Welcome to Dreamweaver

This document describes how to get started quickly. There are also several online resources you may find useful in working with Dreamweaver:

Dreamweaver Release Notes contains information learned after Dreamweaver Help was completed.
Dreamweaver Information has an overview of features and answers to frequently asked questions.
Dreamweaver 1.2 New Features highlights the new features included in this release.
Dreamweaver Developers Center has the most recent details on using Dreamweaver, including an object and behavior exchange area.
Discuss Dreamweaver on the newsgroup, and ask questions about using Dreamweaver.
Send wishes (feature and change requests) to the Dreamweaver Team at wish-dreamweaver@macromedia.com. We'll do our best to make them come true.

Thanks

The Macromedia Dreamweaver Team

Getting Started

The following tips are provided to help you get up and running in Dreamweaver right away. Choose Help > Dreamweaver Help Topics to see Dreamweaver's electronic help for much more comprehensive information.

Setting up a Site

Before starting a project in Dreamweaver, you should choose a site root. This is where Dreamweaver will store files locally as you work on your web site.

1 Choose File > Open Site > Edit Sites.
To switch sites, choose File > Open Site. When working on different web sites, define a different site for each one.
2 Press the New Site button.
3 Enter a value for Site Name.
Site Name is what appears on the File > Open Site submenu.
4 Choose a Local Root Folder.
Local Root Folder specifies the folder on your hard drive where you want to store files for this site. The Local Root Folder is the local equivalent of the site root folder on the remote site. Dreamweaver creates all site-root-relative links relative to the local root folder. Turn on the Default Site option if you want new documents saved in this location by default.
5 Enter values for the remaining options only if you want to connect the local site to a remote site. If you have not yet established a remote server, leave these options empty.
- FTP Host is the hostname of your web server; for example, ftp.sirius.com or www.mysite.com.
- Host Directory specifies the directory on the remote site where documents visible to the public are stored, also known as the site root; for example, public_html/ or www/public/docs/.
- Login and Password are your login name and password on the server. If you turn off the Save option, you'll be prompted for a password when you connect to the remote site.
Once you complete these options, choose Connect to access the remote server.

Using the Property Inspector

The Property inspector allows you to dynamically set values for all elements, and updates when you click on a new element. Choose Window > Properties to display this inspector. There are additional properties in the expanded inspector, which you can access by pressing the expander arrow on the bottom right corner.

Creating and Editing Tables

To create a table, choose Insert > Table, or click on the table icon in the Object palette.

To edit properties of table cells, click in a cell and use the table cell editing controls in the expanded Property inspector. The buttons there can set properties for the current cell, or all cells in the current row or column. There are also buttons that control row and column spans.

To edit the whole table, select it by clicking on the top or left table border and use the Property inspector to display and change table properties. To change the number of rows and columns in the table, enter new Rows and Cols values in the Property inspector. To change the size of the table, drag the table rows or columns with the mouse and release.

Previewing in a Browser

Dreamweaver will preview your document in any browser you choose. To set up browser preview, choose File > Preview in Browser > Edit Browser List. The keyboard shortcut F12 launches the primary browser and displays the current document.

Tutorials and Templates

For more information on getting started, see the Guided Tour of Dreamweaver section of Dreamweaver Help. This section includes a tutorial and a series of Show Me movies that take you on a guided tour of Dreamweaver's major features. Dreamweaver also ships with 4 basic web templates to get you started; just choose Help > Open Template.