Using Dreamweaver
Short notes for students in the LACC Business Administration Department
Starting Dreamweaver
Dreamweaver is already installed on the computers we are using. From the
start menu in the lower left corner of the windows screen, select
"Dreamweaver"
Start a website
Usually we will want to do this first. You have to tell the program
where your files are stored, what server you want to connect to,
and the username and password for that server. Right? Ok, here's how to do
that.
From the menu at top select: site > new site
The program will then ask you a number of questions to define the new
site.
Site Definition Page 1
What would you like to call your site?Answer most anything such
as "My big fat site" or whtaever
What is the HTTP address?
This is the web page address of your new site. If it is in our group
web area then the address will be http://www.brandx.net/lacc/oa97/students
but if you are working on some other site the answer might be something
else.
Fill this in and then go to the next page.
Make sure the answer is right because if it is wrong your site won't
work.
Editing Files Page 2
Do you want to work with a server technology? NO. (This is the
default answer)
Go to the next page.
Editing Files, Part 3
How do you want to work with your files...?
Select "edit local copies..."
Where on your computer do you wan to store your files?
You can store files on the desktop or in "my documents". Note that on
our lab computers the hard disk gets wiped every time you turn it off so it
doesn't matter much where you save things since they will be gone next
time anyway. But the copy on the server will be saved.
If you are not sure on this one just use the default answer.
Sharing files, Part 4
This section asks about how you want to copy your files to the server
after you have typed them up.
How do you connect to your remote server?
FTP
What is the hostname>
For this class we are using www.brandx.net.
What folder...?
Leave this one blank/
What is your ftp login/password?
This is the username and password
that you use to log into the server. Remember?
We can't put this up on the stie for everyone to read because it is
secret.
OK, now we will test the connection. Click "test connection" and see if it
passes or fails. If it fails, double check all the values above especailly
username and password.
Oh also, it's ok to "unblock" access from your
computer for this test. If the computer asks, say it's ok.
After this test passes go to the next page.
Sharing Files, Part 2 (5th page)
Do NOT enable check in and check out. This is the default value.
Next page.
Summary
Click done and you are done.
Start a new page
From the menu: File > New.
Select "blank page" and set "age type" to "html". Click "create".
Typing in the new page
This is a typing program. It kind of works like Microsoft word or
any other word processing program. At the end of the date web page
editing is just glorified word processing.
So, go ahead and start typing up the page.
Save the file
You probably havne't given the file a name yet. Use "Save as" to save the
file. Give it a name with ALL LOWER CASE LETTERS and NO SPACES. End the
name with .html.
mickeymouse.html <-- good file name
mik e y mouse/.hml <-- bad file name
mickeymouse <-- bad file name, needs .html
Add some formatting
You can hilight any part of your text and change the format to bold or
whatever using the format buttons at the bottom of the page.
Add a link
To create a link, hilight the text you want to use, and then look at the
bottom of the page for the box that says "link". Enter your link here
including the "http://" part of the web address. Make sure the program
remembers it. Save. The link won't work yet, you will need to look at the
page using your web browser for the links to work right.
Look at the HTML
You can