We run training courses on Adobe Dreamweaver, the industry-standard web development software. And we are increasingly finding that the profile of the person wanting to learn Dreamweaver is becoming distinctly, well, frankly, unpredictable! It seems that just about anyone nowadays can find themselves needing to build a website or to create web content in some shape or form.
In the same way that graphical interfaces have changed computing, making it more user-friendly, the use of Adobe Dreamweaver makes people with limited understanding of web site creation capable of putting together a reasonable site. It is also a greate platform for learning how web sites should be put together. For example, when you create each new web page, Dreamweaver lets you choose from its built-in standard layouts based on Cascading Style Sheets technology, the current recommendation for creating web pages. The code produced by Dreamweaver has lot of useful comments explaining how each page layout functions.
Many small organisations have already learned to rely on Adobe Dreamweaver to build and manage their own website, creating and modifying pages and then uploading them via FTP to make them live and available to the public. Those organisations with a more urgent need to establish a web presence may still turn to professional web development companies to get them started and then use Adobe Dreamweaver when changes need to be made, often saving themselves a small fortune.
Another way that organisations can save money is by hiring web designers to create Dreamweaver templates and then basing their website on these templates in-house. This also has the benefit of giving organizations control of their site right from the outset.
Although Dreamweaver is pretty easy to use, it is not likely that many users can simple load it onto their machine and start using it like a pro. Most people will benefit from having some form of Dreamweaver training. This will allow them to learn the essential aspects of the program and the process of creating basic sites and making them live. An effective Dreamweaver training course will also give users an insight into the underlying web technologies and the code which Dreamweaver generates as the users create their pages using visual techniques.
One of the best ways to make a site useful for visitors is making it interactive, allowing users to search for the specific content that they want. By attending an advanced Dreamweaver training course, staff within an organization can learn to add database-driven content to their website using technologies such as ASP, PHP or ColdFusion. And, here again, Dreamweaver does the lion’s share of the work, allowing users to create sophisticated search and results pages using the same simply point-and-click and drag-and-drop techniques used to create basic content.
The writer of this article is a developer and trainer with Macresource Computer Solutions, a UK IT training company offering Adobe Dreamweaver training courses at their central London training centre.