The Essential Guide to Dreamweaver CS4 with CSS, Ajax, and PHP
By David Powers


Publisher:   friends of ED Number Of Pages:   1000 Publication Date:   2008-12-01 ISBN-10 / ASIN:   1430216107 ISBN-13 / EAN:   9781430216100

Product Description:

 

Dreamweaver CS4 is a massive step forward in terms of integration with the rest of the CS4 suite (Flash, Fireworks, Photoshop, etc.), and also includes a whole host of exciting new features of its own. The Essential Guide to Dreamweaver CS4 with CSS, Ajax, and PHP concentrates on getting the best out of Dreamweaver CS4, rather than going into every menu item and toolbar icon. The emphasis is on developing websites compliant with the latest web standards, using CSS, JavaScript libraries (with particular emphasis on Spry, Adobe's implementation of Ajax), and PHP.

The book covers all aspects of the new user interface, including workspace layouts, iconic panels, the related documents feature, Live View, Code Navigator, and Live Code. It also shows how to use the improved CSS editing features, and JavaScript code introspection. There is also coverage of other new features, such as version control through Subversion integration, and the improved support for Photoshop integration through the use of Smart Objects.

What you'll learn

Streamline your workflow with the Related Files toolbar, Live view, and the Code Navigator Bring your pages alive with Ajax widgets from Spry, jQuery, and the Yahoo! User Interface Library Use server-side includes, templates, and Adobe's InContext Editing online service Create dynamic web applications using Dreamweaver's PHP server behaviors Build real world web site functions, such as form validation, random quote generator, search function, user management/login pages, dynamic Ajax gallery, and much more Consume RSS feeds and create Spry data sets How to publish your site after you've created it

Learn to create dynamic, data-driven Web sites using the exciting enhancements in the Dreamweaver CS3 version. You get a thorough understanding of the basics and then progress to learning how to produce pages with pizzazz, connect to live databases, integrate with Flash and Photoshop, use advanced technologies like Spry and Ajax, incorporate Flash, Shockwave, QuickTime, and WAV files, import Photoshop files directly into Dreamweaver, and enjoy Web success.

To use this book, you need only two items: the Dreamweaver software and a desire to make cutting-edge Web pages. (If you don’t have Dreamweaver, you can download a trial copy from www.adobe.com.) From quick design prototyping to ongoing Web site management, Dreamweaver automates and simplifies much of a Webmaster’s workload. Dreamweaver is not only the first Web authoring tool to bring the ease of visual editing to an HTML-code–oriented world, it also brings a point-and-click interface to complex coding whether server-side or client-side. The Dreamweaver CS3 Bible is designed to help you master every nuance of the program.

Are you styling your pages and creating your layouts with CSS? Are you building multipage Web applications? Are you creating a straightforward layout with the visual editor? Do you need to extend Dreamweaver’s capabilities by building your own custom objects? With Dreamweaver and this book, you can weave your dreams into reality for the entire world to experience.

Dreamweaver CS3 Bible can take you from raw beginner to full-fledged professional if read cover to cover. However, you’re more likely to read each section as needed, taking the necessary information and coming back later. To facilitate this approach, Dreamweaver CS3 Bible is divided into seven major task-oriented parts. After you’re familiar with Dreamweaver, feel free to skip around the book, using it as a reference guide as you increase your own knowledge base.

TABLE OF CONTENT:
Part 1 - Laying the Groundwork in Dreamweaver CS3
Part 2 - Designing and Crafting Core Pages
Part 3 - Adding Advanced Design Features
Part 4 - Incorporating Dynamic Data
Part 5 - Including Multimedia Elements
Part 6 - Enhancing Productivity and Web Site Management
Part 7 - Extending Dreamweaver
Part 8 - Appendix

With over 3 million users worldwide, Adobe's Dreamweaver is the most popular web development software in the world, and it just took another step forward with CS3, the new version released in 2007. Having come a long way from it's humble beginnings as a as a simple web design tool, CS3 allows you to rapidly put together standards compliant web sites and dynamic web sites with server-side languages and Ajax, and much more. To complement this great new application, David Powers has written the ultimate guide to it—The Essential Guide to Dreamweaver CS3 teaches you everything you need to know about the application, from setting up your development environment environment to publishing your sites and applications on the web, and everything in between.

• Takes you through your development environment set up
• Covers everything you need to create both standards compliant web sutes, and dynamic web applications
• Teaches several real world techniques using a series of step by step tutorials

Do you want to create a sophisticated Web site that's easy to develop and maintain Whether you're a beginner or an experienced Web developer, this friendly guide shows you how to utilize Dreamweaver's newest enhancements to build and manage state-of-the-art, professional Web sites quickly and easily.


Set up your site and create new pages
Work with text, graphics, and links
Define and apply styles using CSS
Add audio, video, and Flash® files to your site
Use Dreamweaver's database features

Dreamweaver CS3, now included as part of Adobe's Creative Suite 3, is the leading professional Web design and development application in the market, and is a must-have tool for any Web designer or developer. Dreamweaver CS3 offers new CSS layouts, a unified CSS panel, and CSS visualization tools that let users create interactive Web sites without having to delve into code. Dreamweaver users can now create dynamic interfaces using the Spry framwork for Ajax. (Spry is 99% HTML, so it's accessible to both designers and developers). Spry widgets (pre-built user interface components) let users quickly add common user interface components to Web pages. Each chapter in this full-color book contains a project that builds upon the reader's growing knowledge of Dreamweaver, while review questions at the end of each chapter reinforce the most important skills. Readers will learn how to customize a Dreamweaver workspace, apply cascading style sheets, enter headline and body text, insert graphics and rollovers, and add links to a page. They'll also learn how to add interactive elements to their site, such as behaviors, effects, and Flash video; add new code or code snippets; and publish their finished site to the Web.