Metatags and Title Attributes
Sound Description of A Web Site
Metatags are tags that describe information about the page construct and descriptors about the page content. In conjunction with the TITLE attribute as well as page content, they are used by search engines to accurately reference your page. To find out more information about the proper procedures for metatag elements and entitling a web page, please refer to the following web page - http://www.csun.edu/accessibility/bestpractices/meta.html.
Viewing The Head Content of a Web Page
Dreamweaver has the ability to identify the metatags and title attributes (also known as head content) in any web page that contains proper markup. The Faculty Web Templates contain head content that should be edited by faculty in order to accurately describe a web page. To view the head content, do the following:
- Select <View>, then <Head Content> from the Menu bar. For each element of the head content, a marker appears at the top of the Document window in Design view or Split View. Note: if the Document Window is set to Code view, the <View>, <Head Content> option is dimmed.
Editing the Head Content of a Web Page
Once the Head Content toolbar has been enabled, there are icons that represent each element in the head content. The elements can be edited in various ways. This reference guide will focus on using the Property inspector to edit each element.
To edit the description metatag, do the following:
- In the Head Content toolbar, select the fifth icon from the left. This is the icon for the description metatag. To launch the Property inspector to edit the metatag, select <Window>, then <Properties>.
- In the Property inspector textbox, input the description of the web page.
- Once the text has been inserted, close the Property inspector by selecting <Window>, then <Properties> from the Menu bar.
To edit the keywords metatag, do the following:
- In the Head Content toolbar, select the sixth icon from the left. This is the icon for the keywords metatag. To launch the Property inspector to edit the metatag, select <Window>, then <Properties>.
- In the Property inspector textbox, input the keywords that will be associated with the content of the web page.
- Once the text has been inserted, close the Property inspector by selecting <Window>, then <Properties> from the Menu bar.
To edit the title of the web page, do the following:
- In the Head Content toolbar, select the twelfth icon from the left. This is the icon for the title attribute. To launch the Property inspector to edit the metatag, select <Window>, then <Properties>.
- In the Property inspector textbox, input the title of the web page.
- Once the text has been inserted, close the Property inspector by selecting <Window>, then <Properties> from the Menu bar.
For more information concerning editing metatags - such as keywords and description, and title properties, please refer to the Online Documentation for Dreamweaver 8, hosted by Adobe. In the side menu pane, navigate to <Working with Page Code>, <Editing Code in Design View>, then <Viewing and editing head content>.
After editing the metatags and title attribute, the next section is entitled Publishing A Website.