Damn you Dreamweaver...lil noob help please?

TheBigCheese · 18 Feb 2009 at 19:34

Hi guys

I'm trying to bash out a basic site in Dreamweaver CS3...nothing fancy...tables and text, graphics and links, that's about it for now (enhancements may come later as I learn the program).

However I'm having trouble with the easiest of tasks, how do I:

Set a page at 1024x768 for display on the majority of monitors?

Also, how do I centre the website so it isn't displayed on the left hand side of monitors with resolutions higher than 1024x768?

Many thanks in advance, this has been bugging me all day and taking up far more time than it should.

unwashed potato! · 18 Feb 2009 at 21:43

possibly not the advice you want but learning how to code is your best solution. what you are asking is the simplest of things (perhaps not at first but once you start doing more you will see how easy it is) so you should learn how to program properly and not have to worry about these little problems.

this is basically what you'd have for the container div:

Code:

#container {
width: 940px;
margin: 0 auto;
}

mattgaunt · 19 Feb 2009 at 08:57

Hey TheBigCheese

I always use

body
{
width:...;
height:....;
margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;
}

I different version of the previous post, my suggestion would be to check out w3schools.com and read through their guides on XHTML and CSS.

I personally am not a fan of dreamweaver, I used to but now I just work on sites through a text editor, so try not to rely totally on dreamweaver to size and position anything.

Good luck - its all about the practice

swinnie · 19 Feb 2009 at 09:21

mattgaunt said:
Hey TheBigCheese

I always use

body
{
width:...;
height:....;
margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;
}

I different version of the previous post, my suggestion would be to check out w3schools.com and read through their guides on XHTML and CSS.

I personally am not a fan of dreamweaver, I used to but now I just work on sites through a text editor, so try not to rely totally on dreamweaver to size and position anything.

Good luck - its all about the practice

w3schools is a very good resource.

I use Dreamweaver exactly the same as you, too.

TheBigCheese · 19 Feb 2009 at 11:40

Thanks for the posts guys.

Ummm, I've tried copying and pasting the code that has been posted, adding in the appropiate width and height dimensions but it doesn't seem to working, nor centering which is a bit strange. :confused:

I wish I had the time to learn how to use HTML properly...but I need to get a site online ASAP...at this moment in time the more WYSIWYG the better!

I thought Dreamweaver could be used fully in design view but it doesn't seem to want to play ball.

suarve · 19 Feb 2009 at 11:43

TheBigCheese said:
Thanks for the posts guys.

Ummm, I've tried copying and pasting the code that has been posted, adding in the appropiate width and height dimensions but it doesn't seem to working, nor centering which is a bit strange.

I wish I had the time to learn how to use HTML properly...but I need to get a site online ASAP...at this moment in time the more WYSIWYG the better!

I thought Dreamweaver could be used fully in design view but it doesn't seem to want to play ball.

That's one of the problems when using WYSIWYG editors, esp Dreaweaver - although I hear the design view is more accurate in CS4. Design view can give you an approximate idea of what you've just coded will look like, but I'd personally never rely on it fopr the whole design.

unwashed potato! · 19 Feb 2009 at 16:01

suarve said:
That's one of the problems when using WYSIWYG editors, esp Dreaweaver - although I hear the design view is more accurate in CS4. Design view can give you an approximate idea of what you've just coded will look like, but I'd personally never rely on it fopr the whole design.

not sure what the design view is as never used dreamweaver but i'm going to guess that you code/select what you want and then it shows a "preview" of what you just put in?

if that is the case then the trouble with that is every single browser displays a website differently, so you'll never be able to get it to work the same on all browsers which is very bad for a company website.

why do you need it so urgent? for school or for a company?

englishpremier · 19 Feb 2009 at 16:44

I have to use dreamweaver at work and it is pants compared to a good text editor and using your browser.

Mattus · 19 Feb 2009 at 17:46

Make sure that the code which you've copied correctly references your container div. i.e. if you copied it directly then you need

Code:

<div id="container">

Alternatively you can apply it directly to the body like mattgaunt posted.

Also, some browsers will refuse to centre the page using CSS unless the page starts with a valid DOCTYPE.

mattgaunt · 19 Feb 2009 at 18:57

Is there any chance you can upload your site for us to take a look at?

I think once you've started getttin into html coding making a website comes easier, quick going at it

Draeger · 20 Feb 2009 at 13:00

If you want to learn the ins and outs of Dreamweaver I would suggest downloading a few free templates and experimenting with them.

It's a good way to see the effects of any changes you make to them and in particular its an interesting way to experiment with CSS within the template.

However as others have said, take a look at some basic tutorials from W3 schools:-

http://www.w3schools.com/

You can grab some nice free templates to tinker about with from here:-

http://www.freecsstemplates.org/

http://www.oswd.org/