Ten Ton Dreamweaver [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

The Giddyup: About Ten Ton Dreamweaver

So now you''re ready for the next step: Ten Ton Dreamweaver.

What''s worse than learning a new piece of software? Okay, maybe accidentally inhaling a grasshopper. I was shooting for the manual, thoughthat ridiculously thick tome that makes astrophysics seem like a sudden career possibility. Before you break out the science books, try Ten Ton on for size. Ten Ton is all about taking the throes out of learning a new programand having fun in the process!

The Delights That Await Just Around the Bend

There''s a lot to get to in Ten Ton Dreamweaver. Throughout our time together, we''ll laugh, we''ll cry, and we''ll console each other in those moments when all hope seems lost. So to get a sense of where we''ll go and what we''ll see, let''s take a look at the thrills that await in Ten Ton Dreamweaver.

Ten Ton is all about taking the throes out of learning Dreamweaver.

PartI Commence Countdown: Getting Started with Dreamweaver

Part I is all about getting you started with Dreamweaver, including planning and implementing your first site. In fact, you''ve already started Part I with this chapter, which is all about Dreamweaver, web design tools, and what this book is about. In Chapter 2, we''ll travel the highways and byways of the interface. We''ll walk through the toolbars, panels, menus, and other interface elements, and get a good sense of how everything''s laid out. We''ll even get into a bit of customization, so stick around for that.

Part I is all about getting you started with Dreamweaver.

Then the work begins! We''ll get up to our elbows in site planning in Chapter 3, which covers everything from navigation, to branding, to site structure, to coffee. It''s critical info, so get a good night''s sleep beforehand.

Chapter 4.

Chapter 4 provides the details on setting up a site. When you embark on your first web site with Dreamweaver (a momentous occasion filled with toasts, speeches, and power-wedgies), one of your first orders of business will be to define the site. This is sort of the upfront paperwork that needs to be looked after before really breaking ground. We''ll discuss how to set up a local folder on your computer and a corresponding remote folder where you''ll publish your live site. You''ll also see how to transfer and synchronize local and remote sites and how to handle more than one site at a time. Then you''re good to actually start building pages.

Part II: Building Your Site Starts Right Now

The second part of the book is all about building pages using Dreamweaver''s mighty design tools. In Chapter 5, you''ll be shipped off to Dreamweaver boot camp, where you''ll get a run-through of page construction from start to finish. You''ll see how to control page layout with layers, and you''ll get a primer on everything from text and images to hyperlinks and libraries. Chapter 5 is a whopper, where things really start happening!

Chapter 5, you''re ready for the big leagues. In Chapter 6, you''ll learn to build your own page layouts with layers. You''ll see not only how to build the primary containers for your page elements, but also how to control them externally via Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS. You''ll also take a look at div tags, which open up even more design possibilities. Layers and div tags are the modern way, so if you thought web design meant learnin91, think againand make a beeline to Chapter 6.

Chapter 7 covers tables and frames. Now there''s something important that you need to know about tables upfront: You can use them to display informationthat''s the plain-vanilla way to use thembut you can also use them to control page layout and manage content, although they''re not as flexible as layers. Framesets provide another layout option: They offer a unique way to build site navigation so that the visitor can see more than one web page at a time within a browser''s window. There are pluses and minuses to both tables and frames, but it''s a good idea to explore them before you start to build your site. They might be exactly what you need for a particular effect you''re trying to achieve.

Frames, frames, endless frames... There are many ways to design your site, and frames are but one approach.

Chapter 8, you''ll really see what the CSS buzz is all about. You''ll learn how to create and apply Cascading Style Sheets for your text. Then you''ll get to the heart of CSS: You''ll see how to build an external style sheet to control multiple styles throughout your entire site, so you can update all your pages simultaneously and maintain the integrity of your text formatting sitewide. CSS is one tasty topic, so tie on your Boss Hogg bib, lick your chops, and get ready for a meal!

At this point, your site is all dressed up without anywhere to go. Chapter 9 provides your limo to the prom, with the inside scoop on everything there is to know about hyperlinks: how to set them up, how to manage them, and possibly most important, what to do when they don''t work. You''ll see how to link to many different types of web content, including PDF files, MP3 files, e-mail addressesand (oh yeah) other web pages.

The cat''s meow for consistent text formatting, Cascading Style Sheets get put under the microscope in Chapter 6.

Chapter 10. Visuals are critical to web design, so you''ll spend some time learning about the types of graphics you can use and what you can do with them. Dreamweaver even lets you do some basic image manipulation on the fly, such as simple cropping and sharpening, so you''ll take a look at that. You''ll see how to create Flash buttons and navigation bars, too.

Hyperlink high jinks, seen here in the Files panel''s Site Map viewone of many ways to connect your pages to one another. You''ll get the hyperlink who''s your daddy? in Chapter 9.

Chapter 11 digs into multimedia and interactivitysome of the coolest features of web pages. You''ll learn to insert audio, video, and Macromedia Flash files and set their properties. Then you''ll see how to add interactivitypop-up Chapter 12 introduces forms, so you can build a worldwide e-commerce empire! You''ll take see how to create and lay out forms of all types, from simple surveys to the framework for an e-commerce setup.

Now comes one of the best features of Dreamweaver. Templates, discussed in Chapter 13, are simply mind blowingthese have gotta be my favorite part of the Dreamweaver experience. They''re a bit tricky at first, but if you''re as neurotic as I am about consistency from page to page throughout an entire site, templates are the sure-fire way to go. You may want to read up on templates before building your whole site. Check ''em outthey are madness!

Chapter 14, you''ll learn about the high-level aspects of managing and maintaining a site. You''ll learn how to prepare your site for publishing to the web and how to maintain your site once it''s live and running. You''ll also find out about some nifty tools that you can use if you''re working with a group of web designers.

Forms are great for interactive sites such as e-commerce setups, contact systems, and online surveys, as seen here. Learn good form in Chapter 12.

Lots More on the Ten Ton Web Site

What about the deleted scenes, the outtakes, the Spanish version, and the tricks for going even further with Dreamweaver? That''s what the Ten Ton web site, [www.tentonbooks.com], is all about. You''ll find lots of extra stuff to accompany the very book you''re holdingthings like online articles, tutorials, cheat sheets, and lots of free stuff!

The site also discusses many additional features of Dreamweaver. Keep your eyes peeled as you read, and you''ll find web references to specific topics.