Where are Dreamweaver tutorials - NOT emphasizing code?

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
November 6, 2017
3 replies
1182 views

Quite a few years ago I created my web site in Dreamweaver (took a class at my local community college). I managed without doing any coding. I have made small changes over the years, but now it needs a major re-do. I have gone from XP to 10 and purchased the subscription, but the tutorials I am finding all emphasize writing code. Where do I find helpful tutorials not necessitating learning to code? I thought the whole point of Dreamweaver was that we cretins who have no interest in learning code could create a decent website?

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Correct answer B i r n o u

it is not really Dreamweaver that has evolved... but the web... some years ago major notions like Responsive Web Site, Web Applications, Client Side Handling, Strong imposition of standards... and so on... were not so present and imperative in the development processes as it is now.

So DW try to bring solutions and tools to that new workflow... there is still gaps to fill, but that's on the road and radars.

you don't really need to know code to develop web site using DW, but it is strongly recommended to have a good foundation in HTML structure and to understand the processes to implement support of responsive aspect of websites, and especially to build a real content strategy

without those points the evolution and the cohesion of your contents will not be true in time.

as Ben explains to you, Muse is a tool specially adapted to the designers who can not, or do not wish, to make this step to learn the basics of the standards. But that doesn't mean that DW is not accessible and as Nancy and Kratika show you, you can use starting templates to helps you to ride the first steps.

In any case, please do not hesitate to post on this forum to get help and make it easy for you

taniad15459991Author

Participant

Since I currently have a working website in Dreamweaver - I do not want to start from scratch in Muse (though I did download Muse and take a look at it). I just want to improve my website in Dreamweaver. I am thinking that maybe I ought to advertise for an onsite tutor for a few sessions to make the changes I desire. I for sure do not want to start a new website with a template in Dreamweaver.

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

taniad15459991 wrote
I for sure do not want to start a new website with a template in Dreamweaver.

Is your current site mobile friendly?

Mobile-Friendly Test - Google Search Console

If not, you owe it to yourself & your site visitors to make a new site that is. Anything less will fall way short of user expectations. More importantly, Google penalizes you on mobile web searches,

Make sure your site's ready for mobile-friendly Google search results - AdSense Help

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

taniad15459991Author

Participant

The website internet is getting way too complicated! I understand the mobile friendly deal - my other business website is managed by a professional firm and I loved my old website so much, but it needs to be migrated to a mobile and notepad friendly platform and they are taking care of it. My ranch website is ALL ME, cannot afford a web design firm to deal with it. My ranch website can be viewed in a mobile browser, but it is most certainly not optimized. Guess I am going to have to go "back to school" - sucks, I am 70 years old!

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

According to Adobe, Dreamweaver is aimed at designers who want to work with code. But if you use the Starter Templates in DW, you can get a decent site together without a lot of coding know-how.

1) Define your local site folder by going to Site > New Site. See screenshots below. In this example, my local site folder will be saved on my hard drive at C:\\MyTestSite\

2) Go to File > New > Starter Templates. Pick one and hit Create button. If you want a responsive site for mobile, tablet & desktops, use one of the Bootstrap Templates as shown below.

After saving your newly created file, DW creates Assets folders for you as shown in your Files Panel.

You now have a responsive starter site to work with in Dreamweaver .

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

BenPleysier

Community Expert

Although there are a number of ways to create a website by pointing and clicking, to use Dreamweaver you still need to have a working knowledge of HTML and CSS. If that is not what you want, then try Muse.

Wappler is the DMXzone-made Dreamweaver replacement and includes the best of their powerful extensions, as well as much more!

taniad15459991Author

Participant

So I guess Dreamweaver has "evolved" in the years since I took the class? I had no problem creating my website, springvalleyranch.com , without coding; but it has been so long since I created it, the redo is going to take a major learning curve. Especially if now I need to code!