How to Use Dreamweaver & Flash to Build a Website

Adobe Dreamweaver, a website development tool, and Adobe Flash, a vector graphics animation tool, work well together for building websites. Dreamweaver's built-in Flash components allow you to add Flash features to your website without needing the actual Flash software. You can add Flash text and Flash buttons in Dreamweaver with no Flash experience. If you have animation files that were created in Flash, however, you can add them to your webpages easily with the "Insert Media"command.

Things You'll Need

• Adobe Dreamweaver

Instructions

Define the website

1. Create a new folder on your hard drive to hold all your website files.

2. 

   Open Dreamweaver, and on the opening screen under "Create New," click "Dreamweaver Site."

3. 

   Follow the prompts in the site creation wizard to select the folder you created to hold your webpages as the site for your Dreamweaver project.

4. Enter the FTP address of your web server when prompted for how you wish you connect to your remote server. You will need to know the upload address for the web server and your login information (which you receive from your web-hosting company), or you can skip this step for now by clicking "None."

5. Click "Done" at the end of the wizard screens, and you'll return to the opening Dreamweaver screen to start creating webpages.

Create a Webpage

1. Click "HTML" under "Create New" on the opening screen.

2. 

   Familiarize yourself with the Dreamweaver workspace if this is your first time using the product (see illustration).

3. Type to enter text to go on the webpage. Click the "Code" button at the top of the content window if you prefer to work with HTML code rather than in the design mode.

4. 

   Click the "Insert Image" button in the top toolbar to add graphics to your webpage.

5. 

   Select text or graphics and use the link box in the Properties Inspector at the bottom of the screen to add hyperlinks to your webpage.

6. Click the File menu, then Save to save your webpage as you work. To add Flash elements, the file must be saved first.

Add Flash Elements

1. 

   Click the "Insert Media" button in the top toolbar to view the different Flash objects that can be added to the webpage. Flash Text and Flash Button do not require the Flash application. FlashPaper and Flash Video require a source file that was created with the Flash application.

2. Click Flash Button to add interactive buttons to your webpage without needing a graphics program. This is an easy way to include rollover buttons on your web page without needing any programming experience.

3. 

   Choose a button style from the "Style" box, then type the text you want on the button in the box next to "Button Text."

4. Adjust the font and size in the corresponding boxes if you don't like the default font chosen by the program.

5. Click the "Browse" button to choose a file or type the URL of the page the button should link to.

6. Type a name for your button in the "Save A:" box at the bottom of the button dialog box. All Flash elements are saved as individual files, like graphics.

7. Click OK when your button is defined how you want it. You can double click on the button in the Dreamweaver design window at any time to adjust these settings.

8. Save your webpage again after adding the Flash elements you want.

9. Click the File menu, then Preview in Browser to test your Flash components.

Tips & Warnings

• Planning your website out on paper first, like a storyboard, will give you some direction when you get into the Dreamweaver program.

Resources

• Easy Flash With Dreamweaver
• Create a Website With Dreamweaver