It is now wonder that Adobe Dreamweaver is so popular and so widely used. It offers the general user a way into the world of web development without first having to learn too much about the technologies which are used in building modern websites. Among the powerful features which Dreamweaver makes available to inexperienced users are preset CSS layouts, accessibility guidance, HTML guidance, CSS guidance and standards compliance. Let’s look at how these features are implemented and how Dreamweaver can make you look good as a web developer before you know enough to look good on your own.
When you create a new web page in Dreamweaver (File – New), you are given the option of basing the new page on one of the preset CSS layouts built into the program. Using CSS for page layout requires a fair amount of experience of the quirks of CSS and is no job for a beginner. Simply by choosing the layout which is closest to their requirements, users can go ahead and create CSS web pages which will work and which can be customized to suit their requirements.
Dreamweaver’s accessibility preferences by default cause the program to display useful alerts to remind the user to incorporate accessibility features into the elements being placed on the page. Thus, for example, each time an image is added to the page, a dialogue box will appear which contains a box for the user to enter the alternate text. Similarly when adding a form element, the form accessibility dialog prompts you to enter both and ID and the label text.
Most new users of Dreamweaver will also be fairly new to web development and may still be a little shaky on HTML and will typically build web pages visually using Dreamweaver’s Design mode. Whenever I run a Dreamweaver training course, I always make new users aware of Dreamweaver’s tag selector feature. This consists of a hierarchical display of the element which is currently selected on the page, the element which contains that element? and so on, all the way up to the BODY element which of course contains all elements on the page. Clicking on one of the tags displayed on the tag selector cleanly selects the corresponding element. Also, right-clicking displays a useful set of options such as “Remove Tag” and “Set Class”.
Dreamweaver’s context-sensitive Properties panel is another rock on which new users can always count. Unlike previous versions of Dreamweaver, version CS4 makes a clear distinction between structural attributes (which are displayed in the HTML tab of the Properties panel) and CSS attributes (which are displayed in the CSS tab). For example, if you select an element which is already controlled by a CSS rule, the Properties panel will allow you to edit the rule. If there is no rule, it will prompt you to create one.