Joined on 05-17-2004
TechSoup Member
I decided to get involved in building a website for my organization. I have been told it is as simple as getting Dreamweaver software and going from there. Then I was told to learn HTML before I use Dreamweaver. The reason? It would give me more functional ablity. I go to the book store to get a do it yourself HTML textbook and every book on the shelf is touting XML or XHTML. I am confussed. Where should I start. With the HTML, XML or just dive right in with the dreamweaver program. Somebody help my out on this one.
Joined on 05-15-2004
TechSoup Member
Greetings
You need to start with HTML. It is the basis for everything. You probably can learn online as fast as anything but books can be handy. This is one of the best starter HTML books I have seen and personally used many years ago.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0201696967/002-7277718-2491231?v=glance
As far as DreamWeaver, in my experience those tools are hard to use unless you know a little something about HTML. Probably was good advice. Try the book above and then visit some HTML websites such as this one
http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_reference.asp
Good luck!
Rob Taylor
www.tconsult.com
I agree with Rob's advice. As a first step, you should focus on acquiring a solid grasp of HTML. While this is not absolutely mandatory in order to use Dreamweaver, I guarantee you will be much more comfortable (and productive) with the program after understanding at least the basics of HTML.
Start with the how-to book recommended above. Always remember to practice everything you learn. Use online tutorials to supplement your training.
Webmonkey is another good HTML resource you should consider. And also remember we are here to help you along the way. So feel free to post your questions anytime! :smile;
Best of luck.
Yann
Joined on 05-10-2000
TechSoup Member
Forget the talking heads, bro.
Just dive in. Dreamweaver is by far the superior tool for everything from quick-n-dirty, to full-fledged dymanic content-enabled sites. And it's easy to use. Purists will tell you to get certified before trampling on their precious programmers hallowed ground, but if you tip-toe quietly, no one will know you hacked your way by bootstrap to a world-class website in no time flat!
I've been web designing and developing since before Netscape was Netscape, and I've trained many folks how to get up and running.
Hands-on is definitely the way to go. Reading about the abstract concepts is fine, but do so whil building with your tool of choice.
TIPS: build and test on a local workstation first; make a default folder for it; create an images folder to store graphics under the default folder; copy or create images you want for your site into the images folder; then fire-up DW and start building.
Feel free to contact me if you want some help or have any questions:
- Michael Clark
916.320.8460
m4cl4rk@yahoo.com
Dreamweaver really is a nice tool. I use it for brain storming designs quickly and tinkering with layouts. All final work, whether html or prigramming(cfm,php,asp) gets done by hand though. Dreamweaver makes pretty nice html but it's scripting language stuff is awful. While learning though it's probobly the best tool you can have. I know alot of people who taught themselves html, php and mysql all while using dreamweaver.
Keith
Joined on 05-21-2004
TechSoup Member
Hi,
Before you get started with anything, possibly you may want to define what it is you are trying to do? Dreamweaver is a great tool with a vast, vast, vast array of options. Dreamweaver requires a bit of tweaking before you can really get into it. Dreamweaver is built upon 5 key technologies: ASP, ASP.NET, JSP, PHP and Coldfusion or some other database (MS Access, ORACLE, MySQL, or MS SQL Server). You need a Web Server (MS IIS, Apache, iPlanet, etc.) to take advantage of these technologies. So unless you have a techie background, start out with HTML, a simple HTML editor (CoffeeCup, notepad...Homesite is great editor for the experienced), a good book (try Jennifer Niederst, Learning Web Design and try our hand at building a free web page/site at Yahoo, Angelfire, etc. Please, enjoy yourself - crawl before you walk, give time time and keep asking questions.
Enjoy The Journey,
TomW
Joined on 05-29-2004
TechSoup Member
HTML is the old standard. XHTML is the new standard for websites. Dreamweaver can code it all for you, and you don't need to know HTML or XHTML to create a website, but you'll get out of it what you put into it.
Dreaweaver is an amazing tool, but it is a tool only. You should know what you are doing before jumping in. Let me use an analogy: Creating a website is like painting your house: yes, you can do it with the right tools, but you need to know what you are doing to do it right. Anyone can paint a room, but the painter should know what type of paint works on what surfaces, how many coats, how to clean the brushes, etc. If you don't know what you are doing, your site may look great in the browser you created it in, but might look simply awful in a different browser on a different operating system. Will it be printable? Will it look good on different size screens.
I've been teaching Dreamweaver to clients for 3 or 4 years, but only started using Dreamweaver myself about 9 months ago. I teach dreamweaver to clients when I have built their website and they want to maintain it. When I teach Dreamweaver to students who want to be web developers, I start with HTML/XHTML, and teach them about usability & accessibility and CSS. Then I dive in and teach them Dreamweaver. They learn Dreamweaver much faster with the base knowledge since they understand what Dreamweaver is doing for them.
Suggestion for an effective, cost effective site: hire a web developer to do your template. Use Dreamweaver to maintain it yourself.
-Estelle
Estelle Weyl
http://www.EstelleWeyl.com
415.441.2842
Helping make the web accessible since 1999
Joined on 03-10-2004
TechSoup Member
Well then....I think I have ADD because I can never pick up a book on HTML or PHP or any of this stuff.
I don't know how you learn best -- but I'd suggest save the money on the books -- surf the net and find a neat website you like -- view its source...copy and paste it into Dreamweaver -- and then PLAY AROUND....see how things are done and what does what...maybe have a book as reference...but really for, the best way was just to find one's I liked...and then messed around in them trying to understand how it worked.
:) Good luck!
Joined on 09-23-2005
TechSoup Member
I started learning web design using Dreamweaver and what I originally loved about it was being able to design a site without knowing anything about html. So far so good but a bit lazy.
The turning point for me was when I started implementing cascading style sheets properly, using CSS instead of tables for layout. To use CSS properly you have to understand what all the html tags do. I had to go back to basics but Dreamweaver still helped me figure it all out: I paid close attention to the CSS panel and there's a built-in reference guide to CSS. My websites suddenly got a lot better!
However, for most websites, all this only matters to the designer who's creating the templates for the site. Using Macromedia Contribute software anyone else can edit the content on a site, create and link new pages and alter text and pictures: it's so easy it can be learnt within an hour or two.
Or even better, you could have the website built around a content management system (CMS) such as Joomla or WordPress.
Jason King
Nonprofit Web Design Blog
I'm highly experienced with HTML and web programming languages.
It took me a little bit to configure Dreamweaver MX to publish to a website and I believe set up the database connection for the website (over a year ago I tried tinkering w/ it). Then having to look for everything in the GUI. Switching to source mode wasn't as good for me as using my TextPad (www.textpad.com). So even if you're experienced with HTML there'll be a learning curve to get familiar with the interface (like any software).
I decided to scrap using Dreamweaver. Only was tinkering with it to know how to use it (some web dev. jobs were saying about using this tool). Basically for me it's a waste of time.
If you know nothing to start with it'll probably take forever for you to learn the tool and what everything does. But it should let you get up and running with a basic website pretty quickly.
Definitely start by learning HTML (which is very simple). It's just a markup language for page formatting. I'd also suggest (if you get a book) one that takes you through the basics of HTML and includes some simple JavaScript at the end.
Many resources on the Internet so a book isn't totally necessary.
Hi,
You and me are in the same boat...I am learning how to use DW, but I noticed that with some knowledge of html things are much easier, the about book is very good and easy to learn.
Dreamweaver's HTML editor makes it fun to learn.
Any luck with HTML yet?....I must tell its easy to workaround with. The book is been a great help.
Joined on 10-30-2002
TechSoup Member
Aloha all,
At the risk of being flamed out of the solar system: what about FrontPage?
It has been my experience that it is universally 'hated' by most "real" web devellopers. I started using it a number of years ago to do our organization's site (we are a small NPO and really can't justify spending $$thousands to hire an outside developer). As I continued to learn more and more HTML, I now find myself switching back and forth btwn the WYSIWYG editor and the HTML code editor all the time. I know it's not perfect and "ideal", but it is fairly effective for our purposes and I am even working on a new site w/ CSS, DHTML and other features from a template that I purchased and then highly modified (e.g., by going into the code to make color and layout changes). This wouldn't work if I had to depend on doing this for a living, BUT for us, it is a very satisfying and relatively inexpensive way (I don't get paid!) to create and maintain our own site. Again, I know you professionals are shuddering at the thought, but there's a lot of pride in creating our own site- even if it isn't perfect. Of course, if we had the money or a volunteer...(there's a lot of other things that my time could probably be more effectively used for).
My question would be, though (already having a good grasp of FrontPage)is there really a big advantage in switching to Dreamweaver? (i.e., will the learning curve really justify future time savings or headaches?) I do try to spend as little time as possible dealing with the site (and it sometimes shows)
Thanks everyone,
norm
DrNorm@3RR.org
I have to agree somewhat with norm.
I started experimenting with Web design around 2000. For a while, all I knew was Yahoo! Geocities online "page builder tool. Around 6 months after that, I discovered Frontpage and began to learn it.
Since then, I have used FrontPage in MANY web sites that I've designed. Since I am not a professional web designer, I have never taken the time to learn how to totally code a page in HTML, but FrontPage combined with a basic knowledge of HTML (and some help from Google!), I have built some nice looking and very functional sites. I have also begun to use DreamWeaver (NOT, I repeat
NOT a beginners tool!).
For proof of a site using my FrontPage "concept" check out http://www.stacjc.org, my orgs website.
That being said, I think FrontPage would be a good choice right now. There is also a multitude of free tools available, including one of my favorites,
Nvu.
Hope this helps!
Michael
For what it is worth....
Don't use FrontPage. It teaches you bad habits and compared to Dreamweaver it produces nightmare quality code. You can generally recognize a front page developed site in about 5 seconds or less and if you ever switch to another editor, you will spend a lot of time getting rid of proprietary Microsoft code.
If you are going to use a WYSIWYG editor use Dreamweaver. Start there, learn CSS and HTML as needed and eventually as much of them as possible. I learned them using Dreamweaver and then figuring out how it was doing the code and trying to improve on it as I learn CSS and HTML.
But then this is just my opinion.