Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual

by David Sawyer McFarland

Overview

Macromedia's Dreamweaver MX 2004 offers a rich environment for building professional web sites, with drag-and-drop simplicity, clean HTML code, and dynamic database-driven web site creation tools. It comes with everything except perhaps the most important feature of all: a printed manual.Enter Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual, the book that enables both first-time and experienced web designers to bring stunning, interactive web sites to life. What sets this new edition apart is the crystal-clear writing, welcome humor, and exclusive features like these:

• Live examples. With a step-by-step annotated tutorial, readers follow the construction of a state-of-the-art commercial web site, complete with Flash buttons, Cascading Style Sheets, and dynamic databases.
• Tricks of the trade. The book is bursting with undocumented workarounds and shortcuts.
• Design guidance. Readers can create any modern web feature, including forms, animations, pop-up windows, and more. This book lets you know which browsers, situations, and audiences are appropriate for each.

With over 500 illustrations, a handcrafted index, and the clarity of thought that has made bestsellers of every Missing Manual to date, this edition is the ultimate atlas for Dreamweaver MX 2004.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780596552503
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	02/13/2004
Series:	Missing Manual Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	850
File size:	27 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

David Sawyer McFarland is president of Sawyer McFarland Media, Inc., a Web development and training company in Portland, Oregon. He's been building websites since 1995, when he designed an online magazine for communication professionals. He's served as webmaster at the University of California at Berkeley and the Berkeley Multimedia Research Center, and oversaw a complete CSS-driven redesign of Macworld.com. David is also a writer, trainer, and teaches in the Portland State Universitymultimedia program. He wrote the bestselling Missing Manual titles on Adobe Dreamweaver, CSS, and JavaScript.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	1
	What's New in Dreamweaver MX 2004	1
	HTML, XHTML, and CSS 101	2
	The Very Basics	7
	About This Book	7
Part 1	Building a Web Page
Chapter 1	Dreamweaver MX 2004 Guided Tour	13
	Welcome to Dreamweaver MX 2004	13
	The Dreamweaver MX 2004 Interface	16
	The Dreamweaver Test Drive	24
Chapter 2	Adding Text to Your Web Pages	49
	Adding Text in Dreamweaver	49
	Copying and Pasting Text	54
	Selecting Text	59
	Spell Checking	60
	Undo, Redo, and the History Panel	62
Chapter 3	Text Formatting	65
	Paragraph Formatting	65
	Lists	72
	Character Formatting	79
Chapter 4	Links	93
	Understanding Links	93
	Adding a Link	98
	Adding an Email Link	104
	Linking Within a Web Page	107
	Modifying a Link	109
Chapter 5	Images	111
	Adding Images	112
	Modifying an Image	115
	Editing Graphics	123
	Image Maps	129
	Rollover Images	132
	Flash Buttons	134
	Flash Text	137
	Tutorial: Adding Rollovers	141
Part 2	Building a Better Web Page
Chapter 6	Cascading Style Sheets	147
	Cascading Style Sheet Basics	147
	Creating Styles	151
	Using Styles	154
	Manipulating Styles	158
	More About Styles	164
	Advanced Styles	168
	Style Properties	173
	Cascading Style Sheets Tutorial	187
Chapter 7	Page Layout 101	201
	Table Basics	202
	Layout Mode	205
	Inserting a Table in Standard View	218
	Selecting Parts of a Table in Standard View	221
	Expanded Table Mode	222
	Formatting Tables	222
	Modifying Cell and Row Properties in Standard View	226
	Adding and Removing Rows and Columns	234
	Merging and Splitting Cells	236
	Nesting Tables in Standard View	238
	Tabular Data	240
	Tables Tutorial	244
Chapter 8	Page Layout 2004	265
	Introducing CSS Layout	265
	The Basics	267
	Creating CSS Styles for Layers	267
	Applying the Layer Style	274
	Drawing with the Layer Tool	276
	The Layers Panel	278
	Modifying Layer Properties	279
	Nesting Layers	283
	CSS Layout Tutorial	285
Chapter 9	Frames	299
	The Frame Page	299
	Creating Frames	303
	Selecting Frames and Framesets	306
	Saving Framesets and Frames	308
	Frame and Frameset Properties	309
	Targeting Links	315
	Inserting a Navigation Bar	316
Chapter 10	Under the Hood: HTML	321
	Roundtrip HTML	321
	Code View	324
	Quick Tag Editor	332
	Tag Inspector	334
	Reference Panel	335
	Inserting JavaScript	336
Part 3	Bringing Your Pages to Life
Chapter 11	Forms	341
	Form Basics	342
	Creating a Form	343
	Adding Form Elements	346
	Validating Forms	360
	Forms Tutorial	363
Chapter 12	Dreamweaver Behaviors	377
	Understanding Behaviors	377
	Applying Behaviors	380
	Events for 4.0 Browsers	385
	The Actions, One by One	389
	Creating an External JavaScript Library	424
	Adding More Behaviors	427
Chapter 13	Flash, Shockwave, and Other Multimedia	429
	Flash	430
	Flash Elements	437
	Shockwave	442
	Java Applets	444
	ActiveX Controls	446
	Plug-Ins	448
Part 4	Building a Web Site
Chapter 14	Introducing Site Management	453
	Structuring a Web Site	454
	Viewing a Site Map	471
	Site Assets	477
Chapter 15	Testing Your Site	483
	Site Launch Checklist	483
	Check Browser Support	485
	Validating Web Pages	489
	Find and Fix Broken Links	494
	Cleaning Up HTML (and XHTML)	501
	Site Reporting	504
	Accessibility	508
	Download Statistics	511
Chapter 16	Moving Your Site to the Internet	513
	Defining a Remote Site	513
	Transferring Files	522
	Check In and Check Out	530
	Synchronizing Site Files	536
	Communicating with Design Notes	539
Part 5	Dreamweaver 2004 Power
Chapter 17	Snippets and Libraries	549
	Snippets Basics	549
	Using Snippets	550
	Creating Snippets	551
	Built-in Snippets	554
	Library Basics	555
	Create and Use Library Items	556
	Edit Library Items	559
	Library Tutorial	561
Chapter 18	Templates	565
	Template Basics	565
	Create a Template	568
	Define Editable Regions	570
	Adding Optional Regions	580
	Nested Templates	587
	Building Pages Based on a Template	591
	Update a Template	596
	Template Tutorial	601
Chapter 19	Automating Dreamweaver	611
	The History Panel Revisited	611
	Create Web Photo Album	616
	Find and Replace	619
Chapter 20	Customizing Dreamweaver	635
	Keyboard Shortcuts	635
	Dreamweaver Extensions	640
Part 6	Dynamic Dreamweaver 2004
Chapter 21	Getting Started with Dynamic Web Sites	649
	The Dynamic Edge	649
	Pieces of the Puzzle	651
	Setting Up Dreamweaver for Dynamic Web Sites	656
	Databases Explained (in Five Minutes or Less)	661
	Creating a Dynamic Page	664
	Connecting Dreamweaver to a Database	665
Chapter 22	Adding Dynamic Data to Your Pages	673
	Retrieving Information	673
	Adding Dynamic Information	690
	Displaying Multiple Records	693
	Recordset Navigation	696
	Viewing Live Data Within Dreamweaver	699
	Master Detail Page Set	702
	Passing Information Between Pages	705
	Tutorial: Displaying Database Information	709
Chapter 23	Web Pages that Manipulate Database Records	729
	Adding Data	729
	Updating Database Records	736
	Dynamic Form Fields	742
	Deleting Records	749
	Tutorial: Inserting and Updating Data	753
Chapter 24	Advanced Dynamic Site Features	775
	Password-Protecting Web Pages	775
	Additional Data Sources	785
	Advanced Server Behaviors	793
	Tutorial: Authentication	797
Appendix	Getting Help	809
	Getting Help from Dreamweaver	809
	Getting Help from Macromedia	810
	Help from the Real World	812
	Help Creating Your Own Extensions	812

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
This Dreamweaver step-by-step guide treats you like the professional you are. It’s strong on details, and replete with “live” examples. And it’ll help you accomplish virtually anything you want in Dreamweaver -- design, interactivity, site management, you name it.

The further you go, the more useful this book gets. David Sawyer McFarland’s especially strong on CSS, behaviors, layers, snippets, libraries, and templates. He offers an entire section on dynamic, database-driven sites -- including downloadable examples in ASP, ASP.NET, and PHP. Throughout, McFarland annotates his step-by-step instructions with real, working insights -- so you can go far beyond the “recipe.” And roughly half the chapters contain live tutorials walking you through real page development assignments. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2003 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

bn.com

Dreamweaver (see also Computer Media, LJ 1/03) reigns as the editor of choice for many web designers, and MX 2004 adds better Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) handling and other features that may spur demand for updated guides. Teach Yourself, rather basic for most users, takes a step-by-step, full-color, screen shot-heavy approach to accomplishing common tasks. A good overview for beginners, appropriate for all public libraries. The more comprehensive Missing Manual addresses beginning to intermediate users, with special attention to using CSS. Sidebars include additional info for power users, FAQs, definitions, and other useful topics. Its clear, step-by-step tutorials on each major subject (with downloadable files and finished examples), plus links to additional resources, make this an especially useful self-study guide; highly recommended for all libraries. For intermediate to advanced users, Bible and Complete Reference strive for thorough coverage. Bible's CD contains a trial version of Dreamweaver MX 2004, plus project files; Complete's CD, meanwhile, offers trial versions of each MX 2004 product, Dreamweaver extensions, and sample code. Bible goes through each Dreamweaver feature, from touring menu commands to adding extensions and customizing the software. New features are highlighted in the text; notes, cautions, and tips add info; cross references help navigate and collect relevant information for specific tasks; and chapter summaries aid in assimilating the information provided. Its attention to workflow and collaboration will help designers working on large projects. Complete's coverage ranges from Dreamweaver basics to extensions; its links to additional resources aid users in extending Dreamweaver's functionality. It walks readers through the entire process of creating a web site and using the various aspects of the software. Both Bible and Complete are appropriate for larger public libraries and for academic libraries serving design and computer science programs; Bible's clarity gives it the edge if you need only one title. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal