How difficult is DW

My boss wants me to learn DW and take over the publishing of our simple web
site. I use Adobe PS,ID and IL regularly, I have also built web sites in iweb
and published them. My problem is that iweb has a lot of limitations with older
browsers which is a huge problem for our company. I have always heard that
wusiwug software was not that hard to learn, but after doing some reading here
I am intimidated. After saying all that my question is with my experience what
is my estimated learning curve for DW? I am completely self taught on all the
software listed and I will probably be self Taught on DW as well. Any insight
would be appreciated. Thanks..

jegardner22 wrote:

My boss wants me to learn DW and take over the publishing of our simple web
site. I use Adobe PS,ID and IL regularly, I have also built web sites in iweb
and published them. My problem is that iweb has a lot of limitations with older
browsers which is a huge problem for our company. I have always heard that
wusiwug software was not that hard to learn, but after doing some reading here
I am intimidated. After saying all that my question is with my experience what
is my estimated learning curve for DW? I am completely self taught on all the
software listed and I will probably be self Taught on DW as well. Any insight
would be appreciated. Thanks..

To be able to use the tool you must understand what the tool is doing,
hence being told to learn html and css first is the best advice you will
be given here. Otherwise you will get frustrated quickly, and produce
pages that are sub-standard. Its not hard to learn the basics, once you
have, you can learn how to use Dreamweaver and it will all make sense.

Steve

I had to migrate over from GoLive, which was pretty much WYSIWYG, to DW. I
bought 3 books on DW. By the third book, I finally caught on how CSS works,
also realized that even though DW can be used as "What You See Is What You
Get," your pages will be very simple and limited if you do so. Unfortunately,
you must learn the code, and its not so hard after all. The book that finally
nailed it for me was Peachpit Press' Dreamweaver CS3, Learn CW the Quick and
Easy Way. No, I do not own stock in this book company. I'm happy to recommend
it, as it explained nicely not only how DW works, but how the underlying code
has to be structured in order for it to work. You must systematically plow
through a book such as this to grasp the code. Maybe I'm not naturally geared
for HTML and CSS code, as it took awhile to wrap my brain around it. The first
two books I read were written by authors that know the code so well that they
talk too quickly, forgetting that newbies are having a hard time with the
concepts. The book I mention above covered by far very nicely the fundamental
concepts, and they repeat them, cover them from different angles, as apposed to
saying it once and if you don't get it, tough. I'm making progress with my
first site using CSS, and love the control it gives. Good luck!

jegardner22 wrote:

My boss wants me to learn DW and take over the publishing of our simple web
site. I use Adobe PS,ID and IL regularly, I have also built web sites in iweb
and published them. My problem is that iweb has a lot of limitations with older
browsers which is a huge problem for our company. I have always heard that
wusiwug software was not that hard to learn, but after doing some reading here
I am intimidated. After saying all that my question is with my experience what
is my estimated learning curve for DW? I am completely self taught on all the
software listed and I will probably be self Taught on DW as well. Any insight
would be appreciated. Thanks..

To be quite frank if your boss wants you to learn DW then he should
alocate at least two or three days a week in the first few months for
you to soley do just that. Which will probably mean going on a good
learning course. This, in my opinion, is not a programme that you will
learn in a few weeks or a few months unless you 'dedicate' a whole lot
of time to it...thats if you want to make sure your website appears
correctly across a range of browsers.

I use all the programs that you mention above and learnt InDesign in a
matter of days, at least what I needed to get a fairly complex
publication together. Dreamwever is more than just 'visual' its driven
by complex coding, html and css, which you need to understand if you are
to have any chance of your website looking the same across a number of
browsers.

In my opinion most 'bosses' have their heads firmly jammed up their
arses and do very little else but arrange pointless meetings, go on
holidays and play golf.

You could well be being put under unecessary pressure by someone who has
little to no idea about what they are suggesting you do. AND when it all
goes wrong the buck will stop with you. You'll be on your own and know
one else around to help.

If I was in the same situation I would be wanting to know how committed
by boss really was by asking them to fund a rather hefty hands-on
training course. You know the stuff, a few days a week in a good hotel
and £400 a day tuition fees. That usually sorts the issue out.

I would'nt be taking on any more work that you can physically handle.
Only do it if you feel its what you can manage and down be 'railroaded'
into it just to show yourself in a good light....because at the end of
the day your company doesnt give a fuck about you.

Thanks for the info needed that!

I migrated from FP, then to GL and then to DW without a hitch. Two books that
were immensely helpful in the beginning were:


http://www.amazon.com/Dreamweaver-CS...596510438/ref=
pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214571615&sr=8-1

and


http://www.amazon.com/CSS-Missing-Ma...6873/ref=pd_bb
s_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214571615&sr=8-3

Anything by David Powers is great for intermediate to advanced, like:


http://www.amazon.com/PHP-Solutions-...311/ref=sr_1_9
_s9_rk?ie=UTF8&s=books&s9r=8a5801be0d595d82010d5a9 4ebc9000b&itemPosition=9&qid=1
214571678&sr=1-9

and


http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Guid...598598/ref=sr_
1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214571678&sr=1-12

With just a little independent effort you will make a lot of progress very
quickly.

Glenn

Marimight wrote:

Thanks for the info needed that!

Here we go again!

Steve

This is an excellent tutorial even if you use Illustrator or Photoshop:
"Taking a Fireworks comp to a CSS-based layout in Dreamweaver"
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/firework...youts_pt1.html

If this makes no sense study html and CSS code first:
www.w3schools.com

How long it takes is up to you and your current web skill level. I don't
think anyone here is finished learning. The web is constantly evolving. To
keep pace we must continually think about new technologies that will improve
our sites. DW is a terrific tool to help with this. But it's only as good
as the person using it.


--Nancy O.
Alt-Web Design & Publishing
www.alt-web.com


"jegardner22" <webforumsuser (AT) macromedia (DOT) com> wrote

My boss wants me to learn DW and take over the publishing of our simple
web
site. I use Adobe PS,ID and IL regularly, I have also built web sites in
iweb
and published them. My problem is that iweb has a lot of limitations with
older
browsers which is a huge problem for our company. I have always heard that
wusiwug software was not that hard to learn, but after doing some reading
here
I am intimidated. After saying all that my question is with my experience
what
is my estimated learning curve for DW? I am completely self taught on all
the
software listed and I will probably be self Taught on DW as well. Any
insight
would be appreciated. Thanks..

I think learning DW is relatively fast and painless. If your just doing simple websites this software will serve you well. Don't worry about everything else. Hope this helps, Jason

Don't worry about everything else.

Jason, I think that's the worst advice I've seen here is quite a long time!

DW will not be fast and painless without a solid basis in HTML and CSS.

--
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Adobe Community Expert
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
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"JasonMaier" <webforumsuser (AT) macromedia (DOT) com> wrote

I think learning DW is relatively fast and painless. If your just doing
simple websites this software will serve you well. Don't worry about
everything else. Hope this helps, Jason