How to Start Building a Website With Dreamweaver

Adobe Dreamweaver is an extensive website design program that allows you to create professional-looking websites. The basics of creating a website are the same no matter what program you use, but Dreamweaver offers an endless amount of features to help make the process a little easier. Most web design professionals recommend beginners learn HTML before trying a program like Dreamweaver, but it's not necessary. In this tutorial we will cover the very basics of starting to build a website with Dreamweaver. The key to building great websites is to learn as much as you can by experimenting with different techniques. As you grow in your knowledge of web design, you will be able to tackle Dreamweaver's more advanced features. Here are a few tips to help you start building a website with Dreamweaver.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer
• Internet connection
• Internet browser
• Dreamweaver

1. Create an outline. Before you start building a website, create an outline or rough draft of your content. Decide how many pages you will need, what type of layout you would like, what colors you prefer and so on.

2. Organize your website. Create a folder on your desktop to store all of your files. Inside the main folder, create another folder named "Images." Use your outline to decide how you would like to organize your web pages within the main folder. Create additional folders as necessary.

3. Create a new web page. Open Dreamweaver and click "File" then "New." Highlight "Basic Page" then "Create." On the new page click "Insert" then "Table." In the Insert Table box, set the Rows and Columns to "1." Set the Width to "700" then click "OK." This will create a basic one column page for you to start with.

4. Save your web page. Select "File" then "Save As" then browse to your main folder to save your web page. The first page should be named "index.html." All images and clip art should be saved in the Images folder.

5. Select the background color or image. Right click the new page and select "Page Properties." Select the background color, or you can use an image for your background by clicking "Background Image" and browsing to the desired image.

6. Add content. Design the layout and add content by experimenting with different settings for fonts, additional tables and more in the Page Properties section. If you don't like the results click "Edit" then "Undo" to return to the previous state. To add an image, select "Insert" then "Image" then browse to the image that you want to add.

7. Create hyperlinks. To create a hyperlink, right click the desired image or highlighted text that you want to hyperlink. Select the "Make Link" option, then enter the internal or external link address in the "File Name" box.

8. Preview your web page. From within Dreamweaver, press "F12," or click the HTML page in the main folder to open it in your default browser. Notice alignment, colors and font size. Make adjustments as necessary. To create additional pages, repeat Steps 3 through 8.

Tips & Warnings

• Experiment with Dreamweaver as you design your layout and add your content. Refer to the help files to learn more about Dreamweaver's extensive features.
• After you've finished your website, you can use Dreamweaver or your favorite FTP program to upload it to your server.

Resources

• Adobe Dreamweaver