Adobe TV and other delights

Here's a link to great videos that introduce the viewer to features and workings of Dreamweaver (and other Adobe products) that we might not touch on in class:

http://tv.adobe.com/

The presentations are informative and entertaining at the same time; the speakers are project managers and engineers at Adobe.

Topics I have watched recently: how to make a dynamic database page using an html page with an html table (no php required) as datasource; tag navigator; InContext Editing.

If you are looking for a safe way to allow your clients to update and edit their own website content, investigate InContext Editing. You use Dreamweaver CS4 to set up editable regions and repeating regions (much like setting up template regions), then register the website with Adobe InContext Editing and send an invitation to your client. There is much control you may exert: protecting the coding for a section or allowing as much or as little control to the client as you wish. Watch the videos for a good look at it. There is also a 50+ minute presentation that describes the process. Right now, InContext Editing is free; in future it will be a paid resource at the rate of $10-20 a month (paid by you, the web developer/designer) for use with up to 5 websites on the public web. Intranet sites are not accessible with InContext Editing. This is a fine way to maintain control of the look and feel, as well as the coding, of a website, while allowing your client to maintain control of the content itself.

Editing PHP files

Can you edit PHP files in Dreamweaver, that is, files that end in .php and not .html?

Yes, of course. If you are careful, and are making edits that you don't need to 'check' in a browser, it is as easy as editing an HTML file. You will not be able to use "Live View" in Dreamweaver, however, unless you have listed a 'testing server.'

You can install XAMPP (PC) or MAMPP (Mac) on your own computer to work as a local testing server. That makes it possible for your PHP files to compile properly in order to be tested. PHP typically runs on Apache (Unix) servers and its databases would be MySQL databases.

Not every ISP (Internet Service Provider) provides PHP support. GWI, for instance, does not provide it. If your files are PHP files and they are already hosted successfully, the ISP supports  PHP. If you don't know, call the ISP and check.

XAMPP and its sisters are free programs. Search the internet for them. Instructions are pretty clear for installation and use.

For more information, take Bogart's PHP course at Portland Adult Education. It is well worth the price of admission. 

**You may also edit php pages in InContext Editing, but not the php sections. So I've been told, but have not tested this. Certainly if you use an html datasource, you will be able to edit the data in InContext Editing. That would not, however, be PHP!