Using Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004

Windows/Panels in Dreamweaver

Dreamweaver's interface has multiple windows and panels that you work with. This section introduces some of them.

Viewing Windows and Panels

You can select the Windows or panels in Dreamweaver to view by choosing them from the Windows menu.

Panel names (the top two sections of the menu) are checked if the panel is currently displayed; unchecked if it is not. To display a panel that is not currently checked, select it from the menu. The panel will be displayed and marked with a checkmark in the Windows menu. To close a panel or window, either click the close box (marked x) in the upper right corner of the panel, or select it twice from the Windows menu-- it will then be unchecked and the window will disappear.

If you can't get a particular panel/window to come up, choose 'Arrange Panels' from the Window menu. That will bring the panels to their default positions on your screen.

The size/shape of some (but not all) of the panels can be changed by right-clicking on the [blue] window bar at the top or side and choosing 'Size', then using the cursor to resize the panel. (Properties cannot be resized.)

Document Window

The document window(s) are where your document is displayed for you to edit it. This will be the main window in which you work. You will choose and edit items in the other windows/panels to affect the document, and what you have selected in the document window will affect the choices you have in the other panels.

The Document window in Dreamweaver MX can be set to display plain HTML code , WYSIWIG with HTML, or regular WYSIWIG , by clicking on the different buttons in the upper left of the window.

Properties Window/Panel

The Properties panel lets you adjust the properties of whatever page element you have selected. Most of the time it looks like this:

But when you select something other than text (images, lines, tables, table cells/rows/columns, frames, etc) the properties available change. There is a small button in the lower right corner of the properties panel to expand the panel so that you can see all the properties for things like images and table cells:

History Window/Panel

The History panel, in the list under 'Others', displays a list of all the actions you've taken in this screen in this session.

(Closing the document clears out the history; saving the document does not clear out the history.)

Moving the slider on the left side of the window upward will cause the document to revert back to the state it was in when the action you move the slider to was taken. To 'un-revert', move the slider back downward before you make a change-- once you've reverted and made a change, the subsequent actions are lost.

You can also go back if you make a mistake by using the Undo and Redo items in the Edit menu, or pressing Ctrl-Z (Undo) or Ctrl-Y (Redo). (Ctrl-Y will also let you repeat the last action you took.)

Insert panel

The Insert panel (object panel in Dreamweaver 4) lets you insert various things, like links , images , tables, email links, dates , internal anchors , and other special objects, by clicking on them rather than choosing them from the Insert menu. In Dreamweaver 4, you can choose one of eleven different object palettes from the drop-down menu at the top of the panel , depending on whether you are working with text, tables, special characters, forms, frames, media, script elements, etc.

Files Panel

The Files panel generally appears in the right side of the window, and lists the files that are part of the site (if a site has been defined -- see site management. Files can be opened from the Files panel by doubleclicking.

Jennifer Heise, Last updated February 1, 2005