Dreamweaver 1: Site and Pages

Folder and Site

Think of a name for your web site, for example your name or 'samsite'. Create a new folder with the name you have chosen for your site. Save all your work on web pages in this folder. Create a sub-folder in the web folder called 'images'.

Select File/New in Dreamweaver to create a new file. Keep the selection on Basic page, HTML and Document Type (DTD) XHTML 1.0 Transitional.

Click Create and you have a new page. Save it as 'index.html' inside your web folder.

The XHTML setting will ensure that Dreamweaver creates a page that is compliant with various standards so that the page can be read correctly by devices such as screen readers (a device for the visually impaired that reads web pages out loud). Dreamweaver will place HTML tags in your document so that they follow the stricter rules required by XHTML.

You should make sure that Preferences are set as follows:

'Show start page' has been turned off. Note that the HTML tags for bold and italic will be replaced by <strong> and <em> and that CSS will be used in place of HTML tags. Bold and italic are typographical features that do not have a clear meaning if text is being read out loud; the terms 'strong' and 'em' have more meaning in this context.

The use of CSS (Cascading Stlye Sheets) has far-reaching implications for your page, which will become apparent later. The chief impact of using CSS is to separate content and style so that the two can be thought of separately, so that it is easier to change a design and so that it is possible to view the same content in different ways.

Site Management

We need to make the page we have created fit into a web site. Find the Files panel on the right of the screen and open it if it is closed. Click on the Files tab and click on the Manage Sites link (this may be in the drop-down list). Set up your site by following the boxes that appear. These are the settings for the screen that follow:

• Click the New button in the Manage dialogue box (below).
• Enter a name for your site. Your site does not have a http address so ignore this.
• Select No for the server technology.
• Select Edit local copies on my machine... Add your folder to the location for storing files.
• Choose Local/Network as the connection to the remote server. Set the location of files to your folder.
• Say No to check in/check out.

Now click on the Assets tab of the Files panel and find the refresh button. You have not added any assets yet but when you do they will appear in this window.