Hi Janine,

I’m a Chinese teacher in France. Actually, I’m doing a project on how to make Chinese Learning easier, a quick method that I created to help foreigners learn to speak real mandarin.

Thanks to your Total Training DW course, I could start building my Web site step by step. I’m not flattering, but I must say you’re a very good teacher, with much patience that could be heard in your voice. Your language speed is quite suitable for us non-English speaking students.

As you said in DW CS4 Essential Training: “You don’t have to do backbends to set links.” So today, I’m trying to link with my teacher to get some help with the questions that I’ve googled for a long time without any ideal result.

My first question is how to make my Web site both in French and English?

The second one is how to make a Virtual Scene, like an office environment that appears in your Total Training DW CS3? Because I’m going to prepare an online course and I want to make it a bit stylish. But I just don’t know where to start and what software I should use.

If it won’t take too much of your time, could you please just let me know the working process and the software involved for getting it done?

I would be most grateful if you could send me your advice. I’ll be very happy to make your acquaintance.

Kind regards,
Mengnan

Hi Mengnan,

Thank you for your kind words about my videos. To create a site in more than one language, you essentially need to create a second version of the site and translate the text. Just treat the second version as a section of the first version and set the links to the pages in the second language as you would link to anything else. If you visit my www.jcwarner.com or www.artesianmedia.com sites, you’ll see that I’ve done this with my sites in English and Spanish.

As for creating the ‘virtual office’ scene, the professional video editors at Total Training did it in a program called After Effects, which is used for video editing. I create all of the Web sites and training in my videos, but they do the video editing, so I can’t help you with that part.

I wish you all the best,
Janine

Still want more? Visit the Dreamweaver Help Center at www.DigitalFamily.com/dreamweaver to find Dreamweaver tips, tricks, and tutorials.

Dear Janine,

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your personal reply to my e-mail. All of the “manage site” issues have been resolved, but no matter what I do, I cannot see my Web site on Internet Explorer. I can’t imagine what hasn’t been resolved, because there seems to be nothing else to do.

I don’t know if it is a Dreamweaver issue or a host server issue.

A month (or so) ago I used a trial version of Expression and was able to upload my site with no difficulty. However, I spent a considerable amount of time taking a class in Dreamweaver and feel comfortable with the creation end of Web site design. Unfortunately, the class did not include any information on how to publish the Web site.

This has been a real learning experience for me. I am adept at using Publisher — and have created some pretty nice things for print (including that cookbook — I think I owe you one). However, it appears to be less burdensome to publish through a printer than the Internet.

While what I have created so far is fairly simple (plan to do much more later), it at least has up-to-date info on our Christmas programs. However, I haven’t made much progress — yet. It is now two weeks before Christmas Eve, and I have wasted — so far — three days this week with nothing to show for it. I promised that I would get all of this posted on the web this week but can’t figure out what else to do. I honestly appreciate your calm letter and your helpful technical support.

Thanks,
Jean

Hi Jean,

So sorry you’re having such a tough time trying to upload your site. Here are a few suggestions that may help you:

1. First let me reassure you a little: Getting the FTP settings right in Dreamweaver can be challenging, but you only have to do it once. After you get it set up, Dreamweaver should remember and you won’t have to go through this again (at least not until you change computers or servers).

2. The server settings are specific to your hosting company, so if you use 1and1, you will have to get their FTP information and that’s why the instructions in my book and on the Adobe site may be different.

3. FTP information for servers must be entered exactly the way your server is set up. That means you need to make sure you use the right case in all names, passwords, etc.

I looked over the instructions on the 1and1 site and they are for very old versions of Dreamweaver, so that may be part of why they are not working for you. I’ve attached a screenshot from Dreamweaver CS4 for your reference (if you are using a different version, things may look slightly different, but should work the same).

1. First, choose Site > Manage Sites in Dreamweaver to open the dialog.

2. Make sure you choose the Remote category on the left. There are really only a few pieces of data that matter in the remote settings, but they must be entered exactly.

3. From the Access drop-down list, choose FTP.

4. In the FTP host field, enter yourdomainname.com — nothing else, no spaces. Some web servers ask you to enter ftp.domainname.com, others just domain.com, still others use something else. This depends on your server, but from what I found at 1and1, you should enter just the domain.com, meaning you enter your domain name (no www’s or anything else like that).

5. The Host directory field is optional, but if you don’t enter a directory, you may need to open a folder after you log in to upload your files to the correct location. (See my notes on this below for more details once you get logged in.)

6. You must enter your login and password exactly; these are case-sensitive and any extra characters or typos will cause this not to work. Again, this is information specific to your account on your web server.

7. Important: On the 1and1 server, they specify that you need to check the box next to Use Passive FTP (this is just below your password field).

8. When you have finished all that, click on the Test button. If you’ve entered everything correctly, you’ll get a message that you connected. If not, keep playing with these settings until you can connect.

9. Here’s the link to the instructions I found on 1and1. Again, if you use a different version of Dreamweaver, things may look slightly different, but this is what they say should work.

http://faq.1and1.com/web_space__access/ftp_account/dreamweaver_guide/3.html

10. Keep testing until you get a connection. Once you do get it right, click OK to save your settings and then use the little connection button (it looks like a small blue electrical plug) at the top of the Files panel to connect to your server.

When you’re connected, here are a few tips about getting your files in the right place.

Note: To better see the folders on the server, click on the tiny icon at the far right top of the Files panel; it kind of looks like a box inside a box and when you roll your cursor over it, it says “Expand and show local and remote sites.”

When you click on this tiny icon, the program changes and you’ll see the Files panel split in two. The left side is what’s on your server; the right side is your local computer (unless you change this in preferences). If the left is blank, click on the Connect button (the one that looks like a plug) again to connect to the server. Note: To close the dual view and go back to the regular Dreamweaver workspace, click on the small box within a box icon again.

Keep in mind that FTP is just a matter of copying files from your computer to the server. That part is easy, but you need to make sure you copy them to the right place. When you open the Files panel, the left side shows the files and folders that are on the server and you can click on them to open folders there to see what’s inside. You need to copy your Web site into the right folder. Usually, that folder is called something like httpdocs, or web, or public, or something like that. Even if you get the FTP to work and you can log in, if you don’t copy your files into the right folder, you’ll never see them when you visit the site in a browser.

To copy your files to a specific folder on the server, click and drag each file from the right side (your local computer) to the left side and make sure you drag the file onto the folder you want to copy it into. (The folder will change color when you drag the file onto it, and after copying, you’ll see the file in the folder.)

Here’s a tip: Copy just your index.html file (that’s what you should name the first page of your site) to the folder you think is the right one. Then look with a web browser to see if it’s there. Once you get one file in the right place, copy the rest and you should be all set.

I truly hope this helps you get your site online and I wish you all the best with your web site.
Janine

Good afternoon Janine,

I am a new web designer and am practicing doing some web sites and trying to find a job in this new career. I live in Ontario, Canada and I am designing a photography site for my niece in High River, AB.

My question is: How can I show her some of the designs I create, say the homepage or how the navigation works?

She wanted the navigation as text, not buttons, which I finally figured out, using some CSS code from the Internet.

At the moment I do not have my own site, and I am looking into creating a portfolio, once I figure out how.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Steve

Hi, Steve,

When I want to show a client how a site looks as I’m building it, I usually set up it in a temporary address at one of my domains. For example, I have a site at DigitalFamily.com. If I had a client who sold cars, I might set up a test site at DigitalFamily.com/cars so my client could go to that address to see how the site looks while I’m working on it.

Once I’m finished with the site, I would move it to their domain name and whatever server they prefer.

Hope that helps,
Janine

Still want more? Visit the Dreamweaver Help Center at www.DigitalFamily.com/dreamweaver to find Dreamweaver tips, tricks, and tutorials.

Dear Janine,

Thank you for making the DVD Dreamweaver CS3 (Total Training) lessons on creating Web sites. I have found your instruction method to be clear and easy to understand. I have found one or two places where your lessons might have included more clarifying information but did not, yet know this could also have been just an example of my missing something. The point is, I have very much enjoyed working with you via DVD, and now want to FTP the 60-plus page site.

Some time ago I subscribed to WebAssist so as to gain access to their many extensions. I have not downloaded anything as of yet so that if I suddenly experience some kind of difficulty, I will not have to isolate the one from the other to further isolate/identify its cause. So far, all well and good. Are you still with me?

A couple of weeks ago, WebAssist made available an extension upgrade called Surveyor 1.0.5; perhaps you are familiar with it. I decided to give it a try, using a copy of my Web site, in case problems should arise. Unthinkingly, for a moment forgetting everything you had taught me, I simply dragged the entire site to my other dedicated partitioned 1-terabyte HD, on which I intended to test Surveyor. Perhaps you know where I am going with this?

Suddenly I have files searching for their images or graphics. And when I actually can view an image on, say, Firefox and then attempt to test the links, nothing works as before, even though they worked perfectly prior to my dragging the entire site’s Root Folder to another partition. When trying to view via browser, I sometimes have an image, sometimes not. The more I read the more fearful I become that I may further damage the site; so I ask you, what can I do to remedy my major fopah? Is there anything I can do, or have I completely screwed everything up? Can you please help me?

Thank you, Janine.
Jamie

Hi Jamie,

From what you’ve written, it appears that you’ve moved your main root folder for your site and Dreamweaver is having trouble keeping track of your links and image references.

You have a couple of options. You can move the folder back to exactly where it was before, without changing an folder names, and Dreamweaver should find it again.

If you want to leave it where it is, or don’t want to move it back exactly, you can use Dreamweaver Site Management features to reset the root folder (just follow the basic site setup features I cover at the beginning of almost every one of my video lessons).

Once Dreamweaver knows where the root folder is again, you should be back on track, and if any images or links were broken in the meantime, they should be pretty easy to fix (consider using Dreamweaver’s Link Checking options to make sure).

You may also benefit from understanding that you can have more than one copy of the same web site on your hard drive; you just have to treat them as different sites in Dreamweaver. That means you’ll need to keep each copy in its own folder and then go through the site setup process using Dreamweaver’s Site Management dialog for each site separately. You can name them something like site1 and site2 so you can keep track.

A good practice is making a backup copy for testing new features, especially features as complex as the ones you can get from Web Assist.

Sorry I don’t have much experience with Web Assist, but I hope this helps you with your Dreamweaver challenges.

I wish you all the best with your Web site,
Janine

Still want more? Visit the Dreamweaver Help Center at www.DigitalFamily.com/dreamweaver to find Dreamweaver tips, tricks, and tutorials.

Janine,

Your Total Training Essentials has been very helpful. I do have one question I can’t seem to find anywhere I have looked, and I’ve been looking for days. 

I want to place a photo background on a webpage, using Dreamweaver CS3.

I’ve tried placing it as a page background.

I’ve tried placing it inside a div.

I’ve tried so many ways that I can’t even remember all the clicks I have made at this point.

When I do get it placed, in a manner that might work, when I try to view it online, it doesn’t show.

Please, can you help? I’m sure there is just something little that I am missing. Or is it a CSS problem, because I know I can do it in a table site but am trying to switch over to CSS.

Linda

Hi Linda,

Thank you for your kind words about my video. Sorry to learn you’re having trouble with background images.

It’s hard to assess what the problem is from your email, but I have a few ideas of “little things” that might be causing your problem. These may be obvious, but they are common causes of images that don’t display properly.

First, make sure the image is saved in JPG, PNG, or GIF format.

Make sure you name the background image with no spaces or special characters (a bad name could cause the background not to appear when you view it a server). That means the name should be something like “background.jpg” not “my cool background!.jpg.”

If you’re viewing the page online and not seeing the background, make sure you’ve uploaded the background, as well as the page, to the server and that they are in the same location relative to one another in the files and folders in your site.

The simplest way to add a background image to the entire page, is to choose Modify >> Page Properties and then use the background settings to select the background image.

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

Still want more? Visit the Dreamweaver Help Center at www.DigitalFamily.com/dreamweaver to find Dreamweaver tips, tricks, and tutorials.

Hi Janine,

I’ve found your Dreamweaver CS3 tutorial extremely helpful and easy to understand, I highly recommend them to everyone.

I have one question: My menu and links have an outline (a dotted line) only when clicked. . . not the kind that’s fixed by using Property Inspector. After checking the digital family Web site I noticed it also happens with all your links and buttons. Is there any way I can remove it? It’s not that noticeable on the digital family Web site, but my Web site has a black background and the outlines that appear are white. I would greatly appreciate any insight you could offer.

Thank you,

Sandra

Hi Sandra,

Thanks for the kind words about my videos.

If your menu and links have an outline only when clicked, you may be able to adjust the corresponding CSS style. You can edit most of the link styles by choosing Modify –Page Properties and then changing the styles for the links, but if you have an outline around a link, that you’d have to edit in the CSS Styles Panel.

First, choose Window CSS Styles (to open the panel).

In the CSS Styles panel, select the All tab at the top and then look for the link styles, which should be named as follows:

a:link – controls how the link looks when the page first loads

a:visited – controls how the link looks after someone has clicked on the link

a:hover – controls how the link looks when someone rolls a cursor over it

a:active – controls how the link looks when someone is actively clicking on the link

Double-click the name of any style in the CSS Styles panel to open it in the CSS Rule Definition dialog. There you can click on the Border category and add or remove a border by adjusting the settings.

I hope that helps you solve your problem and I truly appreciate that you recommend my videos.

All my best,
Janine

Still want more? Visit the Dreamweaver Help Center at www.DigitalFamily.com/dreamweaver to find Dreamweaver tips, tricks, and tutorials.

Hi Janine,

Thanks for all your great work teaching Dreamweaver! I’m looking for the simplest way to develop a sitewide search engine in which the user types into a blank field and sitewide search results appear. Can this be done through any Spry widgets inside Dreamweaver?

Thanks,

Kendra

Hi Kendra,

One of the easiest ways to add a search feature to a web site is to use Google’s search tools. You can learn about their service at this URL: http://www.google.com/sitesearch/

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

Still want more? Visit the Dreamweaver Help Center at www.DigitalFamily.com/dreamweaver to find Dreamweaver tips, tricks, and tutorials.

Hi Janine,

I’m writing in part to tell you how much I’m enjoying your book, although I’m still very new to the concepts, the Dreamweaver program, and web-design in general.

I’m also asking if you might have any recommendations on sources for Dreamweaver templates. I’ve downloaded a some from various Web sites, and I’ve found that they are often not developed with the neophyte user in mind. Trying to modify them involves a fair amount of trying to figure out what the original designer/developer was doing.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian

Hi Brian,

One of the most confusing things about templates is that there are so many different kinds. For example, if you download a template designed for Flash, it won’t work well in Dreamweaver. Similarly, many templates that are designed for blogs use PHP and require advanced programming knowledge and a web server.

Even if you do get a template designed for Dreamweaver, it can be difficult to know what and how to change things such as colors and fonts if you want to alter the template design. For all these reasons I created a book called Web Sites Do It Yourself For Dummies that combines specially created templates with instructions for how to edit them in Dreamweaver. When you buy the book, you get access to a special part of my Web site where you can download the templates.

You can order the book from Amazon by following this link:  www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470169036?ie=UTF8&tag=digitalfamily-20&li nkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0470169036

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

Still want more? Visit the Dreamweaver Help Center at www.DigitalFamily.com/dreamweaver to find Dreamweaver tips, tricks, and tutorials.

Hello,

I’m creating a website for my friend. He would like there to be a blog or a comments page and I’m not sure how to accomplish this. If you could spare some time and explain or give me a link to a tutorial, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks
James

Hi James,

Although in theory you could create the equivalent of a blog with Dreamweaver, it would require advanced programming skills and many, many hours of work.

A much better option is to use one of the great blogging tools already on the market. Among the most popular are WordPress, TypePad, and Blogger.

Many people create a custom Web site with Dreamweaver and a blog with a program like WordPress (my favorite) and then link the two together.

I wish you all the best,

Janine

Still want more? Visit the Dreamweaver Help Center at www.DigitalFamily.com/dreamweaver to find Dreamweaver tips, tricks, and tutorials.

Hi Janine,

I went through your Total Training video series to get a basic understanding of Dreamweaver. A friend was taking DW classes at a local college (very expensive) at the same time I was working through your tutorials and I feel I know the program better than he does. Thanks for your excellent instruction.

I have since created a site using the vertical Spry menu in CS3. I had a couple of issues with the way content displayed in IE7 and was able to figure out workarounds on all of my pages except where I had SWF movies. For some reason the movies play very low on the page. It is almost as if there is a placeholder above the movie that is the same dimension as the movie, pushing it to the bottom of the page. I have researched on the Web for a solution and have come to realize there are many issues with Spry and IE, but I have not been able to find an example or fix for my particular problem. I would greatly appreciate any light you could shed on this.

Thanks for taking time to answer questions. This is my first site and I am sure I could have done many things better, but I have learned, and continue to learn, a great deal from you and your resources.

Thanks,
Todd

Hi Todd,

Thank you for your kind words about my videos. I checked out your site and I see you’ve run into a common problem because the Spry menu you created is conflicting with the video files on some of your pages.

I wish there were an easy solution. Since I created my Dreamweaver video, I’ve spoken with several other web designers about the problem of Spry menu conflicts when they overlap any kind of Flash files (and other video formats as well). Unfortunately, the solution most people are using these days is to try to avoid the problem by making design choices that don’t require these types of features to bump into each other.

For example, on the pages where you have video just to the right of your vertical Spry menu, you could add some text or a still image (GIF, JPEG, PNG) above the video so the menu is overlapping text or an image and the video is pushed down the page below the menu. That way it should play without conflict. It’s always nice to give a little explanation about a video anyway, because not everyone can play videos on the web and some people like to read about a video before they play it.

Hope that helps you find a solution for your site about your work in Panama.

Thanks,
Janine

Still want more? Visit the Dreamweaver Help Center at www.DigitalFamily.com/dreamweaver to find Dreamweaver tips, tricks, and tutorials.