How can I check the external links on my web site?
Dreamweaver currently only checks internal links. A useful tool that will check ALL links on a web site is Xenu. It can be downloaded from http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html
Can I use images I download from the web on my own web site?
All images on the web are copyright. You can only use them if the copyright owner expressly allows you to do so. Check the originating web site for a statement about copyright, or send an email to the webmaster or other relevant person, describing why you want to use the image, and asking for permission to do so.
There are some useful image libraries on the web which allow use of their images for non-commercial purposes. Check out the useful URLs section below.
So, just how DO I create a four column layout that works in all browsers?
The session example was 'engineered' (sorry, Mr Gates) to make a point that you need to test your CSS pages in all browsers. It is not easy to come up with complex layouts in CSS that are displayed well in every browser, but you can usually come close. My example of one solution is not perfect (it does not manage the banner in a flexible way) but it is pretty close!
All the CSS is included in the source file of the page; you can look at it by using the View|Source menu option in most browsers.
How can I get my web pages to print in a layout more suited to paper than screen?
This is best achieved by using a style sheet.
Create a style sheet (typically called print.css) and in that style sheet have suitable printer friendly definitions for all the classes and IDs that you use in your pages.
Attach this style sheet to your pages(s) in the same way as any other stylesheet but add the attribute media="print".
A typical link would look like:
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="print.css" media="print" />
How can I allow my visitors to change to a different stylesheet?
Some browsers allow a user to apply their own stylesheets to a page, but this is probably not what you meant. You were probably thinking along the lines of the CSS Zen Garden web site.
This is not as simple as it sounds. There are two ways. The CSS Zen Garden site uses server side scripts to carry out the request. An alternative is to use some JavaScript to create a stylesheet switcher for your pages. To get this to work reliably in all browsers is not easy (and don't forget that some users will disable JavaScript) and I recommend looking at how others have done it before trying to write your own JavaScript. Use a search engine to search for the phrase "stylesheet switcher".
As a starting point see Paul Sowden's article on the topic.
Where can I get a copy of Dreamweaver?
You can download a trial version of Dreamweaver 8 from the Macromedia website. The trial version is time limited. However, you can convert it to a full version by typing in a valid licence number. A licence can be bought from the OUCS shop for about £115. Alternatively, if you are a student or teacher, you can buy an educational version, which also includes lots of other Macromedia goodies directly from Civica for around £75.
How can I get my pages on to my Herald web space?
This is covered in the third Dreamweaver session (Site and Content Management), but in summary there are two steps:
There are a number of potential problems, not least that the web space is accessed in slightly different ways depending on the file transfer program you use, however I have found Dreamweaver's system to be quick and reliable.
How can I get my pages listed by Google?
In some respects, getting your pages noticed by search engines such as Google, and just as importantly near the top of the list of matched links returned by a search, is more art than science!
Each search engine will have its own preferred method, which can include:
The best place to start is to visit the search engine home page and look for specific information about how to get your web pages listed for that specific search engine.
A useful overview of the process can be found at the Dartmouth Web Teaching web site.
Another resource, less academic and more pragmatic, is the SearchEngines.com site, which not only has information about more search engines than probably any other resource, but also gives good advice about getting listed by some of them.
Do you have any advice about what makes a good web site?
There are two aspects to a good web site. The first, and arguably the most important, is the structure of the information so as to make it easy for visitors to find what they want to know. The second is the presentation in terms of colours, fonts and general layout.
Some of this is subjective, but a good place to start is the Web Style Guide (originally the Yale C/AIM Web Style Guide). This is also available in print.
Jakob Nielsen has some strong views on what makes a good page - or rather what makes a bad one! See for example, his Top Ten Mistakes in Web Page Design.
Which browsers do I need to check my pages in?
Internet Explorer is by far the most popular browser, however you should not ignore other common browsers such as FireFox, Opera, Netscape and Mozilla. You should check your web pages in the browsers you think are most likely to be used by your visitors. To get an overview of the current trends in browser usage visit the W3Schools site's Browser Statistics page.
How can I track the number of visitors to my web pages?
If you are using your Herald web space, you can automatically get some basic statistics. Details about how to do this can be found on the OUCS web pages.
There are some 'free' hit counters that record how many visitors you have on a page. Although many are free in the sense you don't have to pay, there is sometimes an obligation to carry a small advertisement. A search on the web using the keywords hit counter will give you many links to investigate.
Finally you can run some server side scripts/programs (in PHP for example) that give very detailed analysis of visitors. To do this you would need some co-operation/advice from the person running your web server. You also need to either know enough about scripting to write your own or at least adapt examples available on the web. There are commercial products that will do very detailed analysis of visitor statistics, however these tend to be expensive and they too need to be installed on the web server.
How can I include sound in my web pages?
A trivial method is to add a link to a sound file in the same way that you add a link to any other resource such as another web page or an image. However, how the user then experiences that sound depends on the browser and the media plug-ins available to that browser.
Creating a cross-browser solution is not straightforward, especially as earlier versions of IE had their own methods not supported in other browsers, and more recently, stricter security have made the process less seamless.
An excellent resource describing several methods and their cross-browser compatibility is provided by the UCL Department of Phonetics and Linguistics at www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/mark/audio/play.htm
This site is copyright Dave Baker and Oxford University Computing Services
Last updated 23-Nov-2006 22:31