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Subject:RE: I need to learn Dreamweaver MX- FAST!!!!!! From:"Donald H. White" <trlbldr -at- comcast -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 12 Jul 2005 08:40:50 -0400
Kate,
If you're comfortable with the principles in MS Word, Framemaker, Pagemaker,
or InDesign (stylesheets, layout, etc.), then relax. Dreamweaver will be
pretty easy to pick up. Especially in two weeks.
If you're not so comfortable with those concepts, then, perhaps, panic is a
good option.<g>
The issue is not so much the functions on the Dreamweaver menu bar as it is
about how Web pages are put together and how they function. Dreamweaver, in
its WYSIWYG interface, places HTML tags for you. However, just as with any
word processing or desktop publishing application, the sum of the whole is
more important than the individual tags. A lot of writers, for instance,
used to prefer WordPerfect to Word because the former allowed (encouraged)
them to see and use the underlying field codes that actually translated the
writer's formatting instructions into visible text.
HTML tags underpin the Web page, and Web pages should comply with standards
in order to be displayed across multiple types of browsers and in the
variety of formats available today.
Find a mentor. Check with the local STC chapter for someone who knows and
uses Dreamweaver routinely. Go to your favorite online bookstore and obtain
a book on Web design. I recommend these:
Web Standards Solutions by Dan Cederholm
The Zen of CSS Design by Dave Shea and Molly E. Holzschlag
I know people who can (and do) code Web pages using Notebook while they
sleep. I'm not that sort of...techie. I like WYSIWYG because of either (a)
impatience or (b) laziness, and I don't care how I'm labeled. I'm after the
result. And, I hated FrontPage but really do respect Dreamweaver. I bought
Dreamweaver MX and used it to build a Web page for my volunteer trail crew
here in the Mid-Atlantic area--it works fine and meets standards, including
those for accessibility.
Good luck! I think you're in for a lot fun while you're enhancing a skill
that's really in demand today.
Sincerely,
Donald H. White
Senior Technical Writer/Editor
James River Technical Communications LLC
804.795.2914
dwhite -at- jrtcllc -dot- com
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