Dreamweaver

Introduction to Editing Web

Pages

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION .............................................................. 1

Overview
Prerequisites
Objectives

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INTRODUCTION TO DREAMWEAVER .............................................. 1

Document Window
Toolbar
Insert Panel
Properties Panel
History Panel
Where to find Help in Dreamweaver
Create a New File
Open an Existing File
Create a New File from an Existing File

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SETTING UP A DREAMWEAVER SITE.............................................. 7

How to create a site

FORMATTING AND VIEWING A DOCUMENT ................................... 8

Page Properties
Saving Your Document
Previewing in a Browser

EXERCISE 1

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FORMATTING AND STYLING TEXT .................................................. 10

Creating Paragraphs
Creating Line Breaks
Creating Headings
Changing text format
Apply an Existing Style to Text

EXERCISE 2

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ADDING CONTENT FROM A MICROSOFT WORD DOCUMENT ..... 14

How to copy and paste content from a word processor

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INDENTING PARAGRAPHS AND CREATING LISTS ........................ 14

Indenting a Paragraph
Creating Lists

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EXERCISE 3

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WORKING WITH IMAGES .................................................................. 16

Using a Background Image

Inserting an Image
Adding a Horizontal Rule

EXERCISE 4

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RESOURCES ...................................................................................... 18
Faculty / Staff Resource Center
Training & Tools eNewsletter
Getting Help
Campus Resources
Books on Dreamweaver and HTML

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WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
Overview
Want to learn how to create your own Web pages or brush up on your Web editing skills?
Creating Web pages and managing your Web site with Dreamweaver is easier than you might
think. This workshop introduces you to the Dreamweaver environment and its basic Web
editing tools. Topics include: creating a new Web document, defining a site, adding new content
and importing existing text from Microsoft Word, formatting text and inserting images.

Prerequisites
Individuals taking this workshop should also have basic computer skills, knowledge of the Web,
basic Web browser skills, and the ability to effectively work in the Windows or Macintosh OS
environment.

Objectives
Participants attending this workshop will:
Attain a beginning understanding of the Dreamweaver environment.
Use Dreamweaver to:
Create a new Web document.
Define a Site.
Add new content from a Microsoft Word document.
Format and style text.
Insert images.

INTRODUCTION TO DREAMWEAVER
Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 is a full-featured Web design suite that allows you to create and edit
HTML and XHTML documents (Web pages). With Dreamweaver, as with other HTML and
XHTML editors, knowledge of the XHTML mark-up language is not required to create
professional-grade websites.
Unlike many Web editors, Dreamweaver is a paletted environment. This means that the user
interface is a series of windows or palettes, called panels, which can be moved around the screen
by the user. If you have used Adobe Photoshop then you have already been introduced to a
paletted environment.
The remainder of this document will use screen samples from the Windows-based version of
Dreamweaver CS4.

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Sample Dreamweaver Interface
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Objects (Insert) Panel Allows you to add images, tables, and multimedia to your Web
pages. Available from the Window menu.

Toolbar Shortcuts for Document window commands, text field for page title.

Document Window Provides a work area to insert and arrange text, images, and
other elements of your Web page.

Properties Panel Allows you to view and modify properties of an object that is
selected in the Document window.

History Panel Tracks commands you perform and allows you to return your page to a
previous state by backtracking through those commands.

Files Panel Lists the various folders and files associated with the site.

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Document Window
The Document window contains the toolbar, document title, file name, Code View window to
view the HTML and XHTML code, and the WYSIWYG window to view your Web page
graphically (Design View).

Code View

Design View

Toolbar
The toolbar is actually part of the Document window and allows you to toggle between the
Code View and Design View windows (View Modes), set your page title, preview your page in a
browser, select different view options and check your document for browser-specific errors.

View modes

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Preview in
browser

View
options

Browser
check

Dreamweaver: Introduction

Insert Panel
The Insert panel contains various icons that allow you to easily insert different types of elements
into your Web documents. For example, insert a table, picture or horizontal rule.

or

Properties Panel
Using this panel you can modify the properties of an element selected in the Document window.
Text Properties

Text Properties with CSS Attributes

Image Properties

HR Tag Properties

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History Panel
This panel makes it easy to undo multiple actions at the same time. To undo a series of actions
place your cursor in the Design view document, then within the History panel click and drag the
undo slider to the desired position.
To activate the History panel: go to Window > History or press Shift+F10.

History
panel undo
slider

Where to find Help in Dreamweaver

There are a variety of ways to find help in Dreamweaver. Below are just a few of them.

1. Click the Help menu and select Dreamweaver Help. This opens a browser to the Adobe
Dreamweaver Help and Support site.

2. From the Properties panel click the question mark button (

). This opens the Help site

mentioned above and displays information about each area of the Properties panel.

3. Click the Help menu and select Reference. The Results panel opens to the Reference tab.
Here you can select a Book and then get more detailed information from pages of that book.
This is a great way to learn more about HTML and XHTML from the O'Reilly HTML
Reference book.

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Create a New File

Most Web pages you create will be simple HTML pages. The steps below show you how to
create a new HTML document.

step 1. Click the File menu and select New. The New document window appears.

step 2. From the New Document window select the Blank Page tab, then the HTML

selection from Page Type.

step 3. Optionally, you may select a specific layout for your new Web page other than the
default of none, which is an empty page.
step 4. Click the Create button to create and open your new document in the Document
window.

Open an Existing File

step 1. Click the File menu and select Open.
step 2. From the Open window select the file you want to open (click the file name) and
click the Open button. Dreamweaver will now open your document in the
Document window.

Create a New File from an Existing File

step 1. Open your existing file using the steps above.
step 2. Click the File menu and choose Save As. Give your file a new name. Be sure the
file ends with either .htm or .html (do not include the quotes).

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SETTING UP A DREAMWEAVER SITE

Before creating or editing your Web pages, Dreamweaver can help you manage your HTML files
by defining a site. A site is a collection of documents, images and Web pages in a single folder.
Dreamweaver can point to the files on your hard disk where these site files are located.
TIP: Keeping everything within a master folder enables you to easily transfer
files to a Web server without changing the organization of the files and subfolders. If you do not organize your site files on the Web server the same as they
are organized on your local computer, hyperlinks will not work and images will
not display properly.

How to create a site

step 1. To set up a local site, first select the New Site option from the Site menu.
step 2. When the Site Definition dialog box appears click the Advanced tab.

step 3. Enter a name for your site in the Site name field.
step 4. Click the folder icon at the end of Local root folder field to locate a local folder to
serve as the master folder for all of your files for this site.
step 5. Click the folder icon at the end of Default images folder field to locate a local
folder that contains all of your image files for this site.
step 6. Click OK to create your new site.

Once you have defined your Dreamweaver site it is visible in the Files panel. Here
you can simply double-click any file listed to open and edit it. You can also move
and/or rename a file without incurring any broken links.

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FORMATTING AND VIEWING A DOCUMENT

Page Properties
You can access the Page Properties dialog box from the Modify menu or from the Properties
panel (as long as you have not selected an image). The Page Properties dialog box allows you
to define a background, text, and link colors, as well as a page title, among other items.
The list of categories in the Page Properties window depends upon whether or not you are
using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Below is the main Page Properties window showing the
Appearance (CSS) tab.

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Saving Your Document

To save your document, choose the Save or Save As option under the File menu.
After you save your document it will appear
in the Files panel as a file.
If your Files panel is not visible, you can
activate it from Window > Files, or by
pressing <F8>.

Previewing in a Browser
You can preview your pages in a Web browser by either selecting File > Preview in Browser or
on the Document Window Toolbar. In addition, you can
by clicking the preview button
add to the list any browser installed on your computer e.g. Firefox by using the Edit
Browser List option.

EXERCISE 1 Modifying Page Properties

1. If you have not already done so, create a site that points to the dw-intro folder.
2. From the dw-intro site, open the file sacstate.htm in Dreamweaver.
3. Add a page title and background color to your document.
4. Save your changes to the sacstate.htm file.
5. Preview your updated document in Microsoft Internet Explorer or Firefox.

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FORMATTING AND STYLING TEXT

Virtually all of the text formatting and styling you wish to apply to your document can be done
within the Design view in conjunction with the fields and buttons on the Properties panel.

Figure 1 - HTML portion of the Properties panel

Figure 2 - CSS portion of the Properties panel

Creating Paragraphs
To create a new paragraph in Dreamweaver, place your cursor in the Design view document
and press the Enter key (PC) or Return key (Macintosh). This will create a new pair of
paragraph tags with a blank space, represented as <p>&nbsp;</p>. Since there is no easy
way to indent the first line of a paragraph on a Web page, individual paragraphs are separated by
a double space.

Creating Line Breaks

Line breaks <br /> are created by holding down the SHIFT key and pressing Enter or
Return.

Creating Headings
To create a heading, click and drag the mouse pointer over the text to select it, and then use the
Format drop-down menu on HTML portion of the Properties panel to select the desired
heading value, such as heading 1.

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Changing text format

Selecting a font face, size, color and paragraph alignment for your text can be done using the
CSS portion of the Properties panel (second image above).

step 1. Click and drag the mouse pointer over the text to highlight it.
step 2. Click the CSS button
on the Properties panel.
step 3. Select a property to change, such as the Font from the drop-down menu. The first
time you select a property on the CSS screen the New CSS Rule window appears.
This window allows you to create a new rule (style) a group of properties that
can be applied to different selections on your webpage, or only to the text you just
selected.

step 4. From the Selector Type drop-down menu be sure that Class is chosen.
step 5. Type a name for your selector (style) in the box beneath Selector Name. Do not

uses spaces or any special characters, only lowercase letters and numbers. You can
use a dash between words, such as text-green, to make it more readable.
step 6. Under Rule Definition, select (This document only) to create a new CSS rule
within this webpage. If you have many webpages and want to share a group of
styles between them, you can select (New style sheet file). This option creates an
external CSS file that can be linked to each of your webpages so they share a
common list of styles.

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step 7. Click OK. The CSS Rule definition window appears. Here you can edit the
properties of your new style to apply to the text you selected in step 1 above.

step 8. When you complete your changes, click OK. The window closes and displays your
highlighted text in the Design View area with your style applied to it. The name of
your rule appears in the Targeted Rule drop-down list while the text is selected.

step 9. To further change the way your new style appears, click inside the text area

associated with the rule (or highlight it), then click the Edit Rule button in the CSS
portion of the Properties panel.
step 10. In the CSS Rule definition window for your selected style, make the necessary
changes to the properties.
step 11. When you complete your changes, click OK.

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Apply an Existing Style to Text

step 1. Click and drag the mouse pointer over the text you want to modify.
step 2. You now have two ways to choose an existing style to apply to your highlighted text:
a. From the HTML area of the Properties panel, select an option from the dropdown arrow next to Class. This area lists only styles that are also classes rules
that start with a period.
b. From the CSS area of the Properties panel, select a rule from the Targeted
Rule drop-down list. That style (rule) is now applied to your selected text.
step 3. If you want to create a new style (rule), from the CSS area of the Properties panel
select <New CSS Rule> from the list, and then click Edit Rule.

EXERCISE 2 Formatting Text

1. Open your updated file, sacstate.htm, if it is not already opened in

Dreamweaver.

2. Format the text to make it appear similar to the Web page sacstate_ex2.htm,
including:

a. Inserting new paragraphs after the section titles Faculty Resources and
Library Instruction.
b. Adding headings to Faculty Resources and Library Instruction, and
create a new style (rule) with custom properties of your choosing.
c. Changing font face, size, color and bold or italics of some of the text
create new styles (rules) for each set of properties.
d. Center the university address at the bottom of the page, change its color
and insert line breaks between each section of the address (see
sacstate_ex2.htm).

3. Save your changes.

4. Preview your updated document in a Web browser.

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ADDING CONTENT FROM A MICROSOFT WORD DOCUMENT

You can easily copy and paste content from a Microsoft Word document (or other word
processor) directly into your Dreamweaver document. This can save you valuable time,
especially if you have a lengthy document. Unfortunately, you may lose some of your
formatting during this process.

How to copy and paste content from a word processor

step 1. Open your document using your word processor, such as Microsoft Word.
step 2. Select your text using the cursor and/or mouse.
step 3. Copy your text: In Windows press CTRL+C or press Command+C on the

Macintosh.
step 4. Open your HTML or XHTML document in Dreamweaver then place the cursor in
the document where you want to paste your content.
step 5. Paste your content into your Dreamweaver document using either Edit > Paste or
Edit > Paste Special.
step 6. Format the text in your Dreamweaver document as you would like it to appear on
your Web page. Some of the formatting from the word processor may have been
lost.

INDENTING PARAGRAPHS AND CREATING LISTS

Indenting a Paragraph
You can use the increase/decrease indent buttons on the Properties panel to insert or remove
blockquote tags. The blockquote tag, <blockquote>, will indent a given paragraph from
both the left and right margins, thereby creating a visual separation similar to those used in
research papers when more than two lines from a source are being cited.
Blockquote buttons

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Creating Lists
You can add a new list by choosing Insert > HTML > Text Objects and then selecting the
desired option, Unordered List, Ordered List or List Item. You can also change existing text
using the Properties panel to create unordered <ul> and ordered <ol> lists.
Unordered and ordered list buttons

You can modify an existing list by clicking within any item in the list, then clicking the List Item
button
on the Properties panel. In the List Properties window you can customize
the appearance of your bullets or the numbering of each list item.

EXERCISE 3 More Text Formatting

1. Open your updated file, sacstate.htm, in Dreamweaver.

2. Format the text to make it appear similar to the Web page sacstate_ex3.htm:
a. Indenting the Faculty Resources paragraph.
b. Creating a multi-level list from the Library Instruction content.

3. Copy and paste the text from the Microsoft Word document ctl.doc (in the
docs folder) into sacstate.htm just before the university address.

4. Format the text for The Center for Teaching and Learning, including a
bulleted list of the topics (see sacstate_ex3.htm).

5. Save your changes.

6. Preview your updated document in a Web browser.

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WORKING WITH IMAGES

It is important that you prepare your images before inserting them into your Web pages. Use a
graphics editor, like Adobe Photoshop Elements to optimize and resize your images for use
on the Web. Save your files as either GIF or JPG files in the images folder within the site folder.

Using a Background Image

You can select a background image for your Web document by accessing the Page Properties
option from the Modify menu or from the Properties panel.

Inserting an Image
You can insert an image by clicking the insert image button (
) on the Common tab of the
Objects (Insert) panel. Then select the Image option to insert your image.

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After inserting an image you can set the image alignment, spacing and hyperlink attributes from
within the Properties panel.
Width and height in pixels
Alternate text

Image alignment

Vertical and horizontal space around the image

Adding a Horizontal Rule

You can add a horizontal rule from the Insert menu by selecting HTML > Horizontal Rule
or click the Insert Horizontal Rule icon from the Insert Panel ( ). To modify the <hr />
properties, click the horizontal rule in the Design view. You can then modify the attributes from
within the Properties panel.

EXERCISE 4 Images and Horizontal Rules

1. Open your updated file, sacstate.htm, if it is not already opened in

Dreamweaver.

2. Insert the image library_poppies.jpg after the Library Instruction heading. Be

sure to align the image to the right.

3. Insert the image libraryquad_new.jpg at the beginning of the paragraph for

The Center for Teaching and Learning section. Resize the image to make it
smaller than the original.

4. Add a horizontal rule just before each major heading in your document.
5. Save your work and preview your changes in a Web browser.
6. Compare your Web page with the file sacstate_final.htm

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RESOURCES
Faculty / Staff Resource Center
Located in ARC 3012. Assistance available on walk-in basis.
FSRC Website - http://www.csus.edu/irt/acr/fsrc/

Training & Tools eNewsletter

To receive email notification regarding online seminars, new technology/tools, and other online
teaching, technology and learning events, fill out and submit the Training & Tools eNewsletter
request form - http://www.csus.edu/atcs/tools/newsletter/request-form-ait-news.stm.

Getting Help
University Help Desk
(916) 278-7337 or helpdesk@csus.edu
Academic Technology Consultants
http://www.csus.edu/atcs/contact.htm
1on1 Help @ ATCS on Thursdays 1-4 pm in ARC 3005 (no appointment necessary)
Help Desk - Problem Reports & Contact Information
http://www.csus.edu/irt/helpdesk/contact.stm
Training Requests
training@csus.edu

Campus Resources
Training
http://www.csus.edu/training
Training Handouts
http://www.csus.edu/training/handouts
Online Tutorials
http://www.csus.edu/atcs/tools/training/tutorials.stm
Educational Tools
http://www.csus.edu/atcs/tools
Accessibility at Sacramento State
http://www.csus.edu/accessibility

Books on Dreamweaver and HTML

Dreamweaver CS4 Bible by Joseph W. Lowery
Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 Hands-On Training by Garrick Chow
Dreamweaver CS4 for Dummies by Janine C. Warner
HTML, XHTML, and CSS: 6th Edition by Elizabeth Castro
http://www.cookwood.com/html/extras/cssref.html

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