Using Adobe Dreamweaver To Create A Basic Web Site
Adobe Dreamweaver is a great piece of software which demystifies the business of creating a web site. However, it is also packed with a whole host of features which can seem a little daunting when you first start using the program. This article aims to explain how create a basic web site, where to start and which tools to use.
Before you start, you should have a clear idea of what information you want to display in your web site and the options that will be available to visitors. It’s best to start with an achievable goal, a project that you can bring to a satisfactory conclusion. Don’t attempt an “all singing, all dancing” e-commerce site as your first project.
The second important pre-Dreamweaver operation is the creation of a “local root folder”. This is Dreamweaver jargon for the folder that contains all of the files which form part of your site. You can create it anywhere: your desktop, your hard drive, a network volume, etc. However, it is important that you only put your site files in this folder and nothing else.
It is also very important to create a folder within the local root to hold all your images. This will help prevent you ending up with missing images on your pages since, when we define the Dreamweaver site, we will designate this folder as the default images folder.
Having created the site folders, you are ready to complete the Dreamweaver site definition. Launch Dreamweaver and click on New in the Site menu. When the New Site dialogue appears, click on the Advanced tab. This will allow you to complete the two essential categories required for a basic site: Local Info (relating to your version of the site) and Remote Info (the live version of the site.
In the Local Info window, enter a name for you new site then specify the location of the local root folder and default images folder you created earlier. The easiest way of doing this is to click on the browse icons next to each of these two boxes (the yellow folder icons).
The second piece of information is Remote Info. In this section, you tell Dreamweaver how to connect to the server hosting your web site. Set you Access Method to Local/Network if you are working on an intranet site then browse to locate your intranet server. Choose FTP if you are working on a public website for the internet and enter your FTP login details in each of the boxes. This information will be supplied by your web hosting company.
Before actually putting any content in your pages, you should ensure that all the pages you mapped out in your original plan have been created and saved. So, instead of creating and completing a page at a time, you create and save every single page. This will prevent the creation of links that don’t work properly because, when you come to create a link, the page you are linking to will already exist; you point to it and ask Dreamweaver to create the link.
There’s still one more step that you should do before you are ready to actually start work on the page content; you should create at least one template. Templates allow you to maintain a consistent look and feel throughout the site. It consists of fixed elements, such as logo and navigation links and what Dreamweaver calls “Editable Regions”. These are the areas of the page which can be altered each time you use the template.
Having finished your template or templates, you are ready to build the web pages that will constitute your site. Simply open each page, choose Modify – Templates – Apply Template to Page and then add the text, images etc. that make up the page.
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