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Adobe Dreamweaver Tips and Resources

Tips, Tricks and Techniques for Adobe Dreamweaver

"Ooh ooh dreamweaver, I believe we can reach the morning liiight..."

Please tell me, I'm not the only one who hums Gary Wright's 1976 song every time I launch Dreamweaver. Please?! ...well, that's awkward. Just the same, you've come to the right place for tips, tricks and links for Adobe Dreamweaver that will hopefully have you working so well and so efficiently that your jobs will be done long before reaching the morning light.

Adobe Dreamweaver and General Web Design Tips from
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Best Adobe Tutorials and Resources for Dreamweaver

Dreamweaver CS5.5 Tryout: Like all of Adobe's software, you can download and use a full working copy of Dreamweaver for 30 days. The clock doesn't actually start ticking until you install the file you downloaded, so go ahead and get it, then fire it up when you've got time to kick the tires, take it out for a spin, and generally put it through its paces.

What's New in Dreamweaver CS5.5: Adobe engineers! What have you done to Dreamweaver? We've uncovered an upgrade worthy enhancements to help you build HTML5 and CSS3 sites. Also included in this upgrade is a little help with JQuery via code hinting and a cool framework to help you build apps for Droid and iPhone. Read all about the upgrade on Adobe's Dreamweaver CS5.5 page.

Adobe Video Training Workshop: Adobe has put together a pretty decent video training center on the web in the form of its Video Training Workshop. New users and seasoned veterans alike can find training and tips in the 2 to 12 minutes long videos posted here. I like that the videos are short and concise, as they can easily fit into your workday.
Adobe TV: Dreamweaver: If you like the video training workshop, check out Adobe TV. Everything here is set up more like a talk-show about your favorite program than straight up training so the feel is more personal and friendly. Imagine if Regis or Oprah or Ellen were into Dreamweaver...
Dreamweaver Developer Center: This is the stuff that dreams are made of... If you dream about ASP, PHP, ColdFusion, and Spry and CSS and the like. These pages hold resources for getting started, sample files to pull apart and reverse engineer, video presentations, tutorials, articles, scripting info, and more.


Dreamweaver FAQ: Got questions about the latest release, pricing, availability, compatibility, etc? Check out the Frequently Asked Questions page for answers.

Best Ways to Get Help from Other Dreamweaver Users

Adobe Dreamweaver Forum: The Adobe Forums are usually my first stop when trouble strikes and I need help. Chances are somebody has had the same problem and a solution is already posted. If not, there are lots of knowledgeable people here who are happy to offer advice. There is a lot of problem-solving going on in here. Reading is painless (click "login as guest" button), posting/replying requires free registration.

Adobe Dreamweaver Developer Toolkit Forum: If you've got this add-on or just want to know more about it, you'll need to check out this separate forum.

Adobe Dreamweaver Exchange: Dreamweaver is great but maybe it doesn't have everything that you need. Check out the Plug-ins, add-ons, extensions, code, and more that are made easily accessible to you via Exchange. There are a couple dozen offerings here that for a small fee could save you a lot of time and trouble. Why reinvent the wheel? (You'll have to register with the Studio site and/or log in before you'll be brought to this link.)
CreativeCow Dreamweaver Forum: CreativeCow.net is an online community for media production folks. Their forum offerings are huge and their daily traffic is pretty high. Their Dreamweaver forum is well populated so there is a better than average chance of getting help here. While you're visiting, check out their other offerings, including articles, tutorials, and a magazine deliverable in print or PDF.

Best Dreamweaver Online/Video Training

Lynda.com's Adobe Dreamweaver Lessons: Dreamweaver CS5.5| Dreamweaver CS5 | Dreamweaver CS4: You've got to check out Lynda.com. In addition to the Essentials training series, they've rolled out some timely Dreamweaver CS5.5/CS5 tutorials including Dreamweaver with PHP and MYSQL, CSS and WordPress. Lynda.com's collection for Dreamweaver CS4 and CS3 is impressive and covers a wide range of topics: Dreamweaver essentials, Spry Widgets, web accessibility, Migrating from GoLive... You can buy individual DVD collections of its training and watch it on your TV at home or subscribe for online viewing and get access to all available titles.

Virtual Training Company's Dreamweaver Lessons:
Dreamweaver CS5|Dreamweaver CS4 | Dreamweaver CS3: VTC is one of my favorite on-line Quicktime Tutorial sources. Through their site you can learn Dreamweaver online in the privacy of your web browser as short, optimized-for-the-web online Quicktime movies (over 150 lessons), or order all of them on a CD for $99 to get the highest quality Quicktime files. Either way, all sample files used in the lessons are included. They have a terrific video training library with all of the other titles including Creating CSS layouts,InDesign CS3, Photoshop CS3 and Illustrator CS3 and they keep the older training materials on-line as well so if you're still working on earlier versions, there is something here for you too. You can 'try before you buy' as the first 3 chapters of every title are free.
Total Training Dreamweaver Lessons:
Dreamweaver CS5 | Dreamweaver CS4: Dreamweaver training is available via online subscription and on DVD discs as well. Either way you'll get a couple day's worth of training that is top-flight and fun to watch. These pages take you through both the new CS5 introductory videos and CS4 essentials. Other topics are also available, like advanced CS4, and migrating from GoLive. Each of Total Training's products comes with a CD containing project files so you can follow along with the instructor.

Other Dreamweaver-centric Web Sites with Good Stuff

WebDevelopersNotes.com: If you are new to web design and html, this is a "must" stop for you. On this site you'll find free resources for learning basic html, web graphics, scripting and more.

Smashing Magazine Dreamweaver Tutorial Links: There's plenty to keep you busy at this site.The link takes you to a clearinghouse page of Dreamweaver tutorial sites.

CSS Zen Garden: If you're curious about CSS (and you should be) check out this "demonstration of what can be accomplished visually through CSS-based design."

A List Apart: Code, Culture, Content, Design, Process, User Science make up the topic list of this website "for people who make websites." Under those topics are hundreds of articles meant to make good web design ubiquitous.

Web Design Library: You'll have to do a search for Dreamweaver stuff on this site since there is no specific category for it. but it's there, along with other good general web info.