list, select HTML. Click Create, and Dreamweaver opens up a fresh, blank web page, as Figure 8-2 shows.

Figure 8-2. A new web page document in Dreamweaver

Before you do anything else, save this file. The HTML code that Dreamweaver writes is cleaner when it's working with saved as opposed to unsaved documents. As for the filename, go with index.html. This is the default filename for the home page of your sitethe one that loads when the visitor types your URL into the Address field of the browser. Sure, your new document isn't much to look at now, but eventually it will become your home page.

As to the location, save this page immediately inside your local root folder. Don't put the file into any of the subfolders. Your home page should be at the very top of the structure.

TIP

All the other pages in your site can have descriptive filenames of your choosing, like products.html and aboutus.html, but your home page should always get the standard index.html. Otherwise, the browser might not know which page to load when the visitor lands on your URL.

HOTKEY

Press Ctrl-S or Command-S to save the current document.

So choose File Save from the main menu to get the Save As dialog box, make sure the location is immediately inside your local root folder (which it should be by default), type .html extensionDreamweaver does that for you automatically.

Figure 8-3. Always save your new page immediately after opening it

TIP

Now that you've named the file, whenever you select File Save from the main menu, Dreamweaver skips the Save As dialog box and simply saves your file under the original name. From this point forward, if you want to save the document under a different name, choose File Save As.