MACROMEDIA DREAMWEAVER 8-GETTING STARTED WITH... User manual

Getting Started with Dreamweaver

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Part Number ZDW80M100
Acknowledgments
Management: Charles Nadeau
Writing: Jon Michael Varese
Editing: Rosana Francescato, Lisa Stanziano, Evelyn Eldridge, Mark Nigara
Production and Editing Management: Patrice O’Neill and Rosana Francescato
Media Design and Production: Adam Barnett, Aaron Begley, Paul Benkman, John Francis, Geeta Karmarkar, Paul Rangel,
Arena Reed, Mario Reynoso
Localization Management: Melissa Baerwald
Special thanks to Sheila McGinn, Jennifer Rowe, Jay Armstrong, Sally Sadosky, Jennifer Taylor, Paul Gubbay, Melissa Baerwald,
Masayo Noda, Kristin Conradi, Yuko Yagi, and the entire Dreamweaver engineering and QA teams.
First Edition: September 2005
Macromedia, Inc.
601 Townsend St.
San Francisco, CA 94103

3
Contents
PART 1: INTRODUCTION TO DREAMWEAVER
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
What you can do with Dreamweaver 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
What's new in Dreamweaver 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Installing Dreamweaver 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Registering Dreamweaver 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Typographical conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Chapter 1: Learning Dreamweaver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Where to start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Getting the most from the Dreamweaver documentation . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Using the Dreamweaver help system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Chapter 2: Dreamweaver Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Getting to know the Dreamweaver 8 workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Customizing the Dreamweaver 8 workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Accomplishing basic tasks in Dreamweaver 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
PART 2: TUTORIALS
Chapter 3: Tutorial: Setting Up Your Site and Project Files . . . 49
Learn about Dreamweaver sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Set up your project files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Define a local folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Chapter 4: Tutorial: Creating a Table-based Page Layout . . . . 55
Examine the design comp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Create and save a new page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Insert tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Set table properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Insert an image placeholder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
Add color to the page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

4Contents
Chapter 5: Tutorial: Adding Content to Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Locate your files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Review your task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Insert images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Insert and play a Flash file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Insert Flash Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Insert text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Create links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Preview your page in a browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Chapter 6: Tutorial: Formatting Your Page with CSS . . . . . . . . .99
Locate your files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Review your task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Learn about CSS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Create a new style sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Attach a style sheet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Explore the CSS Styles panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Create a new CSS rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Apply a class style to text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Format the navigation bar text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
(Optional) Center the contents of the page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Chapter 7: Tutorial: Publishing Your Site. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Learn about remote sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Define a remote folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Upload your local files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Troubleshoot the remote folder setup (optional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
PART 3: ADVANCED TUTORIALS
Chapter 8: Tutorial: Working with Code. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Look at the code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Switch to the coding workspace (Windows only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Add a tag with the Tag Chooser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Edit a tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Look up information about a tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Add an image with code hints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Check your changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
Print your code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Contents 5
Chapter 9: Tutorial: Creating a CSS-based Page Layout . . . . . 153
Learn about CSS-based page layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
Examine the design comp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154
Create and save a new page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156
Insert layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Add color to the page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Chapter 10: Tutorial: Displaying XML Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Locate your files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Review your task. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Learn about using XML and XSL with web pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Learn about XSLT pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Convert an HTML page to an XSLT page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Attach an XML data source to the XSLT page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .180
Alter the XSLT page layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Bind XML data to the XSLT page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183
Apply styles to the XML data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185
Create a dynamic link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186
Add a Repeat Region XSLT object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .188
Attach the XSLT page to the XML page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Learn about other deployment options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194
Chapter 11: Tutorial: Developing a Web Application . . . . . . . . . . 197
Before you begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .198
Review your task. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .198
Open a document to work in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Define a recordset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201
Display the database records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Add dynamic fields to the table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Set a repeated region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
View your page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Create a record insert form. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Copy files to the server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214
Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214

6Contents
PART 4: APPENDICES
Appendix A: Understanding Web Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
About web applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
How a web application works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Authoring dynamic pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224
Choosing a server technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .226
Web application terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227
Appendix B: Installing a Web Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Getting started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Installing Internet Information Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .232
Testing IIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233
Testing the Macintosh web server (PHP developers). . . . . . . . . . . . .233
Web server basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .234
Appendix C: Setup for Sample ColdFusion Site . . . . . . . . . . . . .237
Setup checklists for ColdFusion developers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237
Configuring your system (ColdFusion) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .238
Defining a Dreamweaver site (ColdFusion) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Connecting to the sample database (ColdFusion) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Appendix D: Setup for Sample ASP.NET Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Setup checklists for ASP.NET developers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .255
Configuring your system (ASP.NET) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .256
Defining a Dreamweaver site (ASP.NET) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Connecting to the sample database (ASP.NET) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .265
Appendix E: Setup for Sample ASP Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Setup checklists for ASP developers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269
Configuring your system (ASP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .270
Defining a Dreamweaver site (ASP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .275
Connecting to the sample database (ASP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Appendix F: Setup for Sample JSP Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Setup checklists for JSP developers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .285
Configuring your system (JSP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .286
Defining a Dreamweaver site (JSP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Connecting to the sample database (JSP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Contents 7
Appendix G: Setup for Sample PHP Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Setup checklists for PHP developers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Configuring your system (PHP). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Defining a Dreamweaver site (PHP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Connecting to the sample database (PHP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .315
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

8Contents

9
1
PART 1
Introduction to Dreamweaver
Part One of this book introduces you to Macromedia Dreamweaver 8, and
includes installation information and a workspace overview. It also
provides a list of available resources for learning Dreamweaver.
This part contains the following sections:
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Learning Dreamweaver. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Dreamweaver Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

11
Introduction
Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 is a professional HTML editor for designing,
coding, and developing websites, web pages, and web applications.
Whether you enjoy the control of hand-coding HTML, or prefer to work
in a visual editing environment, Dreamweaver provides you with helpful
tools to enhance your web creation experience.
This guide introduces you to using Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 if you’re
unfamiliar with any major aspect of it.The tutorials in this guide lead you
through the process of creating a simple but functional website.
This chapter covers the following topics:
What you can do with Dreamweaver 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
What's new in Dreamweaver 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Installing Dreamweaver 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Registering Dreamweaver 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Typographical conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
What you can do with
Dreamweaver 8
The visual editing features in Dreamweaver let you quickly create web
pages without writing a line of code. You can view all your site elements or
assets and drag them from an easy-to-use panel directly into a document.
You can streamline your development workflow by creating and editing
images in Macromedia Fireworks or another graphics application, and then
import them directly into Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver also provides tools
that make it easy to add Flash assets to web pages.

12 Introduction
In addition to drag-and-drop features that help you build web pages,
Dreamweaver provides a full-featured coding environment that includes
code-editing tools (such as code coloring, tag completion, a coding toolbar,
and code collapse) and language reference material on Cascading Style
Sheets (CSS), JavaScript, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), and
other languages. Macromedia Roundtrip HTML technology imports your
hand-coded HTML documents without reformatting the code; you can
then reformat code with your preferred formatting style.
Dreamweaver also lets you build dynamic, database-driven web
applications using server technologies such as CFML, ASP.NET, ASP, JSP,
and PHP. If your preference is for working with XML data, Dreamweaver
provides tools that let you easily create XSLT pages, attach XML files, and
display XML data on your web pages.
Dreamweaver is fully customizable. You can create your own objects and
commands, modify keyboard shortcuts, and even write JavaScript code to
extend Dreamweaver capabilities with new behaviors, Property inspectors,
and site reports.
For more information on the resources available for learning Dreamweaver,
see Chapter 1, “Learning Dreamweaver,” on page 15.
What's new in Dreamweaver 8
Dreamweaver 8 includes many new features that help you build websites
and applications with a minimal amount of time and effort. Dreamweaver
makes complex technologies simple and accessible, helping you accomplish
more in less time.
Following are a few of the key new features in Dreamweaver 8:
■Zoom tool and guides
■Visual XML data binding
■New CSS Styles panel
■CSS layout visualization
■Code collapse
■Coding toolbar
■Background file transfer
■Insert Flash Video command

Registering Dreamweaver 8 13
For a complete list and description of new features in Dreamweaver 8, see
“What’s new in Dreamweaver 8” in Using Dreamweaver (Help > Using
Dreamweaver).
Installing Dreamweaver 8
This section explains how to install Dreamweaver.
Be sure to read the release notes on the Macromedia website at
www.macromedia.com/go/dw_documentation for late-breaking
information or instructions.
To install Dreamweaver:
1. Insert the Dreamweaver CD into your computer’s CD-ROM drive.
2. Do one of the following:
■In Windows, the Dreamweaver installation program starts
automatically.
■In Macintosh, double-click the Dreamweaver installer icon that
appears on the desktop.
3. Follow the onscreen instructions.
The installation program prompts you to enter the required
information.
4. If prompted to do so, restart your computer.
Registering Dreamweaver 8
To get additional Macromedia support, it’s a good idea to register your
copy of Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 electronically or by mail.
When you register, you can sign up to receive up-to-the-minute notices
about upgrades and new Macromedia products. You can also sign up for
timely e-mail notices about product updates and new content appearing on
both the www.macromedia.com and the www-euro.macromedia.com
websites.

14 Introduction
To register Macromedia Dreamweaver 8, do one of the
following:
■Select Help > Online Registration and fill out the electronic form.
■Select Help > Print Registration, print the form, and mail it to the
address shown on the form.
Typographical conventions
The following typographical conventions are used in this guide:
■Menu items are shown in this format: menu name > menu item name.
Items in submenus are shown in this format: menu name > submenu
name > menu item name.
■Code font indicates HTML tag and attribute names as well as literal
text used in examples.
■Italic code font indicates replaceable items (sometimes called
metasymbols) in code.
■Bold roman text indicates text that you enter verbatim.

15
1
CHAPTER 1
Learning Dreamweaver
Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 includes a variety of resources to help you
learn the program quickly and become proficient in creating your own web
pages. All of the Dreamweaver documentation is available in both
electronic help and PDF format.
This chapter contains the following topics:
Where to start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Getting the most from the Dreamweaver documentation. . . . . . . 19
Using the Dreamweaver help system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Where to start
The Dreamweaver documentation includes information for readers from a
variety of backgrounds. This section helps you understand how to
approach the documentation, depending on what your background is, and
what you want to accomplish with Dreamweaver.
This section covers the following topics:
■“Web-design novices” on page 15
■“Experienced web designers” on page 16
■“Experienced hand-coders” on page 18
■“Web application developers” on page 18
Web-design novices
If you are relatively new to web design, this section will point you to
sections of the Dreamweaver documentation that are most appropriate for
your background.

16 Learning Dreamweaver
For web-design novices:
1. Begin by reading Chapter 2, “Dreamweaver Basics,” on page 27. Then
continue by doing the tutorials in this book. The tutorials are divided
into two sections. The first five tutorials are for beginners, and take you
through the process of developing a small but functional website from
start to finish. The second section of tutorials introduces you to more
advanced concepts. You might want to wait to do the more advanced
tutorials until you’ve developed some experience building web pages.
2. In Using Dreamweaver (Help > Using Dreamweaver), you get a more
comprehensive idea of what you learned in this Getting Started with
Dreamweaver guide by reading Chapter 1, “Exploring the Workspace,”
Chapter 2, “Setting Up a Dreamweaver Site,” Chapter 3, “Creating and
Opening Documents” and Chapter 4, “Managing Your Files,”.
3. Learn about page layout by reading Chapter 7, “Laying Out Pages with
CSS,” and Chapter 8, “Presenting Content with Tables” in Using
Dreamweaver.
4. To learn about formatting text and including images in your pages, read
Chapter 13, “Inserting and Formatting Text,” and Chapter 14,
“Inserting Images” in Using Dreamweaver.
5. That’s all you really need to begin producing high-quality websites, but
when you’re ready to learn how to use more advanced tools, you can
proceed through the rest of the static-page chapters in Using
Dreamweaver. You might want to wait to read the dynamic-page
chapters until you’re more familiar with creating web pages.
Experienced web designers
If you are an experienced web designer, this section will point you to
sections of the Dreamweaver documentation that are most appropriate for
your background. There are two different approaches: one for designers
who are new to Dreamweaver and one for designers who are familiar with
Dreamweaver but would like to learn more about creating dynamic pages.

Where to start 17
For experienced web designers who are new to Dreamweaver:
1. Begin by reading the tutorials in this Getting Started with Dreamweaver
guide.
2. In Using Dreamweaver (Help > Using Dreamweaver), read Chapter 1,
“Exploring the Workspace” to learn more about the Dreamweaver user
interface.
3. Although much of the material in Chapter 2, “Setting Up a
Dreamweaver Site” and Chapter 4, “Managing Your Files” is probably
familiar to you, skim those chapters to see how these familiar concepts
are implemented in Dreamweaver. Pay particular attention to the
sections about setting up a Dreamweaver site.
4. For useful information on the details of using Dreamweaver to create
basic HTML pages, read Chapter 13, “Inserting and Formatting Text”
and Chapter 14, “Inserting Images”.
5. For information about coding in Dreamweaver, see Chapter 19,
“Setting Up Your Coding Environment,” Chapter 20, “Coding in
Dreamweaver,” Chapter 21, “Optimizing and Debugging Your Code,”
and Chapter 22, “Editing Code in Design View”.
6. Read the overview at the beginning of each of the other chapters in
Using Dreamweaver to determine whether its topics are of interest to
you.
For experienced web designers, familiar with Dreamweaver,
who want to learn about creating dynamic pages:
1. Begin by reading Appendix A, “Understanding Web Applications,” on
page 217 and Chapter 11, “Tutorial: Developing a Web Application,”
on page 197.
2. In Using Dreamweaver (Help > Using Dreamweaver), skim Chapter 1,
“Exploring the Workspace” to learn about new aspects of the
Dreamweaver user interface, and then read Chapter 30, “Optimizing
the Workspace for Visual Development”.
3. Become familiar with the Dreamweaver workflow for dynamic pages by
reading Chapter 31, “The Workflow for Dynamic Page Design”.
4. Set up a web server and application server. (See Chapter 23, “Setting Up
a Web Application”.)

18 Learning Dreamweaver
5. Connect to a database. (See “Connecting to a database” in Chapter 23,
“Setting Up a Web Application”.)
6. Read the overview at the beginning of each chapter in Using
Dreamweaver to determine whether its topics are of interest to you.
Experienced hand-coders
If you are an experienced hand-coder, this section will point you to sections
of the Dreamweaver documentation that are most appropriate for your
background.
For experienced hand-coders:
1. Begin by reading Chapter 8, “Tutorial: Working with Code” in this
Getting Started with Dreamweaver guide.
2. In Using Dreamweaver (Help > Using Dreamweaver), read Chapter 1,
“Exploring the Workspace” to learn more about the Dreamweaver user
interface.
3. Although much of the material in Chapter 2, “Setting Up a
Dreamweaver Site” and Chapter 4, “Managing Your Files” is probably
familiar to you, skim those chapters to see how these familiar concepts
are implemented in Dreamweaver. Pay particular attention to the
sections on setting up a Dreamweaver site.
4. Read more about coding with Dreamweaver in Chapter 19, “Setting Up
Your Coding Environment,” Chapter 20, “Coding in Dreamweaver,”
Chapter 21, “Optimizing and Debugging Your Code,” and Chapter 22,
“Editing Code in Design View”.
5. Read the overview at the beginning of each chapter in Using
Dreamweaver to determine whether its topics are of interest to you.
Web application developers
If you are a web application developer, this section will point you to
sections of the Dreamweaver documentation that are most appropriate for
your background. There are two different approaches, depending on
whether you’ve used Dreamweaver before.

Getting the most from the Dreamweaver documentation 19
For web application developers who have not used
Dreamweaver:
1. Begin by quickly reading this Getting Started with Dreamweaver guide to
familiarize yourself with the basics of using Dreamweaver.
2. In Using Dreamweaver (Help > Using Dreamweaver), read Chapter 1,
“Exploring the Workspace” to learn more about the Dreamweaver user
interface.
3. Although much of the material in Chapter 2, “Setting Up a
Dreamweaver Site” and Chapter 4, “Managing Your Files” is probably
familiar to you, skim those chapters to see how these familiar concepts
are implemented in Dreamweaver. Pay particular attention to the
sections on setting up a Dreamweaver site.
4. Set up a web server and application server using Dreamweaver. (See
Chapter 23, “Setting Up a Web Application”.)
5. Connect to a database. (See “Connecting to a database” in Chapter 23,
“Setting Up a Web Application”.)
6. Read the overview at the beginning of each of the chapter in Using
Dreamweaver to determine whether its topics are of interest to you.
For experienced web application developers who have used
Dreamweaver:
1. Begin by reading “What’s new in Dreamweaver 8” in Using
Dreamweaver (Help > Using Dreamweaver). The “What’s new” section
is in “Introduction”.
2. Skim Chapter 1, “Exploring the Workspace” to learn about new aspects
of the Dreamweaver user interface.
Getting the most from the
Dreamweaver documentation
Dreamweaver includes a variety of media to help you learn the program
quickly and become proficient in creating web pages. The Dreamweaver
help system includes several documents that help you learn about
Dreamweaver, Dreamweaver Extensibility, and ColdFusion. You can also
consult a number of additional online resources as you learn how to build
web pages.

20 Learning Dreamweaver
Accessing the Dreamweaver
documentation
The following table summarizes the documentation included in the
Dreamweaver help system.
You can purchase printed versions of select titles. For more information,
see www.macromedia.com/go/buy_books.
Title Description/
Audience
Where to Find It
Getting Started
with Dreamweaver
Basicintroduction
to Dreamweaver
concepts and the
interface, with
detailed beginner
tutorials. Intended
for beginning
users, as well as
intermediate and
advanced users
who want to learn
about new
features.
•View in Dreamweaver: Select
Help > Getting Started with
Dreamweaver
•View online: http://
livedocs.macromedia.com/go/
livedocs_dreamweaver/
•Get the PDF:
www.macromedia.com/go/
dw_documentation
Using
Dreamweaver
Comprehensive
information about
all Dreamweaver
features. Intended
for all
Dreamweaver
users.
•View in Dreamweaver: Select
Help > Dreamweaver Help, or
Help > Using Dreamweaver
•View online: http://
livedocs.macromedia.com/go/
livedocs_dreamweaver/
•Get the PDF:
www.macromedia.com/go/
dw_documentation