Dreamweaver II

Take your Web sites to the next level with Dreamweaver

Image of student project created in Dreamweaver

If you love the ease and flexibility of designing sites with Dreamweaver and are ready to tackle more sophisticated projects, Dreamweaver II is your ideal next step.

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

In this rigorous 6-lesson course, you'll take your existing knowledge of Dreamweaver to the next level, putting your skills a cut above the rest. Roll up your sleeves and get ready for an intensive and fun study of Dreamweaver!

Tuition:	$900 US
Enrollment Options:
CEU Value:	3
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Course Instructor(s):

Piper Nilsson is a graphic designer and information architect.

Course content developed by Piper Nilsson.

Requirements:

To take this course you'll need:

Computer with Internet connection (56 Kbps modem or faster).
Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 or CS5.
Familiarity with Dreamweaver's primary features and publishing.
An account with a Web hosting service. Free services are available. Check with your Web host to make sure it supports Dreamweaver's FTP protocol.
Adobe Photoshop or Fireworks or equivalent digital imaging program is recommended but not required.

Prerequisites:

The following courses can help you meet the above requirements:

Course Objectives:

Students learn how to:

Develop and submit for feedback six multi-page Web sites demonstrating specific Dreamweaver technologies.
Use Dreamweaver and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to present creative and effective type and content area formatting.
Employ CSS floats to create advanced fixed, liquid, elastic, and hybrid layouts.
Use absolute positioning in CSS to develop precision Web layouts.
Create stylesheets to customize your page for mobile devices, as well as for print.
Test your developed pages for browser compatibility.
Develop image effects, pop-up windows, and interactive navigation designs using Dreamweaver behaviors and the Spry framework for Ajax.
Design consistent, large-scale Web sites using template files, editable template regions, and library items.
Use form field inputs and visual design guidelines to create the front end of interactive forms.
Search for and apply pre-made back-end scripting to process interactive forms.
Employ preferences, collaborative technologies, and project reports to aid workflow and accuracy of development.
Combine Dreamweaver technology, site planning techniques, and visual design rules to develop attractive, creative, and effective Web sites.

Course Outline

LESSON 1 CSS Web Site Design

Thought you knew CSS? In Lesson One, you'll refresh your memory on the basics of CSS layout formatting, then takes what you know about CSS layouts to the next level. You'll explore fixed, liquid, elastic, and hybrid page designs using floats and container divs. 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 Extending CSS

In Lesson Two, you'll learn how to create precision layouts with absolute positioning and some tricks on extending your CSS-based design. You'll learn how to apply backgrounds and borders as elements on your page, as well as how to customize your page for the iPhone and mobile devices. You'll try out these advanced layout techniques by creating a video gamer's Web site in the exercise.

LESSON 3 Behaviors and Spry

JavaScript and Ajax can be messy to code by hand but they add so much functionality and interactivity 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's Spry framework for Ajax. This lesson will have you creating complex image swaps, pop-up windows, and interactive navigational menus in no time, and you'll use Ajax widgets for interactive menu bars, collapsible panels, and tooltips. You'll also 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. You will also tackle some nifty form validation features using Spry/Ajax. This lesson concludes with an exercise on creating a subscription form, in which user results are 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 in designing a complete Web site.