Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 On Demand [Paperback]

Andy Anderson (Author), Steve Johnson (Author), Perspection Inc. (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0789736934 | ISBN-13: 978-0789736932 | Publication Date: August 31, 2007 | Edition: 1

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 On Demand

FOR THOSE WHO WOULD RATHER BESHOWN HOW THAN TOLD HOW

SEE HOW TO

• Understand and use the latest Web technologies to create sites

• Choose the right site structure and layout for sites

• Create and use Web page templates to quick create pages

• Create and maintain Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

• Add Flash elements to Web pages

• Use JavaScript behaviors to implement page functionality

• Use coding tools to develop consistent and reusable code

• Manage collaboration with multiple developers

• Manage local, remote, and testing sites

• Transfer, synchronize, and validate sites

• Browse, organize, and process files using Adobe Bridge and Version Cue

• Test content on different target devices using Adobe Device Central

Includes ACE Courseware Objectives!

On the Web

This book uses real world examples to give you a context in which to perform a task. This book also includes workshops to help you put together individual tasks into projects. The Dreamweaver example files that you need for project tasks are available at www.perspection.com.

Perspection has written and produced books on a variety of computer software, including Adobe Flash CS3 and 8, Adobe Photoshop CS3 and CS2, Microsoft Office 2007 and 2003, Microsoft Windows Vista and XP, Microsoft Expression Web, and Apple Mac OS X Panther. Perspection was founded in 1991, and is committed to providing information and training to help people use software more effectively. Perspection has written more than 80 computer books, and sold more than 5 million copies.

This courseware meets the objectives for the Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) Program. Upon completion of this courseware you may be prepared to take an exam for ACE qualification. To learn more about becoming an Adobe Certified Expert, visit www.adobe.com/support/certification/ace.htm

 

 

Introduction xvii

1.     Preparing and Planning a Web Site       1

2.     Getting Started with Dreamweaver CS3        13

3.     Working Within the Dreamweaver Environment       41

4.     Managing Web Site Files   69

5.     Working with Web Page Text     93

6.     Working with Web Page Images 131

7.     Linking Web Pages 161

8.     Creating Page Layouts Using Tables     185

9.     Working with Cascading Style Sheets   215

10.                Creating Page Layouts Using CSS_P       245

11.                Creating Frames       265

12.                Working with Flash and Other Multimedia          285

13.                Creating Forms         313

14.                Viewing the HTML Behind the Page          335

15.                Working with Behaviors       357

16.                Using Spry Widgets and Effects     385

17.                Using Code Snippets and Libraries 405

18.                Creating Templates   433

19.                Testing a Web Site    455

20.                Managing a Web Site 477

21.                Moving Your Site to the Internet   495

22.                Automating Dreamweaver  509

23.                Working Together with Adobe Programs 527

Index 563

 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Steve Johnson has written more than 45 books on a variety of computer software, including Microsoft Office 2007 and 2003, Microsoft Windows Vista and XP, Apple Mac OS X Panther, Adobe Photoshop CS3 and CS2, Adobe Flash CS3 and 8, and Macromedia Director MX 2004. In 1991, after working for Apple Computer and Microsoft, Steve founded Perspection, Inc., which writes and produces software training. When he is not staying up late writing, he enjoys playing golf, gardening, and spending time with his wife, Holly, and three children, JP, Brett, and Hannah. When time permits, he likes to travel to such places as New Hampshire in October, and Hawaii. Steve and his family live in Pleasanton, California, but can also be found visiting family all over the western United States.

 

Andy Anderson is a Web and graphics designer and illustrator who has worked with Dreamweaver since it was released. A university professor, Andy is a sought-after lecturer in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. The remainder of his time is split between writing graphics and fiction books, and developing graphics, animations, and resource materials for various corporations and seminar companies. His clients include designers and trainers from the U.S. Government, Boeing, Disneyland, and other Fortune 500 companies.

 

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

How You'll Learn

How This Book Works

What's New

Keyboard Shortcuts

Step-by-Step Instructions

Real World Examples

Workshop

Adobe Certified Expert

Get More on the Web

Welcome to Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 On Demand, a visual quick reference book that shows you how to work efficiently with Dreamweaver CS3. This book provides complete coverage of basic to advanced Dreamweaver skills.

How This Book Works

You don't have to read this book in any particular order. We've designed the book so that you can jump in, get the information you need, and jump out. However, the book does follow a logical progression from simple tasks to more complex ones. Each task is presented on no more than two facing pages, which lets you focus on a single task without having to turn the page. To find the information that you need, just look up the task in the table of contents or index, and turn to the page listed. Read the task introduction, follow the step-by-step instructions in the left column along with screen illustrations in the right column, and you're done.

What's New

If you're searching for what's new in Dreamweaver CS3, just look for the icon: New!. The new icon appears in the table of contents and through out this book so you can quickly and easily identify a new or improved feature in Dreamweaver CS3. A complete description of each new feature appears in the New Features guide in the back of this book.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Most menu commands have a keyboard equivalent, such as Ctrl+P (Win) or A+P (Mac), as a quicker alternative to using the mouse. A complete list of keyboard shortcuts is available in the back of this book and on the Web at http://www.perspection.com.

Step-by-Step Instructions

This book provides concise step-by-step instructions that show you "how" to accomplish a task. Each set of instructions include illustrations that directly correspond to the easy-to-read steps. Also included in the text are timesavers, tables, and sidebars to help you work more efficiently or to teach you more in-depth information. A "Did You Know?" provides tips and techniques to help you work smarter, while a "See Also" leads you to other parts of the book containing related information about the task.

Real World Examples

This book uses real world examples files to give you a context in which to use the task. By using the example files, you won't waste time looking for or creating sample files. You get a start file and a result file, so you can compare your work. Not every topic needs an example file, such as changing options, so we provide a complete list of the example files used through out the book. The example files that you need for project tasks along with a complete file list are available on the Web at http://www.perspection.com.

Workshop

This book shows you how to put together the individual step-by-step tasks into indepth projects with the Workshop. You start each project with a sample file, work through the steps, and then compare your results with project results file at the end. The Workshop projects and associated files are available on the Web at http://www.perspection.com.

Adobe Certified Expert

This book prepares you fully for the Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) exam for Adobe Dreamweaver CS3. Each Adobe Certified Expert certification level has a set of objectives, which are organized into broader skill sets. To prepare for the certification exam, you should review and perform each task identified with a Adobe Certified Expert objective to confirm that you can meet the requirements for the exam. Throughout this book, content that pertains to an objective is identified with the Adobe Certified Expert logo and objective number next to it.

Get More on the Web

In addition to the information in this book, you can also get more information on the Web to help you get up to speed faster with Dreamweaver CS3. Some of the information includes:

Transition Helpers

• Only New Features. Download and print the new feature tasks as a quick and easy guide.

Productivity Tools

• Keyboard Shortcuts. Download a list of keyboard shortcuts to learn faster ways to get the job done.

More Content

• Photographs. Download photographs and other graphics to use in your Dreamweaver documents.

• More Content. Download new content developed after publication.

You can access these additional resources on the Web at http://www.perspection.com.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Que; 1 edition (August 31, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789736934
• ISBN-13: 978-0789736932
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,180,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short and Sweet, January 18, 2008

By 

eggdog-com (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 On Demand (Paperback)

This book is brief in form but comprehensive in scope. It has excellent screen shots from Dreamweaver and clearly labeled step by step instructions. I own several Dreamweaver books but this one is by far my favorite.
I don't enjoy reading long winded technical books that take ten or twenty pages to say what this book can say in two. If you like more visuals and less words then this book may be a good choice for you. It was for me.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Get over your "not knowledge" of Dreamweaver CS3, January 15, 2008

By 

llamapope "pope" (UT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 On Demand (Paperback)

First off, this is was a difficult review to write. After going through the book, I am not sure if I should be writing a review of Dreamweaver CS3 or a review of this book. Anyways, here is what I thought about Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 On Demand.

My first impressions of the book, and one of the primary reasons that I selected it, was that it is really nice looking book. It is printed in full color and uses a simple method to deliver its content to the reader. Each chapter focuses on related tasks and each chapter starts out with a pretty good job of explaining the concept that is about to be covered. These primer sections go into more detail than just what you need to use the program and offer helpful background information and advice that should be helpful for any new or less experienced web developer.

The actual task descriptions that make up the bulk of this book center around issues that will likely arise when building a web site and cover just about every feature Dreamweaver has. The writers of the book chose to present most all of the material as a sort of a case study for developing a fictional web site, which is where one of my major hang ups on this book comes from. It is like they couldn't decide if it should be a desktop reference, a training resource or a marketing tool(more on this later). That said, I do like the format of having a quick, step by step walk through for each task as well as having the details readily available to me if needed. There are also plenty of screen shots provided with the explanations, so you don't necessarily even have to be at your computer to use the book(which is a major bonus if you are using this as a training resource).

The chapters build on each other in a logical fashion that progresses towards more advanced topics. This should lend itself very nicely to new users of Dreamweaver and help them to learn how to use the program efficiently. Each task is takes up only one or two pages. This means, for the most anyways, you don't even have to be turning pages as you follow along. The left column on each page that has a task contains a step by step break down of what exactly you need to do to make use of the functionality being explained. For me, this was one of the main selling point of this book. This kind of layout allows you to quickly browse the book for topics of interest and see exactly what you need to know to start making use of the feature being described. Each walk-through includes helpful hints and also gives you the keyboard shortcuts when applicable(for both MAC and Windows).

The main problem I have with this book is it obviously missed the final editorial review before it was published. There are grammatical errors throughout the whole text, which is a pretty significant mistake for a book to be making. Strings of text like "with minimal or not knowledge of Javascript" make you wonder just who did the final proof reading on this.

A secondary issue I had was that it really seemed like they were trying to target way too many audiences. The whole book is presented as a case study for building a website and makes up reasons to need to know how to do something. Which is fine if you are making a course or a intro to web design training resource, but then you read the cover and descriptions of the book and it seems like they are selling it as a comprehensive resource for getting the Adobe Certified Examination for Dreamweaver(which in my mind would suggest a more technically inclined audience than what the method of presenting it seems to suggest it was made for). To add to the mix, they really seem to be pushing way too much marketing terminology into the text. Phrases like "do what no one has done before" tied to why you should use Adobe don't really serve any purpose in a book(unless of course you are trying to sell a product to someone either who knows nothing about what they are getting or what they need, or you are trying to make them feel better about their purchase). These marketing lines were more of a distraction than anything and really should have been left out especially considering the fact that most people actually looking at this book will have already have made the decision to use Adobe Dreamweaver. But I guess by doubling as a marketing tool we get the nice layout out and get it printed in full color.

Overall, this is a good reference to using pretty much any and all of the features available in Dreamweaver CS3. This version of Dreamweaver introduced some pretty cool new things that I likely would have continued to overlook had I not read this book, but if you are already familiar with Dreamweaver, there are more accessible(free) resources available for that purpose online. In my opinion, desktop references are becoming more and more obsolete seeing how fast the products change and the amount of useful information you can locate online through a simple search.

This book is perfect for a new content manager that needs a good thorough introduction to Dreamweaver or someone who is looking to take the ACE for Dreamweaver(Adobe's own certification system for their products). It could work pretty well as a supplemental book for a web development course that focused on using Dreamweaver, but other than for those individuals, I'm not sure I would recommend this book.

I'd give it 3.5 stars out of 5 - mostly for the unprofessional editing job and the mixed up agendas of what purpose this book should serve. Other than those 2 shortcomings, it really is a well written and nicely presented book. I really do think they should have made up their mind on what this book's intended intended purpose should have been before printing it. These really are just minor distractions, but I consider them relevant.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great tutorials without the technical lecture, December 1, 2008

By 

Heather Krause (Kansas City, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 On Demand (Paperback)

I'm in the process of learning the various applications within Adobe CS3, so I was happy to find Steve Johnson's book on Dreamweaver. This was my first experience with a book from the "On Demand" series, but I'll certainly look for others, since I found the format to be very useful and easy to follow.

I've been using Dreamweaver since version 4. I've taken classes and read other books on the software, but found this book to be extremely helpful for everything from the basics to very advanced topics. It presents the material in a tutorial style and is designed to walk a new user through learning the software, step-by-step. However, since each topic is presented as a concise lesson on a particular feature or function, the book is also well suited to intermediate and advanced users needing a reference on how to perform specific tasks. Each mini-tutorial is 1 to 2 pages with full color illustrations and a brief, to-the-point example of how to complete the task. The instructions are easy to understand and don't force the reader to wade through extensive amounts of text to find out how to do something. A detailed Table of Contents lists each task, making it easy to locate information when needed for reference or as a refresher. Items that are new to this version of the program are highlighted in the Contents to make it easy for previous users to update their skills.

Tutorials begin with the very basic tasks of defining and planning a website, even before opening Dreamweaver. Chapter 1 is only 11 pages, but it shows how to use creative and organizational skills to make sure the site you create in Dreamweaver is engaging, functional and useful to your visitors. Without these baby steps, creating a website would lack the necessary foundation to make learning Dreamweaver useful.

The next chapters show users how to handle the mechanics of Dreamweaver, such as installing and launching the software, finding your way around the interface, creating and working with basic web pages and sites, setting program preferences, customizing the work environment, and how to get help when needed.

After the reader is settled into the software, the rest of the book progresses through increasingly complex topics such as working with files and folders, defining properties of pages throughout a website, working with web page text and images, using links, creating tables, using CSS for styles and positioning, handling frames, incorporating multimedia elements such as Flash, video and sound, and working with forms. For those wanting more control of their content, the next chapters delve into working with HTML code, behaviors, Spry components, code snippets and libraries, and using templates for a cohesive site. Even though I've used Dreamweaver for some time as a hobbyist and student, I'd never ventured much beyond the basics. The clear and non-intimidating coverage of more advanced topics made it easy to understand how to transition into using these features.

Once a site has been created, there is still work to be done. Starting with Chapter 19, the author shows how to test and manage a web site to insure it's functional, clean, compatible with various browsers, and easy to deal with as it grows. Users learn how to upload a site to the Internet for use by other visitors, although it seems this topic might have been better placed earlier in the book as a more basic function.

The last two chapters are icing on the cake. Although you could get by without them, they complete the package and make the software easier to work with. Chapter 22 is all about automating Dreamweaver to simplify repetitive and common tasks. It seems that anyone who works frequently with the software would minimize their efforts by using features detailed here. If you're an advanced user and aren't already using the History Panel, recorded commands, or text/tag search and replace, be sure to read through this section! The last chapter covers interaction between Dreamweaver and other Adobe programs like Bridge, Adobe Stock Photos, Version Cue, and Device Central. It doesn't really go into using other CS3 apps like Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash and Fireworks, although there are new and improved ties between these programs in the latest Creative Suite. This is understandable since that could be an entire book in itself. Coverage of Adobe Bridge was especially appreciated, however, as I can see many uses for this media friendly file management system that ties directly into the various CS3 programs. Device Central will be invaluable if I ever start creating web material to be used on portable devices like PDAs or cell phones.

In addition to the main content of the book, there are other nice features that will be appreciated by those wanting to use it for reference. There's a comprehensive list of keyboard shortcuts for people who would rather type than click. Each chapter has color-coded tabs to make them easy to locate. Anyone who wants to become an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) in Dreamweaver CS3 will find that necessary material is covered in the book, with ACE objective numbers cross referenced for convenience. An appendix at the back explains how to use the book to study for certification. A companion website provides free download of companion files for the book, including example files, a list of keyboard shortcuts, workshop files, page fixes and new content. At the time I wrote this review (February 2008... I'm a little late uploading it), however, there was nothing available for download under the workshop, page fixes or new content sections. Although I'd never heard of this before, the book is "Safari Enabled," which is a nifty feature that makes the entire book contents available online over the Internet.

I was very impressed by this book and the format used for teaching and reference. Personally, I hate having to read through pages and pages of text about theory and the reason for doing something before being shown how to actually perform a function or use a feature. The well organized Table of Contents, concise task instructions and detailed illustrations in this book make it easy to find what you need and get it done in minimal time. The friendly format also makes sure that beginners will be able to hit the ground running without being put to sleep by boring lectures. Highly recommended!