You’ve come to the right place to download project files, find tips for Dreamweaver instructors and students.
Instructor tips and resources
Below, you’ll find a few tips about the key points to focus on as you cover each chapter.
Project Files
Use the navigation options on the right for quick access to project files, or read through the chapter-by-chapter descriptions below for more details, as well as links to download all related files.
Please note that there are no project files needed for the first few chapters. You can download the Chocolate Game Website and use it for the first three chapters if you want to have a site on the screen during these lessons.
The Project files are complete Web sites, each saved in its own folder. The Web sites include the graphics, html pages, and other files used in the book. These are completed versions of the sites featured in the chapters which you and your students can use as you follow along with the excercises.
Also note, in some cases the same website is used in more than one chapter, but please note that there are different versions of these chapters designed specifically for their corresponding chapters.
To download project files:
1. Click on a download link and select the option to save the file to your hard drive.
2. When the download is complete, double click to unzip the file and you’ll find a folder with all of the HTML pages, images, and other files featured in the book.
Tip: Before you start working with any of these sites, make sure to complete the site set up process covered in Chapter 2.
Chapter 1 Getting Started with Dreamweaver
Overview: This chapter provides an introduction to the basics, including how to launch Dreamweaver on a Mac or PC.
Project Files: There are no project files needed for this chapter, but you can download the Chocolate Game Rules website if you want something on the screen.
Instructor Tips: After teaching Web design for many years, I’ve found it helpful to give students a good overview of the many ways you can create a Web site, including Tables vs. Frames vs. CSS, before getting into the detailed instructions for any of these topics.
Chapter 2 Setting Up Your Web Site
Overview: This chapter covers the site set up process, a crucial first step to creating or editing any Web site in Dreamweaver. If you are doing to be building your own site, just follow the instructions in this site and select your own existing site or create a new folder for a new site.
Project Files: There are no project files needed for this chapter, but you can download the Chocolate Game Rules website if you want something on the screen.
Instructor Tips: Don’t let students skip the site set up process, even if they are working on an existing site or using any of the project files included with the book.
Chapter 3 Exploring the Dreamweaver Interface
Overview: This chapter explores Dreamweaver’s interface with explanations of the many panels, dialogs, and other features in Dreamweaver.
Project Files: You do not need project files for this chapter, but some of the features in this chapter can only be viewed with an HTML page open, but you can create a new, blank page, or open any page from any website to follow along.
You can download the Chocolate Game Rules Web Site if you want to use it for this chapter.
Instructor Tips: This chapter can seem a bit dull, especially if students are anxious to start building Web pages right away. You can skip this chapter and use it as a reference, but remember getting to know the program will help you work more efficiently in the rest of the chapters.
Chapter 4 Working with XHTML
Overview: This chapter provides a basic introduction to XHTML, the code behind Web pages. Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML) is the formatting language used to create Web pages. When you open an XHTML page in a Web browser, the code tells the browser how to display the text, images, and other content.
Project Files: Download this special limited version of Janine’s website designed for Chapter 4.
Instructor Tips: Why XHTML? By default, Dreamweaver writes XHTML instead of HTML because XHTML is a stricter version of HTML that is designed to comply with contemporary Web standards. The two are very similar, but all tags in XHTML must be written in lower case and must have a close tag.
Chapter 5 Formatting and Styling Text
Overview: This chapter covers the basics of formatting and styling Text in Dreamweaver.
Download Project Files: This chapter features a special page in the California Wildlife Photography website. Download the site and open the file Majestic-birds.html to get started. In each section, a different page is featured, make sure you open that page to follow along.
Instructor Tips: Many people who are new to Web design are confused about when to use CSS instead of, or in addition to, HTML tags. The simple answer is: use standard HTML tags, such as the H1 heading tag or the UL unordered list tag, whenever possible, then use CSS to redefine the tags to change formatting. In this chapter, you’ll learn basic HTML options, in Chapters 12 and 13, you’ll find instructions for combining HTML tags with CSS.
Chapter 6 Working with Images and Multimedia
Overview: This chapter begins with basic image features, such as inserting and aligning images, and progresses to more advanced options, including how to add Flash animation and video files, as well as how to create a rollover image.
Download Project Files: Download the Tower Bride of London Website. (Note this web site includes video files that are relatively large so this site will take longer to download than any of the others.)
Instructor Tips: This chapter covers basic image alignment using CSS. You’ll find more detailed instructions for using CSS in Chapters 11 and 12.
Make sure to note that the steps to insert a Flash file with a .swf extension, such as the slideshow included in the project files, are different from the steps used to insert a Flash video file with a .flv extension, such as the waves.flv file, included in the project files folder. Instructions for inserting both types of Flash files are included in this chapter.
Chapter 7 Creating Hyperlinks
Overview: This chapter covers the many ways you can create links in Dreamweaver, including links to other Web sites and file types.
Project Files: This chapter features the same site featured in Chapter 5. If you’ve already downloaded it and set it up in Dreamweaver, you’re all set. If not, you can download it here.
Instructor Tips: Creating links in a fundamental aspect of Web design, and it’s a lot easier than most students expect.
Chapter 8 Editing the Table Design in a Web Page
Overview: This chapter reviews Dreamweaver’s features for creating HTML Tables to design pages and format tabular data.
Project Files: This chapter features the same Wildlife Photography site featured in Chapters 5 and 7. If you’ve already downloaded it and set it up in Dreamweaver, you’re all set. If not, you can download it here.
Instructor Tips: Tables used to be the most common way to create page designs in HTML. However, with the advent of CSS,Tables are no longr recommended for creating most site designs. The one exception, which is featured in this chapter, is that Tables are recommended for tabular data, such as data you might copy into a site from a spreadsheet program, such as Excel, or information that is exported from a database.
Chapter 9 Creating Web-Based Forms
Overview: This chapter reviews Dreamweaver’s features for creating Web-based forms.
Project Files: Download the Digital Family Form.
Instructor Tips: Dreamweaver offers many great features for creating forms for the Web, but to make any form work on a Web site you’ll need a script that runs on your Web server. For a bonus lesson on how to connect a form to a script, check out the Forms Script Tutorial on the Dreamweaver Training Center.
Chapter 10 Using Library Items and Templates
Overview: This chapter reviews Dreamweaver’s Template and Library features.
Project Files: Note: this chapter uses a special version of the California Wildlife Website. Download the Chapter 10 version of the California Wildlife website site here.
Instructor Tips: Using templates is the best approach when working on any site that is more than a few pages long. Incorporating navigation links, logos, and other consistent elements in a template makes it faster to create new pages and much easier to update a site in the future. The most challenging aspect of working with templates is the concept of ‘editable’ and not ‘editable’ regions so make sure that students grasp the difference before moving on.
Library items work much like include files on the Web and are handy for elements that you may use on several pages within a subsection of a site or for very consistent elements in a site that is built with multiple templates, such as the copyright code at the bottom of a page.
Chapter 11 Creating and Applying Cascading Style Sheets
Overview: This chapter introduces Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and Dreamweaver’s CSS features. In this chapter, you find instructions for creating and applying styles. In Chapter 13, you find instructions for designing pages with CSS.
Project Files: Download the Chapter 11 version of the Wags 2 Whiskers Pet Care Website.
Instructor Tips: Today using CSS is by far the best way to design Web sites, but it’s not the simplest approach. I recommend spending more class time on this chapter and Chapter 13 than any other chapters in the book. You’ll find many more tutorials with more details on CSS in the Dreamweaver Training Center.
Looking for a little more help learning CSS?
Many instructors also say my CSS training videos have helped them teach this complex, but fundamental, topic. You can learn more about my CSS videos in the video section of the DigitalFamily.com store.
Chapter 12 Designing a Web Site with CSS
Overview: This chapter provides instructions for designing pages with CSS. Make sure students have completed Chapter 12 and understand the basics of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and Dreamweaver’s CSS features before moving on to this chapter.
Project Files: Download the Chapter 12 version of the Wags 2 Whiskers Pet Care Website. Note: Each version of this site is different so make sure you download the right one for each chapter.
Instructor Tips: This chapter begins with instructions for editing a predesigned CSS layout in Dreamweaver. Using these layouts is not only a great way to get a head start on creating a CSS page design, they’re designed to work well in many different Web browsers. Unfortunately, CSS does not always display the same from one browser to another. There are many techniques for getting around these differences and the CSS layouts included in Dreamweaver are designed with these differences in mind.
The second part of this chapter covers AP Divs, formerly called Layers in Dreamweaver versions MX and 8. Although AP Divs may seem to off an intuitive and precise approach to Web design, they are best used very sparingly because they are not as flexible or as accessible as the CSS layouts covered in the first part of this chapter.
You’ll find more tutorials on CSS in the Dreamweaver Training Center.
Chapter 13 Publishing a Web Site
Overview: When you’re ready to publish your Web site on the Internet, you’ll find all the instruction you need to get your site online in this Chapter.
Project Files: Download the Chapter 13 version of the California Wildlife Photography site.
Instructor Tips: You’ll need access to a Web server to publish a Web site. If your school does not offer student access to a server, you may want to consider recommending that they purchase space on a commercial Web hosting service.
Chapter 14 Maintaining a Web Site
Overview: This chapter explores Dreamweaver’s visual aids and asset features.
Project Files: This Chapter uses the same Tower Bridge of London Website featured in Chapter 6. If you have not already downloaded it, you can download the Tower Bride of London Website here. (Note this web site includes video files that are relatively large so this site will take longer to download than any of the others.)
Instructor Tips: The features covered in this chapter are handy, but not as crucial as some of the other features covered in this book. If you’re short of time in your classes, this chapter could be skipped.
Chapter 15 Adding Interactivity with Spry and Javascrips
Overview: This chapter covers some of the features in the Spry menu, including how to create drop-down menus and tabbed panels.
Project Files: This chapter uses a special version of my site, specifically designed for Chapter 15, which you can download here.
Instructor Tips: The Spry options are designed to make it easier to create site features that use AJAX. Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, better known by the acronym AJAX, combines advanced Web technologies to create highly interactive features. Beware that creating these features is relatively easy, thanks to the Spry menu, but editing the menus, panels, and other options once you’ve added them to your pages requires a fairly sophisticated knowledge of CSS. Refer to Chapters 11 and 12 for help with editing the CSS for these features. You’ll find additional tutorials on working with AJAX and editing drop-down menus in the Dreamweaver Training Center.