Title: Macromedia Dreamweaver MX For Windows & Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide
Author: J. Tarin Towers
Publisher: Peachpit Press http://www.peachpit.com
Publication Date: August 22, 2002
Pages: 736
ISBN: 0-201-84445-1
Price: $24.99

Macromedia Dreamweaver MX For Windows & Macintosh Visual QuickStart Guide will have you up and running with Macromedia's popular Web authoring program in no time. This completely updated edition uses step-by-step, task-based instructions to explain all of the program's basic tools and how to use them to design a Web site. The book covers the program's existing features as well as its new ones, including its site setup wizard, content-sensitive toolbar, snippets, and enhanced coding tools.

This book is appropriate for both PC and Macintosh users. Check out the Peachpit Press Web site (http://www.peachpit.com) for more information about the book and other books.

What I like:

• Takes an easy, visual approach to teaching Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, using pictures to guide you through the software and show you what to do;
• Works like a reference book so you look up what you need and then get straight to work;
• No long-winded passes as it is concise, and the straightforward commentary explains what you need to know;
• Companion Web site at www.peachpit.com/vqs/dreamweavermx
• Affordably priced.

Macromedia Dreamweaver MX For Windows & Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide is divided into an Introduction and 19 chapters.

Introduction:

• Introduction: describes how the book is organized; what's new; and general information about Dreamweaver MX.

Chapters 1 through 19 cover the following:

• Chapter 1: The Getting Started--discusses the Site window, the Document window and its various panels, the Document toolbar, the Code inspector, the Insert toolbar, and the Property inspector.
• Chapter 2: Setting Up a Local Site--describes how to set up Dreamweaver so that it helps you manage a set of pages as a local site.
• Chapter 3: Basic Web Pages--learn how create a simple Web page that uses tables, links, images, and text and adjust the properties of a page, including the title and the page background. You get to open a page; create a new page; add content to a page; set the page title; adjust the page properties; save your work; save a copy of your page; preview the page in a browser; print the page from the browser; close the file; and select and use colors.
• Chapter 4: Editing Code--explains how to use HTML; working with Code View and Split View; using the Code Reference; using the Quick Tag Editor; hand coding; selecting parent and child tags; the Snippets Panel; the Tag Inspector Panel; inserting comments; setting HTML preferences; and cleaning up HTML.
• Chapter 5: Working with Images--find out how to place an image; how to resize it; and how to add a border. It also discusses image file formats and image alignment, as well as how to make images work with slow connections. And lastly, you find out about integrating external editors--including Fireworks--with Dreamweaver, so that you can easily edit images while you're making pages.
• Chapter 6: Working with Links--learn how to make a link; how relative links work; and how to make an email link, plus learn to link images and text; using the Site window to point to the page you want to link to; and using named anchors to link to specific locations on a page.
• Chapter 7: Inserting & Playing Media--take a look at how to make images interactive using rollovers and navigation bars. Then explore how to link to media, using sound files as an example; look at browser plug-ins, including Shockwave and Flash; and the basics of putting Java and ActiveX on your pages.
• Chapter 8: Fonts and Characters--it goes over the most basic ways of working with text, including cutting and pasting; how to accomplish rudimentary typographical changes such as font size, font face, and font color; look at various text styles, from bold and italic to code fonts; find out how to insert special characters like accented letters and copyright marks; and see how you can use Dreamweaver's word-processing tools, such as find-and-replace and spell check.
• Chapter 9: Paragraphs and Block Formatting--includes information about paragraphs versus line breaks, headings, preformatted text, numbered lists, bulleted lists, definition lists, paragraph alignment, divisions, indents and outdents, nonbreaking spaces, and horizontal rules.
• Chapter 10: Creating HTML Styles--looks at the HTML Styles panel and helps you learn the difference between paragraph and selection styles; how to create new styles and modify existing ones; and how to apply HTML styles with a single click.
• Chapter 11: Stylin' with Style Sheets--discusses how style sheets work; different kinds of styles you can use; the basics of creating and editing style sheets; how to apply style sheets to your Web pages; and a detailed look at style definitions--the various attributes a style can contain.
• Chapter 12: Setting Up Tables--learn about setting up tables; inserting a table in Standard View; selecting elements; adding columns and rows in Standard View; resizing table elements; dragging columns and rows in Standard View; merging and splitting cells; adding content to a table; aligning tables and content; adjusting table spacing; working with table borders; coloring tables; setting a background image; and sorting table contents.
• Chapter 13: Framing Pages--gives you information about frames and navigation; setting up a frame page; creating frames by dragging; quick and dirty frames; about nested framesets; modifying the frame page layout; deleting a frame; setting exact and relative sizes for frames; setting content pages; creating content within a frame; saving your work; frame page options; setting margins; targeting links; setting targets; testing your targets; and creating no-frames content.
• Chapter 14: Layers and Positioning--discusses CSS positioning; absolute vs. relative positioning; positioning properties; the Layers Panel; about the grid; creating layers; selecting layers; renaming a layer; moving layers; resizing layers; overlapping and nesting; changing layer visibility; stacking order; content and layers; layers and styles; the clipping area; content overflow; setting a background; layer preferences; converting layers to tables; and using a tracing image.
• Chapter 15: Filling Out Forms--shows you how to create front-end interface forms for your site; learn the basics of how to create and name form objects such as check-boxes, radio buttons, drop-down menus, and text fields; and it takes a look at file fields, form labels, image fields, and jump menus.
• Chapter 16: Behavior Modification--learn about the stock behaviors that Dreamweaver lets you apply--all without writing a line of code by hand.
• Chapter 17: Automating Dreamweaver--discusses libraries and what library items do; creating a library item; inserting and removing library items; editing, deleting, and re-creating library items; Dreamweaver temples; setting page properties on templates and pages; using CSS and JavaScript; setting editable regions; editable tag attributes; creating pages based on a template; exporting as XML; updating your site; using server-side includes; inserting SSIs; using the History Panel; repeating and undoing actions; saving steps as commands; and recording, replaying renaming and removing commands.
• Chapter 18: Customizing Dreamweaver--explains rearranging panels and panel groups; customizing pre-built pages; about XML; custom objects; using new custom objects; editing Dreamweaver menus; about the Menus.xml file; rearranging menu items; deleting a menu item; adding a separator; extending Dreamweaver with the Java Script API; changing keyboard shortcuts; and customizing dialog boxes.
• Chapter 19: Managing Your Web Sites--find out about uploading files; downloading files; and how to use other site management tools such as the site map, file synchronization, and the Link Checker.

For running Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, you need:

PC:

• Intel Pentium II processor or equivalent 300+ MHz;
• Windows 98, 2000, NT, ME or XP;
• Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer 4.0 or greater;
• 98 MB of available RAM (128 MB Recommended);
• 275 MB available disk space;
• 256 color monitor capable of 800 x 600 resolution (1024 x 768, millions of colors Recommended).

Mac:

• Power Mac G3 or better;
• Mac OS 9.0 or higher, or Mac OS X 10.1 or higher;
• Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer 4.0 or later;
• 96 MB of RAM (128 MB Recommended)
• 275 MB available disk space;
• 256 color monitor capable of 800 x 600 resolution (1024 x 768, millions of colors Recommended).