Web Editing For Faculty - Dreamweaver

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Setting Up Dreamweaver 8

Please note: Be aware that CSUN has migrated to a new web environment. For the purposes of this documentation, whenever we refer to the U: drive, \\udrive\username, please substitute it with the W: drive, \\webdrive\username, which is now used to host websites. Your Udrive will remain a location for you to keep your files but not the web content you are using for your website.

For information about mapping the new W:,“webdrive” please refer to the Information Technology documentation at http://www.csun.edu/it/training/guides/webdrive.html

Dreamweaver 8 is a web editing tool that is aimed at allowing users to produce simple, yet functional web sites. Even though this documentation is focused towards web design beginners, Dreamweaver offers the ability to integrate other web technologies, such as PHP, ASP, CSS, and JavaScript.

To get started with Dreamweaver, it needs to be installed. If Dreamweaver 8 is not installed on the machine being used for web editing, please contact your local administrator and direct them to the California State University, Northridge Information Technology Software Downloads page - which is found at the following URL:

https://www.csun.edu/itr/downloads/index.cgi

Instructions on how to install Dreamweaver 8 can be found once you authenticate to the site. For any additional help with getting access to the Information Technology Software Downloads site, please contact the University Helpdesk by phone at 818-677-1400, or by email at helpdesk@csun.edu.

Launching the Dreamweaver 8 Application

1. Launch Dreamweaver 8 by going to <Start>, <All Programs>, <Macromedia>, then select <Macromedia Dreamweaver 8>.

    

   

    

   

    

Creating a New Site

1. There are two ways to create a site in Dreamweaver. If the start up page is displayed, go to <Create New>, then <Dreamweaver Site>. The other way is by going to the Menu Bar, select <Site>, then <New Site...>.

    

   

    

   

    

2. In the text box entitled "What would you like to name your site?", type in the name of the site. In this example, "CSUN Website" is used. In the text box entitled "What is the HTTP Address (URL) of your site?", type http://www.csun.edu/~[CSUN Login ID],where [CSUN Login ID] is the value of your CSUN Login ID. In this example, the user’s CSUN Login ID is hasp. Once you have entered in the correct information, select <Next>.

    

   

    

3. In the next dialog window, Select "No, I do not want to use a server technology." Since the focus of this tutorial is to do simple web content editing, advanced web technologies - such as PHP and ColdFusion - will not be addressed.

    

   

    

4. As Dreamweaver recommends, choose the option to "Edit local copies on my machine, then upload to server when ready (recommended)." In the text box entitled "Where on your computer do you want to store your files?", by default, it places the site in the Documents folder of the user logged in. If that is what is desired, select <Next>. If not, select the folder icon to the left of the text box, and browse to the folder location desired, then select <Next>.

    

   

    

5. Under the "How do you connect to your remote server?" option, make sure "Local/Network" is selected. In the text box entitled "What folder on your server do you want to store your files in?", navigate to the public_html folder on your UDrive, the select "Open". Select <Next> after all options are filled in. Note: If you aren't sure if you have a UDrive active or not, please refer to the section in the online reference guide entitled Guide To Establishing Faculty Web Presence - Using The UDrive.

    

   

    

6. Select "No, do not enable check in and check out." since the web site is only for one user. Select <Next>.

    

   

    

7. Select <Done>.

    

   

    

Getting the Contents of public_html

1. By default, once the site finishes setting up, it will download all the contents of the public_html. In case it doesn't, go to the Menu Bar, select <Site>, <Get>. This grabs all the contents in the public_html folder in the UDrive.

    

   

    

2. Once the action of grabbing all the contents of public_html are finished, select newindex.html. A dialog window will appear, requesting to get all the dependency files. Select <No>.

    

   

    

3. Once newindex.html is loaded, if the view of the document shows HTML code, go to the Menu bar, and select <View>, then <Design>. This will give the view of the document as if it is being viewed through a web browser.

    

   

    

Setting Up the Accessibility Features

To help with making sure web pages are accessible, Dreamweaver 8 has accessibility options that can help web developers. To set up this option, do the following:

1. Go to the Menu Bar, and select <Edit>, then <Preferences>.

    

   

    

2. Under Category, select "Accessibility".

    

   

    

3. Make sure all options are selected, except "Keep focus in panel when opening."

    

   

    

4. Under Category, select "New Document".

    

   

    

5. Make sure the following options are set:
   • Default Document: html
   • Default extension: .html
   • Default Document Type (DTD): XHTML 1.0 Strict
   • Default Encoding: Western European
     • Make the box is selected next to the option "Use when opening existing files don't specify an encoding."
   • Unicode Normalization Form: None
     • De-select the options "Include Unicode Signature (BOM)" and "Show New Document Dialog box on Control + N".

    

   

    

Now that the Site has been set up, the Dreamweaver Workflow is the next section that will be covered.

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