2. Tools you Need to Know For Dreamweaver MX

To begin working in Dreamweaver MX after defining your site, you must become familiar with the new tools. Like previous versions of Dreamweaver, there is still an Objects Toolbar and Properties Toolbar. These, however, have moved. In previous versions these toolbars have been moveable. However, in the new interface they are on your main page and do not get in the way. The following will help you recognize common tools you will use while developing your site on Dreamweaver.

The Objects Toolbar

The Insert toolbar can be seen at the top of your screen. It looks like the following graphic:

Dreamweaver employs a number of panel groups to let you view and change information about the pages you are working with. (This is a new feature in DreamweaverMX). Each panel group can be opened or collapsed by selecting the corresponding tab. For instance, if the Common tab is already open on the Insert Bar, the buttons displayed provide convenient way of adding the more common web page elements, including images, links, tables, rules and external objects. (This is where you always want your objects toolbar panel to be set unless you are a more experienced website designer.) As you work through this tutorial, you will learn a few of the common tasks for which you will need to use the objects toolbar.Roll your mouse pointer over each icon in the Insert Bar to view the meaning of its icon. Each tab groups a number of tools corresponding to this category. The Layout category contains tools for working with tables. The Text category contains features for additing additional formatting to your pages. The Tables category enables you to add rows and columns to your tables....etc.

The Properties Toolbar

The properties toolbar can be seen at the bottom of your screen. It looks like the highlighted area in the following graphic:

Notice that at the top it is labeled Properties. This box will be primarily used for text editing or table editing on your page. With this toolbar you can change the font, justification, color of the font, indentation, etc. like you would on any word processing program. The icons used to do these simple tasks are the same as they are in a word processing program as well so that it is easy to navigate through. As you work through this tutorial, you will learn how to use the properties box in more detail.

The Status Bar

Find the status bar at the bottom of every Dreamweaver page. It contains the Tag Selector, the Window Size drop down list, and the Document Size and Download Time.

Document Toolbar:
The first three buttons in the document toolbar can be used to toggle between different views (Code View, Code and Design, Design View). It also contains some file management commands,

If you are more experienced and need help with other options on these toolbars, please contact the itrc!

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