Dreamweaver CS6 in easy steps

Nick Vandome

• Publisher: In Easy Steps Limited
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781840785586
• eBook ISBN: 9781840786583
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Web Design

Dreamweaver CS6 in easy steps caters for people designing their own websites as well as for professionals who need to master the key aspects of the new release. All of the main functions of Dreamweaver CS6 are covered, so that you can get up to speed as quickly as possible and start designing and producing high quality websites, including: Multiscreen Preview
Fluid Grid Layouts
Editing HTML
Using CSS
Creating and using hyperlinksThe book shows you how to work with the different workspace views so that you can work in either design or code view. The book also looks at how to optimize a website for mobile devices using Fluid Grid Layout and the new Multiscreen Preview. CSS is integral to modern websites and this is covered in detail: from the basics of CSS, to creating and applying styles so that you can produce standards-based websites that have a consistent look and feel across all pages. Also, the new CSS3 Transitions panel shows you how to create original and engaging animated features with CSS. Dreamweaver CS6 in easy steps simplifies each stage of website creation, and is aimed at anyone who wants to produce high quality websites, across different platforms including for tablets and smart phones.

1

About Dreamweaver

Dreamweaver is a powerful web authoring tool that can be used to create highly professional websites. This chapter looks at the user interface of the program, and explains some of the features that will enable you to get started with creating attractive and engaging web pages. These include the Insert panel, the Properties Inspector, and the Dreamweaver toolbars.

Introducing Dreamweaver

Start Screen

Workspaces

Workspaces (Mac)

Preferences

Working with Panels

Insert Panel

Properties Inspector

External Editors

Page Properties

Page Tabs

Toolbars

Accessibility

Getting Help

Introducing Dreamweaver

Website design has come a long way since the early days when the code used to create web pages was entered manually. This required the page designers to have a reasonable knowledge of the language, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), in which it is written. While this is not a full-blown computer language, and it can be learned reasonably quickly, it can be a time-consuming business to create websites in this fashion.

For an overview of editing HTML in Dreamweaver see Chapter Four.

The next development in web-design software was the introduction of HTML editors. These are programs that help make the process of creating HTML code quicker and easier, by giving the author shortcuts for adding the elements that make up the coded page. However, this still requires a good basic knowledge of HTML: it makes the process quicker for the experienced designer, but it does not help the novice much.

The big breakthrough in web-design software, and one that introduced a huge new audience to the joys of web design, was the introduction of WYSIWYG programs. WYSIWYG stands for ‘What You See Is What You Get’, and they enable people to design their own web pages without even having to be aware of the existence of HTML. They work in a similar way to a word-processing or a desktop-publishing program: what you lay out on the screen is what the end user will see on their computer. With these programs, the HTML is still present (and you can edit it manually if you desire) but it is all generated automatically by the program in the background. A further development was the use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) that provided a facility to create the formatting for web pages in a separate file from the content.

In 2005, Adobe completed the acquisition of Macromedia, the creators of Dreamweaver.

On one level Dreamweaver is a WYSIWYG web authoring program, with an excellent interface for quickly creating high-quality web pages. In addition, it contains a range of powerful tools for incorporating the latest web-design elements into sites, to give them a highly professional look. Overall, Dreamweaver is an ideal program for anyone involved in designing websites: its combination of simplicity and power makes it an excellent choice for the novice and the professional alike. For the experienced web designer, Dreamweaver CS6 also has improved functions for using CSS, and extensions can also be obtained for using the latest version of HTML(5). These can be downloaded from the Adobe website, at www.adobe.com.

For more information about using CSS in Dreamweaver see Chapters Five and Six.

Start Screen

In order to help rationalize the number of options availabl...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1 About Dreamweaver
• 2 Setting up a Site
• 3 Creating a Sample Site
• 4 Editing HTML
• 5 Using CSS
• 6 Formatting with CSS
• 7 Using Hyperlinks
• 8 Using Tables
• 9 Assets
• 10 Advanced Features
• 11 Publishing
• Back Cover