The eLearning Center for Gatlin Education Services

Learn powerful features that lie just below the surface in Dreamweaver, including precision layouts through Cascading Style Sheets, templates and asset management, and even the ability to create high-end interactive features without wading through reams of code. Each hands-on lesson and exercise combines upper-level Dreamweaver technology with visual Web design know-how.

LESSON 1 Advanced CSS Formatting Thought you knew CSS? In Lesson One, you'll refresh your memory on the basics of CSS text formatting, then take these skills a big step further into advanced CSS presentation and workflow applications. Designer typography tips are explored, and you'll use CSS to make data, lists, nav bars, and other content look great. You'll test out what you've learned in the exercise where you'll design a complete travel Web site with only CSS formatting.

LESSON 2 CSS Web Site Design Lesson Two takes what you know about CSS layouts to the next level, exploring fixed, liquid, elastic, and hybrid page designs using floats and container divs. You'll also learn how to create precision layouts with absolute positioning and some tricks on extending your CSS-based design. You'll try out these advanced layout techniques by creating a video gamer's Web site in the exercise.

LESSON 3 Behaviors and DHTML JavaScript, DHTML, and Ajax can be messy to code by hand but they add so much functionality to a Web page. In Lesson Three you'll learn to create many special features without touching a stitch of code using the Behaviors panel and Dreamweaver CS3's new Spry framework for Ajax. This lesson will have you creating complex image swaps, pop-up windows, and interactive navigational menus in no time. You'll also learn to create animations using DHTML and CSS, and explore the Adobe Exchange to find additional behaviors and code written by other developers. In the exercise for this lesson, you'll add lots of interactivity to a Web site using several key behaviors.

LESSON 4 Templates and Libraries As you build your Dreamweaver skills, you'll take on bigger and bigger client projects. With Dreamweaver templates, large projects will go lots faster, enabling you to save and reuse content for a consistent and easy-to-build design. You'll learn how to create .dwt template files with editable regions, how to link child files to a parent template, and how to plan template-based sites. Libraries will also be covered, which allow you to reuse common features and edit them with just a click. You'll create a large, template-based site for a winery in the exercise.

LESSON 5 Form Page Design It's every Web designer's dream to create a site in which the user can take an active role in the visit—whether it's submitting an email address, taking a test, or supplying feedback. Lesson Five shows you how to make it happen with Dreamweaver's powerful form design tools and features that get the form running on your server. CS3 users will also tackle some nifty form validation features using Spry/Ajax. This lesson concludes with an exercise on creating a subscription form with user results get sent to your email address.

LESSON 6 Workflow and Project Management Web designers these days must wear many hats to get the job done. You guessed it, Dreamweaver can help with that too. In Lesson Six, you'll explore preferences that can streamline your workflow and help you use code more efficiently. You'll also learn easy ways to access your files and frequently used code "Snippets" while you work. This lesson finishes up with a look at Dreamweaver's collaboration tools, like check-in/check-out and Contribute, that make group work go more smoothly. In the final exercise, you'll put everything you've learned to the test by designing a complete Web site.