Starting a site with Dreamweaver
Using Dreamweaver
Dreameaver is a fairly easy to use tool if you are given the right direction. If you expect to open Dreamweaver and just figure it out on your own, forget about it. Dreamweaver is not like Microsoft Word in which you can feel your way around and learn it as you go. And don’t try looking on the internet for help (except this site, of course)! Anytime I tried to get answers by doing a search on the web it took me forever to find an answer, and oftentimes I did not find the answer and ended up more confused than when I began. Before doing anything, you need to either follow the Dreamweaver tutorials or buy a book.
Use tutorials or buy a book?
The answer to this question depends on your situation. If you are technically inclined, following the tutorial is probably all you need.
For the not so technically inclined:
– If you plan on a complicated site, save yourself the effort and buy a book. If time is money, the time and frustration you save will be well worth it. The tutorial was sufficient for me to create a basic site, but when I realized it was more complicated than a typical site, the tutorial just wouldn’t cut it for me.
–If you plan on a fairly basic site, the tutorial might be a good idea if you are willing to spend some time learning on your own. If you just want to get it up and running as quickly as possible, get a book.
No matter what, why not give the tutorial a shot at first and if it doesn’t work, buy a book.
When looking for a book, I personally find it very difficult to know which book to buy without looking at it first, so you may want to go to a bookstore like Barnes and Nobles or Borders and browse their books first just to get an idea of what to look for. Because programs create new versions frequently, bookstores do not tend to have the best selection and for that reason, I ended up buying through Amazon.com. Some books you find will let you read a short selection of text, and I suggested you do that to get an idea of the author’s style.
If you buy a book, I suggest that you buy a book written by David Powers. He wrote the book that I bought, and I am so glad that I bought it and can’t imagine another book being easier to follow. I bought Foundation PHP for Dreamweaver 8 because that is what I needed, but he seems to have books for pretty much all Dreamweaver versions and needs. Here is a link with a listing of all titles: http://www.friendsofed.com/catalog.html.
Trust me, I am not making money to promote his book; I just thought it was good. And, as I mention in the article, Downloading Drupal, compared to the other book I read, this was a masterpiece.
Using the Tutorial
The instructions I am providing are based on Dreamweaver 8, but they should be pretty similar to all other Dreamweaver versions. To get to the tutorials in Dreamweaver 8, in the top menu go to Help and choose Getting Started with Dreamweaver. In the menu that opens, you can read the earlier chapters, but the actual tutorial begins in the chapter titled: Tutorial: Setting Up Your Site and Project Files, in which you will create a sample website. Your best bet is to create the sample website first, and then go through the tutorial again for your own site. If you have any questions about the tutorial, feel free to ask me.
You may also want to purchase a graphics editor like Photoshop or Fireworks or use a free version to create graphics for your website. You can certainly build a site without these programs, but you can create much better graphics if you know how to use it. Photoshop is generally considered the best out there, but Fireworks is more compatible with Dreamweaver. I used Fireworks because it was on my computer but have not used it much. I had a difficult time with it and haven’t used it much, so I can’t give you any pointers there.
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