The Dreamweaver package contains a variety of resources to help you learn the program quickly and become proficient in creating your own Web sites and pages. These resources include online HTML help pages that appear in your browser, Show Me movies, a tutorial, and a printed book. In addition, the Dreamweaver Web site is updated regularly.
Guided Tour and Show Me movies
The Show Me movies provide an animated introduction to some of the main features of Dreamweaver. The Guided Tour includes all the Show Me movies in sequence.
Click one of the movie titles to start the tour. When each movie is over, click the Home button to return to the list of movies, then click another movie. You can watch the whole tour or skip ahead to see particular sections.
You can also view individual Show Me movies in their respective overview sections. In the Help table of contents, the following icon indicates that a topic contains a Show Me movie:
Show Me movies require the Shockwave plugin, which is included on the Dreamweaver CD. If you purchased your copy of Dreamweaver electronically, you can download the latest Shockwave plugin from the Macromedia Web site.
The Dreamweaver HTML Help pages provide comprehensive information about all Dreamweaver features. These browsers are strongly recommended for viewing Dreamweaver Help:
 |
In Windows: Netscape Navigator 4.0 and later or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and later |
|
On the Macintosh: Netscape Navigator 4.0 and later (Internet Explorer for Macintosh is not recommended because it cannot play the Show Me movies) |
If you use a 3.0 browser, all the content is still accessible, but some features (such as Search) will not work.
Dreamweaver Help makes extensive use of JavaScript. Make sure that JavaScript is enabled in your browser. If you plan to use the search feature, make sure that Java is enabled as well.
Dreamweaver Help includes the following components:
The table of contents Enables you to see all information organized by subject. Click top-level entries to view subtopics.
The index, Like a traditional printed index, can be used to find important terms and go to related topics.
Search Allows you to find any character string in all topic text. The search feature requires a 4.0 browser with Java enabled.
Note: After clicking Search, a Java security window may appear, asking for permission to read files on your hard disk. You must grant this permission for the search to work. The applet does not write anything to your hard disk, nor does it read any files outside the HTML Help Pages.
|
To search for a phrase, simply type the phrase in the text field.
|
|
To search for files that contain two keywords (for example, layers and styles), separate the search terms with a plus (+) sign.
|
Context-sensitive help Provides a Help button in each dialog box, or a question mark icon in inspectors, windows, and palettes, that opens a relevant help topic.
Dreamweaver Help's navigation bar Provides buttons you can click to move through topics. The Previous and Next buttons move to the previous or next topic in a section (following the topic order listed in the table of contents).
The Dreamweaver Tutorial is the best place to start if you don't have very much experience in developing Web sites. By working through the tutorial, you'll learn how to edit a sample Web site with some of Dreamweaver's most useful and powerful features. The tutorial is in both Dreamweaver Help and the Using Dreamweaver book.
Dreamweaver user's guide (printed book)
The Using Dreamweaver book provides a printed alternative to Dreamweaver Help. Certain reference topics about program options are not included in the printed book; see the Help pages for information on those topics.
The Extending Dreamweaver book and Help pages provide information for JavaScript and C developers on the Dreamweaver Document Object Model and the APIs (application programming interfaces) that allow you to create objects, commands, property inspectors, behaviors, and translators.
The Dreamweaver Support Center Web site is updated regularly with the latest information on Dreamweaver, plus advice from expert users, information on advanced topics, examples, tips, and updates. Check the Web site often for the latest news on Dreamweaver and how to get the most out of the program at http://www.macromedia.com/support/dreamweaver/.