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Downloading and Installing Dreamweaver

 

What does Dreamweaver do? Basically it takes care of the hard work for you, automatically writing the HTML code that every web browser (for example Internet Explorer or Netscape) understands. Web surfers (people using the Internet) normally don’t see the hidden HTML code that is behind every webpage. checkered flag

The full version of Dreamweaver costs several hundred dollars, and the educational version about half-price. You can buy it at www.macromedia.com. However, you don’t need to purchase Dreamweaver to learn how to use it. Macromedia offers a full trial version for up to 30 days. To get the free trial version:

1. Go to www.macromedia.com.
2. Find the section on the website where you can download Dreamweaver.
3. Choose the Trial version. You will be asked some information about yourself at this point. My preference is to simply enter any information in the required fields in order to fill out the forms more quickly, instead of taking time to be accurate.

Once you have finished this step and begun the download, you will be asked where you want to save Dreamweaver on your computer. Saving it to the Desktop allows you to find it more easily once it has downloaded fully.

Since the program is rather large, if you are on a phone modem connection it may take from one to five hours or more to download. Starting the download before you go to bed at night can both allow you to achieve faster download times and dedicate your computer to downloading while you are sleeping.



Preparing to create your first website in Dreamweaver

Creating a root folder
While you are waiting for Dreamweaver to download, create an empty folder on your Desktop. This will be the root folder where you will store the webpages and images you use for your website. To do this:

1. Go to your Desktop by clicking on the Desktop icon on your toolbar. This will minimize any open windows.
2. Right-click on your Desktop and choose New Folder.
3. Click once on the label of the new folder and change the name to something meaningful such as “Mariko’s website June 2003”. Adding a date to the name is a way of easily identifying this website from others you may be creating in the future.


Installing Dreamweaver
Double-click on the Dreamweaver installation package . It will open up.

1. Click Accept or Next for each question.
2. When it asks you if you want to try the trial version or if you have a serial number. Select Try.
3. When it gives you a choice of views, choose the one on the right.
4. The page that opens up is the Site Map.

Tip: Drag the green Dreamweaver icon from the window to your Desktop if you don’t want to go to the Start menu to open Dreamweaver every time. I like to drag the icon to the toolbar at the bottom of the screen (next to the Start menu) and leave an icon there for quick access. (Not all Windows versions allow you to do this).



Dragging an application icon to the bottom toolbar allows quick access to it.

 



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