Your First Site (p1) - Dreamweaver Tutorial

Dreamweaver: Your First Site (Part 1, the Site Window) Tim Carden 1 • tutorial written with: Ultradev 4 (win) • works with other versions of Dreamweaver • assumes no previous knowledge Dreamweaver is one of the best ways to build websites. It is a well thought-out application with powerful features and a radically different interface that works fantastically. However, because it's nothing like many other officey-type programs new users don't feel at home at all! In the next few tutorials I will introduce the basic interface features of the Dreamweaver family of products to help get you up and running. Note that these tutorials are written using Dreamweaver Ultradev which is the same as Dreamweaver only with some additional extensions. Some icons and dialog boxes are different between the two programs but just look for the most similar option in your version. The key to managing your site is the Site window. This is a type of File Manager that lets you move, copy, rename files, and upload one or more files to your web server. To open the site window, if it is not already open (look on your Windows Taskbar for a Dreamweaver window called "Site") select Window | Site Files from any open window, or press F8. The Site window will open. 2 If this is your first site, your site window will look different to mine. I have already defined a site (we'll get to this in a moment) and have it loaded into the site window. See how there is a toolbar with several buttons, a drop-down list labeled "Site" and an explorer-style tree of files and folders. To load a site into the site window, simply click on the "Site" drop-down box and select it from the list. Dreamweaver comes with a sample site already defined for you. It's called "Tutorial - Dreamweaver". Try loading it in your window — just choose it from the list. 3 We will now define our own new site. A site in Dreamweaver is basically just a folder on your computer that contains, or will contain, your website files. Suppose we were building a new website for our web development company called "NewDWCreations". The first step is to create a folder to put all your site files in. This can be anywhere on your computer, for this example I created one on the Windows desktop. Consult your Windows help if you don't know how to create folders on your desktop. Name the new folder NewDWCreations. 4 Switch back to the Dreamweaver Site window and choose "Define Sites..." from the bottom of the Site drop down list. It is the last option in the list. A dialog box will appear to let you manage your existing sites. Click the "New..." button to create a new site. Name it "NewDWCreations" and set the "Local Root Folder" to the folder we just created by clicking the small folder icon next to the text box, and browsing to the new folder on the desktop. T I P Once the site is defined, you can get to the properties for the active site by double-clicking on the Site drop-down list. There is no need to scroll down to it. This is a real time saver if you have a lot of sites defined.   5 The other options can be set later by going back to the Site Definition window for the new site at anytime. Close both windows (Click OK, then Done). Dreamweaver will now have a new site called "NewDWCreations". When you edit and manage files in this folder (or any subfolders you create) Dreamweaver will automatically scan for broken links. You can also manage site assets, use templates and access many other features. 6 To create a new file or folder, simple right-click on the folder where you want to place the file or folder and select "New File" to create a new file, or "New Folder" to create a new folder. In preparation for the next tutorial, create a new folder called "images" and a new file called "default.htm" using this right-click method. What did you think? Did you like this tutorial? Was it easy to follow? Do you have suggestions for future tutorials? Have you seen an effect in Print, web or Flash that you would like to know how to achieve? Please feel free to contact me (Tim) on tiem@healthposts.com.au with your Corel technique query. Note that unfortunately I do not have the resources to offer one-to-one technical support but your query may become the basis for a future tutorial.   Copyright 2002, Tim Carden, All Rights Reserved