Web Design Using Dreamweavers Layers Feature

Web Design Using Dreamweavers Layers Feature 1
Web Design

I had been the use of Macromedia products for my internet site manufacturing for years. I simply these days located a new manner to design that has made my existence plenty simpler. Prior to the “Layers” characteristic, I usually located it hard to make a page look the way I desired it to because of the truth that I needed to place the entirety into tables or just position my photos around my textual content and desire for the satisfactory. Now, Dreamweaver gives this killer shortcut to creating a website: Layers. Imagine being capable of put whatever (text, tables, pix, something) WHERE EVER you need!! This is an absolute godsend inside the layout global as away as I am involved.

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Now, I just found this feature in Dreamweaver 8. There were previous versions of Dreamweaver (MX2004, and many others.) that still allowed for this option. Either way, I am glad that I was capable of discovering it and put it to use because it has made an enormous difference within the design for net websites for me.

The idea is straightforward: create a brand new page. To do that, you need to have first set up inside Dreamweaver’s website manager a site from which you may paintings. By right-clicking at the web page call inside the homes bar you get a drop-down menu with a couple of options, one in every of which is “New File”. Create a new.Html report after which double click that documents to open it in the predominant Dreamweaver working window. The subsequent step is to insert your first layer. Under the “Insert” phase of the top device bar visit “Layout Objects” after which to “Layer”. A little blue container will appear on your page. If you click on on the fringe of the box you get those little squares across the perimeter of the container making an allowance for resizing. You may even be aware a small square within the higher right-hand aspect of the new layer which while you click your mouse button on this square it permits if you want to reposition the layer to wherein ever you want to vicinity it for your website.

You can now area something you want inside this container (layer) which include text, flash films, photos, tables, library objects and so forth. The maximum tremendous characteristic of this is which you have general manipulate over in which it’s far located on your page and Dreamweaver will mechanically write in the HTML code the exact X & Y coordinates that your browser will translate to reveal the page properly. It does not get a whole lot higher than this.

I determined this selection to be very much like running in Adobe Photoshop due to the fact with layers you have overall manipulated over each thing of the design, without the strain associated with net design.

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Now say you want to feature a few texts to a layer but the text runs a ways off the page or far off the size of the layer container length you chose. Well, Dreamweaver has resolved that difficulty as well. In the residences inspector at the bottom of the display, you’ve got a drop down container classified “Overflow”. If you drop down this box you have some choices, Visible, Hidden, Scroll and Auto. For the example I am explaining here you will pick “Scroll”. This tells Dreamweaver to write down within the code that in case your text overflows the size you exact for the layer container to insert a scroll function allowing your site visitors to scroll down the text to study something you located in that layer box. Pretty slick!!

Other capabilities with the usage of layers are which you have a preference to call your layers inside the Layers Tab at the upper right device menu as well as setting the succession of every layer. I do fairly recommend that if you decide to apply multiple layers which you store your self a chief headache and label every layer according to with what it’s miles related to on your display screen. This makes enhancing the layer in a while a good deal less difficult.
Layers will let you have the freedom within internet design that ought to were there all alongside. I propose you deliver this a try to play with it and see what creative things you can give you. Go nuts with this selection and feature amusing with it. You in no way recognize what will pop out now that the boundaries were dropped!

Other capabilities which are quite slick are the capability to overlap two photographs on a web page. If you have been doing an artistic presentation or something similar, that is a kewl characteristic which can become off on the higher right-hand side of the “Layers” Properties box. Just put in a test mark beneath “Prevent Overlaps” and then you definitely do not have to worry approximately it. Dreamweaver will robotically make sure that nothing overlaps within the layers. However in case, you did want to have an overlapping effect of say pictures, then make sure that the Prevent Overlaps is unchecked and you may similarly liberate the magic of this awesome characteristic.

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In final, this is an absolutely amazing function, however, it takes a few getting used to. It breaks all the rules of what we had formerly learned that we ought to and couldn’t do with net layout. This takes that to the subsequent stage without making you reach for the aspirin.

A few other alternatives include a command known as “convert layers to tables” and “convert tables to layers”. On the top device bar in Dreamweaver, in case you visit ‘Modify’ - Convert - you have the two alternatives I just mentioned. Clicking on convert layers to tables will automate Dreamweaver to begin calculating all the way down to the pixel the way to design a desk out of the statistics you have got given to it with the aid of putting layers on the web page in sure regions. This feature is particularly used for the ones net surfers who have a browser that is not updated (i.E. Version 5 or in advance of Internet Explorer or Netscape) The new versions of most main browsers now assist and properly show layer content material inside the browser window. But if you suppose that your target market won’t have up to date browsers, then you may recollect this option. Personally, I don’t use it because it’s miles rare that human beings these days have outdated browser generation with all the Automated Windows Updates and all.

The precise contrary if you choose to convert tables to layers. If you have already got a domain and you constructed it in tables, selecting the choice to ‘convert tables to layers’ will do simply that.

I wish that this allows a person out who’s doing their own layout and desires to make their page appearance the way they envision it in their head without the strain of stressful about a way to construct the proper desk and arranging matters in that desk to make it show up. Web design is moving ahead and Macromedia has placed the laugh returned into net design again!

Scott has been a web site dressmaker for over 8 years now and his creative vision and creative capabilities have earned him quite some satisfied clients. His modern and easy to navigate sites had been applauded by the various who’ve employed his services. He currently has constructed over a hundred internet websites and keeps them for his customers. Aside from Web Design, Scott is also an accomplished photographer taking pictures snapshots for Willie Nelson, the Dalai Lama, and Goldie Hawn, in addition to fine artwork pix.