If you want to create a photo gallery in Dreamweaver today, here are a few options…

You can still create galleries using Flash and then insert them into Dreamweaver, but you need have Flash, and know how to use it, to do that yourself. (You’ll find an article about how to use Dreamweaver to  insert a flash file once you’ve created a gallery in Flash here.)

You can download gallery tools from Adobe. Many people use the extensions to Dreamweaver from the Adobe Exchange site. You can add gallery extensions to enhance the features in Dreamweaver and create a variety of different kinds of galleries.

This link will take you to the search results for Dreamweaver gallery extensions.

You can, of course, create custom galleries in Dreamweaver yourself with the page creation tools, and you can create templates, to make adding and updating pages more automated in Dreamweaver. In that case, you have to decide if the gallery want to create will have two pages or twenty or more, and how much control you want over the design. (You can get started learning Dreamweaver in the Dreamweaver Training Center.)

As a general rule, the more automated the system, the more the design needs to be consistent from page to page. If you learn how to use Dreamweaver to create, link, and optimize pages, you can use the template features in Dreamweaver to creating custom designs more effiiently, but that does require some experience with Dreamweaver.

If you want to see an example of a custom photo gallery created with Dreamweaver templates (using the .dwt file type), you can check out a site I created for Photographer Jasper Johal. That site is featured in my book, Web Sites DIY For Dummies, and you can download the templates that come with the book to create the same design yourself if you like that site. (Warning: this link goes to Jasper’s live site, which does include some nude art photos. http://jasperphoto.com/ I used a simplified version in my book.

Here’s another custom gallery site created with Dreamweaver’s template features for an artist to showcase her work: http://www.inplainsightart.com/. I’m planning to use that site in a new book and video soon.

Another approach to creating photo galleries is to use an online photo hosting service. Because photographers are such a big market, there are several sites that specialize in photo galleries and even selling prints with templates and plugins and everything you need for a monthly fee. Among those options, I believe http://www.zenfolio.com/ is especially popular for professionals and, of course, you can use www.flickr.com for free.

I hope that helps you find the best solution for your gallery,

Janine

Thank you,
Ron

Hi Ron,

Dreamweaver 8 does not include any support for fly-out menus, but Dreamweaver CS3 does. Sorry to suggest you should upgrade, but you’ll find a fabulous new feature called the Spry menu in CS3 that makes it easy to create horizontal or vertical fly-out menus. (These are also called drop-down menus.)

If you want an idea of how this works, you’ll find a free tutorial on how to create drop-down menus using the Spry features in CS3 in my Dreamweaver section. Reading through that tutorial and viewing the screenshots that go with it should give you an idea of how to do this in CS3 and why it might be worth upgrading if you want to add this feature to your site.

I hope that helps and I wish you all the best,
Janine

Thank you, Janine. I think I might have this problem solved now. Taking your advice, I re-checked how I had designed the page and found quite a few overlapping elements, including a couple of duplications for the next/previous tags. I rebuilt the page from scratch and Hey Presto, things are looking good now.

I do thank you for your taking the time to assist me; it is appreciated.

Ron

I am struggling with the Dreamweaver DVD tutorial, Lesson 6 in your Total Training video. The form template is not the same as that on the tutorial screen and I am unable to create what the tutor shows. Specifically, I am unable to create a holding space which should contain the whole box (form.html). I am using Mac OSX 10.39 and Dreamweaver 8.

Ian, Creative in the U.K.

Dear Ian,

I’m sorry to learn you’ve had some trouble with Lesson 6. I believe the problem is that you’re not inserting the form tag properly. The form tag, which is on the forms insert bar, creates a red box around all of the form elements. It’s easiest if you insert this tag first, then place your cursor in the box and add the other form elements that way. If you didn’t insert the form tag first, you can add it to the top or bottom of your form and then click and drag the form elements into the box, or copy and paste them to move them.

I hope that helps, but if you’re still having trouble, please send more specifics about what you’re trying to do and what the page looks like so far and I’ll be happy to try to help you further.

You’ll find more information about working with forms and scripts in my Dreamweaver Help Center at www.DigitalFamily.com/dreamweaver.

All my best,
Janine

Follow-up:

Dear Janine,

What a prompt response! Thanks for the info. I am finding the tutorial fantastic, almost addictive! And me being a print designer and all!

Thanks again – keep up the good work.

Regards,
Ian