About This Book
Despite the many improvements in software over the years, one feature has grown
consistently worse: documentation. Until version 4, Dreamweaver even came with a
printed manual. But since MX 2004, all you get is a Getting Started booklet. To get any
real information, you need to delve into the program's online help screens.
But even if you have no problem reading a help screen in one window as you work in
another, something is still missing. At times, the terse electronic help screens assume
you already understand the discussion at hand, and hurriedly skip over important topics
that require an in-depth presentation. In addition, you don't always get an objective
evaluation of the program's features. Engineers often add technically sophisticated
features to a program because they can, not because you need them. You shouldn't
have to waste your time learning features that don't help you get your work done.
The purpose of this book, then, is to serve as the manual that should have been in the
box. In this book's pages, you'll find step-by-step instructions for using every Dreamweaver
feature, including those you may not even have quite understood, let alone
mastered, such as Libraries, Layout view, Behaviors, and Dreamweaver's Dynamic
Web site tools. In addition, you'll find clear evaluations of each feature that help you
determine which ones are useful to you, as well as how and when to use them.
Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual is designed to accommodate readers at
every technical level. The primary discussions are written for advanced beginner or
intermediate computer users. But if you're a first-timer, special sidebar articles called
Up To Speed provide the introductory information you need to understand the topic
at hand. If you're an advanced user, on the other hand, keep your eye out for similar
shaded boxes called Power Users' Clinic. They offer more technical tips, tricks, and
shortcuts for the experienced computer fan.
About TheseArrows
Throughout this book, and throughout the Missing Manual series, you'll find sentences
like this one: "Open the System Folder PreferencesRemote Access folder." That's
shorthand for a much longer instruction that directs you to open three nested folders
in sequence, like this: "On your hard drive, you'll find a folder called System. Open
that. Inside the System folder window is a folder called Library; double-click it to open
it. Inside that folder is yet another one called Fonts. Double-click to open it, too."
Similarly, this kind of arrow shorthand helps to simplify the business of choosing
commands in menus, as shown in Figure I-2.
Macintosh and Windows
Dreamweaver MX 2004 works almost precisely the same way in its Macintosh and
Windows versions. Every button in every dialog box is exactly the same; the software
response to every command is identical. In this book, the illustrations have been
given even-handed treatment, alternating between the two operating systems where
Dreamweaver is at home (Windows XP and Mac OS X).
One of the biggest differences between Mac and Windows software is the keystrokes,
because the Ctrl key in Windows is the equivalent of the Macintosh  key. And the
key labeled Alt on a PC (and on non-U.S. Macs) is the equivalent of the Option key
on American Mac keyboards.
Whenever this book refers to a key combination, therefore, you'll see the Windows
keystroke listed first (with + symbols, as is customary in Windows documentation);
the Macintosh keystroke follows in parentheses (with - symbols, in time-honored
Mac fashion). In other words, you might read, "The keyboard shortcut for saving a file is Ctrl+S (-S)."
About the Outline
Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual is divided into six parts, each containing
several chapters:
Part I, Building a Web Page, explores Dreamweaver's interface and takes you
through the basic steps of building a Web page. It explains how to add text and
format it, how to link from one page to another, and how to spice up your designs
with graphics.
Part II, Building a Better Web Page, takes you deeper into Dreamweaver and explains
how to gain greater control of the design of a Web page. You'll learn how to use
more advanced features such as tables, layers, Cascading Style Sheets, and frames.
In addition, you'll get step-by-step instruction in creating advanced page layouts,
as well as how to view and work with the underlying HTML code of a page. Part III, Bringing Your Pages to Life, helps you add interactivity to your site. From
using forms to collect information from your site's visitors, to adding complex
JavaScript programs, this section guides you through adding animation, multimedia,
and other interactive effects with ease. Part IV, Building a Web Site, covers the big picture: managing the pages and files
in your Web site, testing links and pages, and moving your site onto a Web server
connected to the Internet. And since you're not always working solo, this section
also covers features that let you work with a team of Web developers.
Part V, Dreamweaver Power, shows you how to take full advantage of such timesaving
features as Libraries, Templates, and History panel automation. It also covers
Dreamweaver's Extension Manager, a program that can add hundreds of new free
and commercial features to the program. Part VI, Dynamic Dreamweaver, presents a gentle introduction to the often confusing
and complex world of database-driven Web sites. You'll learn what you need
to build a dynamic Web site; how to connect Dreamweaver to a database; and how
to use Dreamweaver to build pages that can display database information as well
as add, edit, and delete database records.
At the end of the book, an appendix provides a list of Internet resources for additional
Web design help. At the Missing Manual Web site, you'll find a free, downloadable
bonus appendix: a menu-by-menu explanation of the Dreamweaver MX 2004 commands,
in both Windows and Macintosh versions.
Living Examples
This book is designed to get your work onto the Web faster and more professionally;
it's only natural, then, that half the value of this book also lies on the Web.
As you read the book's chapters, you'll encounter a number of living examples梥tep-by-step tutorials that you can build yourself, using raw materials (like graphics
and half-completed Web pages) that you can download from
www.sawmac.com/dwmx2004/
. You might not gain very much by simply reading these step-by-step lessons
while relaxing in your porch hammock. But if you take the time to work through
them at the computer, you'll discover that these tutorials give you an unprecedented
insight into the way professional designers build Web pages.
You'll also find, in this book's lessons, the URLs of the finished pages, so that you can
compare your Dreamweaver work with the final result. In other words, you won't just
see pictures of Dreamweaver's output in the pages of the book; you'll find the actual,
working Web pages on the Internet.
About MissingManuals.com
At the
missingmanuals.com
Web site, you'll find articles, tips, and updates to the book. In fact, you're invited and encouraged to submit such corrections and updates yourself.
In an effort to keep the book as up-to-date and accurate as possible, each time
we print more copies of this book, we'll make any confirmed corrections you've suggested.
We'll also note such changes on the Web site, so that you can mark important
corrections into your own copy of the book, if you like. (Click the book's name, and
then click the Errata link, to see the changes.)
In the meantime, we'd love to hear your own suggestions for new books in the Missing
Manual line. There's a place for that on the Web site, too, as well as a place to sign up
for free email notification of new titles in the series.
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