Dreamweaver MX Tutorial
Created and designed by Vivienne Trulock for ilikecake, 2005
Page properties
Page properties are the only 'properties' that aren't found in the properties window. To access the page properties you must go to 'Modify > Page Properties'.
This is what the page properties window looks like:
Page Title
The title of the page is very important. It helps the user to locate the page if the page is bookmarked or added to favourites. Search engines use page titles in their algorithms to work out which sites get the highest rankings. Page titles also help users to identify minimised windows. Every page should have a title which relates to its content. The title bar is also found directly above every page in Dreamweaver. The page title is displayed on the blue bar at the top of the browser window.
Background Images
A background image can be added to the page here. Be careful with background images in general, as it is very important that text can be read over it. Also, background images tile if they are not large enough, so make sure that the tiles blend in at the correct place. To attach a background image, simply click on the 'Browse' button and find your file. Your image should be located inside the site folder. If it isn't, Dreamweaver will prompt you to copy it there.
NOTE: the background image feature as shown in the image above use the 'background' attribute. This attribute has been deprecated. therefore, it is not recommended to use this option to display a background image. the style sheets method oF displaying background images is preferred.
Colours
The default background, text and link colours are set here. The links colours is the colour of an unvisited link. The visited link colour is the colour the link changes to when it has been visited. The active link colour is the colour it changes to when it is looking for the linked page. Default colours set here are over-ridden by colours set in the text properties window.
NOTE: the background colour option as outlined above uses the 'bgcolor' attribute which has been deprecated. therefore, it is not recommended to use this option. the style sheets method oF formatting background colours is preferred.
NOTE: the default text colour option as outlined above uses the 'text' attribute which has been deprecated. therefore, it is not recommended to use this option. the style sheets method oF formatting default text colours is preferred.
NOTE: the link colour option as outlined above uses the 'link', 'vlink' and 'alink' attributes which have all been deprecated. therefore, it is not recommended to use this option. the style sheets method oF formatting link colours is preferred.
Margins
The size of the margins in pixels can be entered here. Generally, if you are using tables in your document to lay out your page, set all these values to zero, to get a snug fit. The Left and Top Margins are compatible with Internet Explorer. The Margin Width and Height are used by Netscape.
NOTE: the margin size options as outlined above uses the 'leftmargin', 'topmargin', 'marginwidth', and 'marginheight' attributes. The 'leftmargin' and 'topmargin' attributes were never standard attributes. 'marginwidth', and 'marginheight' have been deprecated. therefore, it is not recommended to use this option. the style sheets method oF formatting margin size is preferred.
Tracing Image
A tracing image is like a background image, in that you can write over it, but it does not tile. The image only appears once. You can also change the opacity of the image to make it appear faded. I have experienced problems when using this feature on a page which also has tables. As with background images, CSS style sheets offer better control and accessibility.
NOTE: The tracing image option as outlined above uses the 'tracingsrc' attribute, which is a non-standard attribute. Therefore, it is not recommended to use this option. the style sheets method of applying background images is preferred.
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