What is Dreamweaver?
Dreamweaver is a tool for editing individual web pages (what
is a web page?) and it also has facilities for managing
a whole web site (keeping all your links working etc.) It
is made by Macromedia who make a suite
of web project tools including an image editing package
(Fireworks).
Because you are still creating web pages that are coded in
HTML, you can always switch
between using Dreamweaver and coding directly in HTML. You
can choose to see Dreamweaver's design view, or the HTML code,
or both at the same time.
Publishing pages with Dreamweaver
When you've written your pages, you can publish them to the University's web server using Dreamweaver. You will need to follow the three steps outlined in the Publishing section of this site.
Where can I get a copy?
To get a copy of DreamWeaver MX (a licence to use it and
a CD to install it), go to the CHEST
web site for the latest on special educational discounts.
You can order your licence and CD through one of the listed
suppliers. IS
stores sell the CDs but not the licences. The latest version
of Dreamweaver is Dreamweaver MX 2004.
Is there any training?
Since October 2002, S&EDU have been running a course called
Introduction to Writing Web Pages which starts with a little
HTML and then moves on to using Dreamweaver. This will replace
the two existing courses (one on HTML and one on Dreamweaver).
There are also a series of web seminars available for those
beyond the basics. See S&EDU's web
publishing courses area for details.
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Building web sites efficiently
Templates
You can use templates to create documents that have a common structure and appearance. Templates are useful when you want to make sure that all of the pages in a site share certain characteristics.
Once you apply a single template to a group of pages, you can edit information on the group of pages by editing the template and then reapplying it to those pages. While elements unique to each page (such as text describing a particular course) remain unchanged, common template elements (such as navigation bars) are updated on all of the pages that use the template.
Library items
As well as storing whole page layouts, you can also store parts of pages for re-use (for example, the name of the Head of School or a table layout). These smaller chunks of pages are dragged into the Library window for storage, then dragged onto a page as needed.
When the Head of School changes, simply change the Library item - all pages using that item will automatically be updated.
On-line demos:
1) creating
a template
2) making
a new page based on a template
3) changing
a template
more demonstrations...
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Dreamweaver tutorials on the web
Don't forget to try Dreamweaver's
own Help system and tutorials.
Macromedia
DreamWeaver support center
Tutorials and "TechNotes" to help you
get the most out of this extensive package
DreamWeaver
tips and tutorials
A collection including everything from walk-through
tutorials for beginners to information on extending
DreamWeaver's capabilities
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