Using Adobe Dreamweaver To Create A Basic Web Site
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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.
Next, create a folder somewhere on your hard disk or desktop which will contain all of the files which will make up your site. Dreamweaver refers to this folder as the “local root folder”. It should contain nothing but the files pertaining to your web site and will become a mirror image of your actual site when the site goes live.
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.
Local Info relates to your version of the site. In this window, first enter a name for the new site. Next, click on the yellow folder icon next to the box marked “Local Root Folder” and browse for the folder you created earlier. Repeat this step to identify the “Default Image Folder”.
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.
The next step is to create all of the pages in your website arranged in the appropriate sub-directories. Don’t put any content in the pages at this stage, just create and save each page into your local root folder. This is done, so that later, when you create links on any page, the page that you link to will already exist, so you can just point to it and automatically create the correct 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.
About the Author:
The author of this article has been running Adobe Dreamweaver training courses for many years. He is a trainer with Macresource Computer Solutions, an established, independent computer training company based in London. Don’t reprint this exact article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.
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