Dreamweaver 4 Tutorial: A Guide for New Users

Introduction
Part One: Basics Explained
Part Two: The Glorious New
Part Three: Building Blocks
Part Four: Beyond the Ordinary

Part Four: Beyond the Ordinary

Once you've mastered the basics of Dreamweaver, try these timesavers.

Templates

Turn a current page into a template and you can always be sure new pages fit the standard exactly. Open the page and go File/Save as Template. To create editable areas on the template, highlight the text, then go to Modify/Templates/New Editable Region. At the prompt, give the area a name. You can also right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) on the highlighted area and select New Editable Region from the resulting pop-up window.

To create a new document from a template, select File/New from Template.

Library Items

If you have text or graphics you're always using, save time by making them library items. Simply highlight the item, then drag it into the Library section of the Assets Window (To get there, open the Assets Window, then press the open book icon in the lower left). You can also highlight the item and press the "+" icon in the bottom right of the Library Window.

Helpful Lessons from Previous FAQ

A previous FAQ on this site explains how to perform other useful tasks. It was written for Dreamweaver 3, but most of the explanations apply for the later version.

The first lesson [http://idm.internet.com/articles/200002/dream_1.html] has useful basic tips, including combining windows, importing text from Microsoft Word, and using the Quick Tag Editor.

The second lesson [http://idm.internet.com/articles/200002/dream_2.html] tells how to make frames. A slight change: In Dreamweaver 4, choose View/Visual Aids/Frame borders to make frames visible.

Lesson three [http://idm.internet.com/articles/200002/dream_3.html] explains Behaviors you can set up for interactive pages.

Lesson four [http://idm.internet.com/articles/200002/dream_4.html] is on adding media to your site. Note: in Dreamweaver 4, you'll need to use the Special area of the Properties Window to add a Java applet. [Image 6]

The fifth lesson [http://idm.internet.com/articles/200002/dream_5.html] tells how to manage a site, and the sixth [http://idm.internet.com/articles/200002/dream_6.html] covers a few other scattered timesaving tips.