Basic Web Site Creation With Adobe Dreamweaver CS4

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.

It’s always a good idea to sketch out a plan of how the site will work and what kind of user experience it will offer. Dreamweaver will not give you any assistance at this stage, so just use pen and paper. Start by building a basic site, one that you know you can complete without getting bogged down in technologies that you do not understand.

Another step you should complete before you even go into Dreamweaver is to create a folder to hold all of the files which will comprise your site: the “local root folder”, as Dreamweaver calls it. Don’t put anything in this folder but the files relating to your site. Once you have completed your project, it will mirror the live version of your site.

Next, create a folder inside the “local root folder” which will hold your images. This will help you to avoid ending up with “broken images” on your site, where visitors are presented with an empty box instead of the actual image.

Now we can open up Dreamweaver and create a new web site. To do this, find the Site menu and choose New Site. When the New Site window appears, be sure to click on the Advanced tab at the top of the screen. Ironically Advanced mode makes it easier to select only the key options you need to enter. Of the categories displayed on the left, we will need to enter Local Info and Remote Info.

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”.

Next you need to click on the Remote Info category on the left of your screen. This is where you tell Dreamweaver how to connect to the server that contains your web pages. For a public website, choose FTP as the access method and ask your web hosting company for the other details required. For an intranet, choose Local/Network as the access method and navigate to the server and sub-directory containing your company intranet.

Before you start entering content in your pages, it is useful to create and save all the sub-directories and pages your site will need. Create each page (leave it blank) and save it in the appropriate folder with the appropriate name. Creating and naming every page in your site offers the benefit that you will now be less likely to have problems with links since, whenever you want to link to a file, the file will already be there; you can just browse for the file and Dreamweaver will automatically create the link for you.

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.

Once you have your template(s) in place, you are ready to start putting the actual pages. Open each of the pages, apply the appropriate template then add your content. To test our page at any time, just press F12 on your keyboard.