A local site is a Web site that is kept on the hard drive of your computer or on a local network for development or maintenance purposes.  It is a good idea to build, edit, and troubleshoot your Web site locally before it is uploaded to a WWW for everyone to see.  A remote site is a Web site that is kept on a server and is accessible to the Internet.  It is best to work with your local site and publish it, FTP (file transfer protocol) it or upload it to the remote site.  Dreamweaver, as well as FrontPage, will automatically adjust links and paths when you publish or upload from the local site to the remote site, as long as you use the Web Development program to do this.

There are many panels that you will find useful in Dreamweaver, including: 

      Site panel, part of Files panel – shows folders and files in your Web site, as well as lets you explore in a similar way to Windows Explorer.

      Assets panel, also part of Files panel – which keeps track of different kinds of media, graphics, and elements across a Web site

      Properties inspector – which allows the designer to change properties of selected items

      Insert panel – which contains commonly used tools in logical groups

A template in Dreamweaver is a Web page that is used to create other pages in order to make building and maintaining a Web site easier and give the site a more consistent look and feel.  A template (given a .dwt extension) allows you to build a single page that contains all of the common elements that you would like on most or all pages.  When you use this template to create new pages, you don’t need to repeat the common elements each time, saving you time.  If you want to change the layout of these common elements, you change the template and every page that is based on this template can be automatically updated, if you select this option.  (You will need to refresh these pages once changes are made to the template to see them.)  More than one template may be used for a single Web site.

Every part of a template can be designated as editable or locked, with locked regions protecting portions of the layout from being changed accidentally.  By default, all regions are locked in a template, and then the template designer designates areas that may be edited from the Modify menu.  Editable regions are given names.  You may create new files based on a template.  Click Create and a new untitled document opens with elements from the template in it.  (Leave Update Page when Template changes checked, and this page will be updated if the template is changed.) Also, you may apply a template to an existing page.

Page properties deal with the properties of an entire page and control how pages are seen in different browsers.  In the Page properties, you can set the background color or image, the link colors, page title, etc.  You can insert links onto a page by defining a path in the Property inspector.  These links can lead to other Web pages within your site, to other Web sites, or to an e-mail application.  (Clicking on an email link will open up the user’s email client, such as Outlook Express or Outlook, with the email address already in place.)

Tables are useful HTML elements in building page layouts.  A table determines the page’s basic shape, and helps control the position of page elements.  Tables are made of rows and columns.  Table dimensions can be fixed or based on a percentage.  A cell is an enclosed space in a table, and may include controls such as cell spacing or cell padding.  Cell padding is the amount of space between the border of a cell and the content of the cell.  Cell spacing is the amount of space between two cells. 

Navigation that links to all pages in a Web site is referred to as top-navigation.  Sometimes, it is useful to also use sub-navigation, which appears only in a particular part of a Web site.  Some navigation is done with image rollovers.  An image rollover, or rollover, happens when an image is exchanged with another image when a mouse is moved over it.  Dreamweaver gives you an option of preloading images when a Web page downloads.  It is highly recommended to do this.  In order for a rollover effect to be successful, it must swap out the images instantly.  Also, the two images must be created exactly the same size. 

Dreamweaver simplifies the process of creating a rollover navigation bar.  Instead of having to create each rollover button in the navigation, Dreamweaver builds the navigation bar for you.  A Navigation button can have up to four images:  Up Image, Over Image, Down Image, and Over While Down Image.  A button may have all of the first three positions without the Over While Down Image position, if desired. 

A library in Dreamweaver is a collection of code and content that can be used repeatedly throughout a site.  Instead of having to build a submenu, for example, on every page in a section, you will only need to build it once and then place it in the library.  When a library item is updated, all of the instances of that item will automatically be updated as well.  When you create a library item for the first time, Dreamweaver automatically creates a library folder that stores all of your library items.  A library item is given the extension .lbi.  A library is used for building purposes only and you do not need to keep a copy at the remote Web site.  To add an item to the library, open the Assets panel, select the item, click on the Plus icon on the Assets panel and then name it.

It is important to remember that not all browsers support all files.  However, browsers with appropriate plug-ins or Active-x will be able to play most files.  Common sound file formats for Windows Operating Systems include .wav, .mp3, and .mid.  .WAV files have nice quality, but can take considerable time to download.  .MP3 files (CD quality) are highly compressed sound files with very good sound quality (requires RealPlayer or Quicktime plug-in), and since the download time is considerably less than .wav files, this is a good option for Web use.  .MID files, pronounced “middi” are also digital recordings of sound, yet the quality is not nearly as good as .mp3 files.  Most sound formats are digital recording of sound, whereas .MID files are instructional data, instructing a computer how to produce the sound.  Common sound formats for Macs are .aif or .aiff, while a common format for UNIX machines would be .au files.  To add movies with sound, format options include .mov, which requires the Quicktime plug-in, .mpg which requires Quicktime or RealPlayer, or .ram or .ra streaming audio/video format, which requires RealAudio or RealPlayer.  There are two ways to add files to a Web page.  You can link to a file or you can embed a sound file so that the file begins to play when the page is downloaded. 

Macromedia Flash is a powerful multimedia application which uses vector graphics to create highly compressed multimedia for the Web.  Flash moves can consist of animated text, animated characters, sound, interactive buttons, and much more.  The extension for a Flash movie that can be used on the Web is .swf, which stands for Shockwave Flash.

A form in a web page is used to collect information over the Internet from a user.  They are commonly used to get feedback from site visitors, and to enable communication to the Webmaster.  Another common use is to enable the user to shop and make purchases with a credit card.  First, an empty form must be placed on the Web page, and then it can be loaded with content.  A text box form element is a box into which a user can key text; text that a Webmaster cannot predict.  A multi-line text box is also known as a text area.  A check box allows the user to choose more than one item from a group of items.  Another form element, the radio button allows the user to choose only one item from a group.  The Webmaster may choose to have check boxes already checked when the page comes up.  When a user selects a radio button, the other choices are automatically deselected.  Like check boxes, one button may be initially selected, if the Webmaster chooses.  When specifying a name for the radio button, you must give the same name to each button in the group.  Different radio buttons are distinguished by typing a unique name in the Checked Value field in the Property inspector.

A list is a scrollable box from which a user can choose from multiple items.  It saves space and is usually used for longer lists.  A drop-down menu also allows the user to choose from a longer list, and once an item is selected from the list, the box disappears.  Often a Webmaster puts a description of the item as the first item in the drop-down menu, instead of using space next to the item to describe it.

At the end of a form, there are usually two buttons:  submit and reset.  Submit tells the browser to submit the form according to the specifications set for it.  Reset clears all of the entered content and allows the user to start over.  In the Property inspector, it allows you to customize the name that will appear on the button.  Form elements may be validated when the form is submitted.  This means that if certain fields are not filled in as expected, the form may fail to submit.  This is done to reduce mistakes and inaccurate information. 

There are two main types of links that you might want to create on a Web page, external and internal.  External links are links to documents that reside on Web sites other than the one you are creating.  To create a link, you use the A (anchor) tag with the HREF (hypertext reference) attribute.  External links must contain  the protocol, usually HTTP:// (hypertext transfer protocol) and the full URL.  Internal links (links within the Web site you are creating) do not require the protocol or full URL.  These only require the file name or the path and the file name, such as

<A HREF="trey_tacos.htm">Trey's Tacos</A>

Giving a link with the protocol and the full URL (including the server name) is called an absolute reference.  A relative reference is one in which the document being linked is described relative to another location.  If you see a slash (/), this means the reference is relative to the root directory.  If you see 2 dots and a slash (../), this tells the browser to go up one folder level from where the present file is located.  Intrapage links are links within a page and are done with bookmarks.  They link to a named location in the same page or another page in the Website you are creating.  If you see links with protocols such as FTP or TELNET, the browser usually uses a helper application (plug-in) to handle the remote connection.   

Images are inserted in Web pages with the IMG tag.  They are stored as separate files from the Web pages they are used on, unlike text or other page elements.  Images can be resized using attributes in the Property inspector for Width and Height.  Specifying the width and height cause the page to load quicker, leaving space for the image.  Of course, this does not reduce the file size or download time, so it is best to resize the image using a graphic editing software.  Another important attribute is ALT text, which displays a string of text during a mouse over or if the image does not display correctly.  Images may be used as links, especially in the case of graphic buttons.  It is recommended to add the attribute border=0 so that a blue border does not show up around the graphic.