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I'm wanting to start a website for my band. Probably 6-7 pages max. Nothing too extreme.
The header on the pages would look like this:
Home. Music. Tour. Store. Lyrics. Contact.
Anything you'd suggest to get started. Is Dreamweaver the right platform for me. Is there an updated version of Dreamweaver for Dummies or something similar?, peace
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Dreamweaver is just a glorified code editing tool. Tools don't build great websites, people do.
How much experience do you have with HTML, CSS and JavaScript? If the answer is little or none, then you should learn code basics first. It will make your DW experience much easier. Otherwise, you'll probably be happier using an online site builder.
CODE TUTORIALS:
==============
Read the chapters, do code exercises and take quizzes at the end.
- https://www.w3schools.com/html/
- https://www.w3schools.com/css/
- https://www.w3schools.com/js/
- https://www.w3schools.com/bootstrap4/
ONLINE SITE BUILDERS (no coding required):
============
-- Squarespace - https://www.squarespace.com/
-- Webflow - https://webflow.com
-- Wix - https://www.wix.com/
-- WordPress (open source) - https://wordpress.org/
Hope that helps.
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Nancy mentions W3 School, and although this site is fully recommendable, for my part, I prefer the approach and the discourse of the Mozilla site, MDN,
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/
in a more basic way, but interesting, there is also https://web.dev/learn/
FreeCodeCamp is also very good... https://www.freecodecamp.org/
In parallel to the code, it is important to master the design with topics like :
- UI and UX Design - https://learnux.io
- Content Strategy - https://www.canva.com/learn/content-strategy/ or https://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/content-strategy.html
- Information Architecture - https://www.uxbooth.com/articles/complete-beginners-guide-to-information-architecture/
- Responsive Web Design - https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Responsive_Design or https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn/responsive-web-design/
- PWA - https://developers.google.com/web/ilt/pwa/ or https://coursesity.com/course-detail/intro-to-progressive-web-apps
- Accessibility - https://learnwebaccessibility.com/ or https://www.w3.org/WAI/fundamentals/accessibility-intro/ or https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility
Take good care and good learning
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My advice would be to search for a pre-made website design template which you could use.
Your skill level isnt there yet to create a website from scratch, its pointless spending several weeks, months, years getting up to speed with coding websites if you only intend to make a one off website.
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It is a wise decision to rely on a template to learn by deconstructing, I agree. But it is important that the template is sufficiently clean, not too wordy and of good consistency to serve as a basis for reflection.
The problem is that it is only when you have acquired a certain degree of hindsight that you can have this critical mind sharp enough to be able to analyze the good and bad approaches, even not recommended, used by the template.
Anyway, here is a good creamery, serious enough https://themeforest.net/
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It is a wise decision to rely on a template to learn by deconstructing, I agree. But it is important that the template is sufficiently clean, not too wordy and of good consistency to serve as a basis for reflection.
The problem is that it is only when you have acquired a certain degree of hindsight that you can have this critical mind sharp enough to be able to analyze the good and bad approaches, even not recommended, used by the template.
Anyway, here is a good creamery, serious enough https://themeforest.net/
By @B i r n o u
Problem is I see a lot of crap/bloated coding these days and unfortunately it works. Anybody other than a discerning professional, like it or not, doesn't know good from bad. No one gives a flying cluck, beyond devs who take some pride in what they do, how the code is delivered by this or that automated or manually processed so long as it functions in the brower and in reality thats all that matters in cases where someone just wants to knock out a cheap and cheerful website.
Templates are only any good IF you can control the content. When using a template approach its a case of writing content based on the template content rather than writing content for a website. As soon as you start trying to put in a 1000 words when a template has 100 and 60 images when a template has 12 a template doesn't work, it becomes a mess and when you might as well roll you own mess.
Never has a template worked unless the client is prepered to sit down and write/supply the same amount of words/articles, images as what the template shows. I tried for 40+ years with dumb clients who couldnt understand the difference between a square and a rectangle or a circle and an oval or that 100 words doesn't mean 600 words. WOW how I dont miss that!!
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Thanks. I actually have Dreamweaver CS4. With the "Dreamweaver for Dummies" I remember it not being to complex. It had the option of not using code. Was mostly trial and error. But that was ages ago. What is the name of the current Dreamweaver? Is there a for dummies for the latest version?
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I don't know of a book that is current and that is sufficiently educational... why don't you use the links that we have given you...
maybe test this one... at MDN... https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn and see what happens ?
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Dreamweaver CC 2021 is the current release version. Get the latest Dreamweaver Classroom in a Book from Amazon.com. Available in paperback or Kindle e-Book.
https://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Dreamweaver-Classroom-Book-release/dp/0136875238
That said, this manual won't teach you to be a great web developer. No book can do that. But it will explain the finer points of using Dreamweaver. Coding skills (at least basic ones) are still an essential skill to have. If not, you won't be able to fix your errors.
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Just to clarify, for the OP, unlike with CS4, all the Adobe apps are, sadly, now only available on a subscription basis.
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...all the Adobe apps are, sadly, now only available on a subscription basis.
=========
I'm not sad about the subscription model. It's way better than the bad old days of "thousand dollar suites" that we had to re-purchase every few years.
Bug fixes, updates & upgrades are rolled out immediately now. Under the old model, we often had to wait 18 months for a new release cycle.
And best of all, modern CC software is not platform specific. It works on both Win & Mac.
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...all the Adobe apps are, sadly, now only available on a subscription basis.
=========
I'm not sad about the subscription model. It's way better than the bad old days of "thousand dollar suites" that we had to re-purchase every few years.
By @Nancy OShea
Well you would'nt be sad as you get your cloud membership FREE for being an ACP others are not so fortunate.
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Even before being invited to join the ACP program, I preferred the subscription model. It's easier to budget a modest monthly fee for the tools of one's trade than it is to fork out large sums at irregular intervals.
If one isn't earning enough to pay for the tools of their trade, that's a different problem.
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I don't want to divert this thread from the original topic. It was apparent that the OP was under the impression that they could access the current version of Dreamweaver on the same basis as their CS4 version.
I think there are different types of users of Adobe products. I am purely an amateur who uses the products on a hobby basis. I would have liked the choice to be able to pay once for the products when I could afford them and pay to update them when I felt that I wanted something that the latest version offered. (I'm old enough to remember when an new version offered something worth upgrading for - I remember Photoshop getting the history palette in 1998!).
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Even before being invited to join the ACP program, I preferred the subscription model. It's easier to budget a modest monthly fee for the tools of one's trade than it is to fork out large sums at irregular intervals.
If one isn't earning enough to pay for the tools of their trade, that's a different problem.
By @Nancy OShea
Well subscription based is the way its gone unfortunately and not for the good of the customer but to generate regular money for the company. No one I ever knew in the trade updated their software on an annual basis each time a new version came out because a lot of the time it wasnt worth it. Now of course you dont have that choice, a compnay can offer you as little as they want and you have no option but to suck it up or move on.
Youre right of course. If you are running a profitable business then you can pass the cost onto your clients but for those who are doing this as a hobby or have very few clients and updating websites 3 or 4 times a year the re-ocurring subcription is probably quite expensive for them accumulatively over a number of years, not to mention 3rd world countries where pay can be very little, I dont know if they get the software cheaper.
Anyway I myself dont like it but hey-ho we are living in extraordinary times were no-one and nothing matters so long as 'I'm alright jack' - doing just fine, thankyou for enquiring.
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Extraordinary times to be sure. But I have "auto updates" disabled. I don't accept any software upgrades until I'm ready for them.
A recurring subscription is for people who wish to continue it. Of course one may cancel anytime they wish. However for annual plans, there's a 50% penalty fee for cancelling before the 12th month.
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the big difference is that when you buy a house... a few years later even if the house is in bad shape... it's yours... and you still have a roof over your head
with renting, once you don't pay the rent anymore... you end up on the street...
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the big difference is that when you buy a house... a few years later even if the house is in bad shape... it's yours... and you still have a roof over your head
with renting, once you don't pay the rent anymore... you end up on the street...
By @B i r n o u
Some companies that have empathy with their customers like jetbrains dont turn the water off after a year, you can continue to use the software as it is but have no access to the upgrades. You can use the software for 30 minute blocks at a time regardlesss of if you even pay for it (l dont know how that works for them) The reocurring subscription fees are set at a reasonable price, go figure. That model obviously is working for them and they produce probsbly some of the best web development software on the planet......at least someone isnt just in it to make as much money as possible for very little in return.........well done and thanks to them for being so considerate to their customers.