"Help, Dreamweaver preview is going to my live site instead of previewing locally."

That is not how Dreamweaver is supposed to act. You can check the preview setting by going to the Edit menu, Click on Preferences, then click on Preview in Browser in the left side Catagory list. You should see "iexplore F12" in the window. You can change this by clicking on the Edit button.

One thing though, if your site uses absolute links then those links will go to the live site. You need to use relative links for proper testing on your local machine. Here are examples:

absolute link: http://www.howtogurus.com/support.html

relative link: ../support.html or just support.html, depends on where the file is relative to the page linking to it.

Basically if your links have http://www.whatever.com (your web site address) included in them then those links will go to that live page. Also if your opening page automatically goes to your live site through a forwarding absolute link (like you have a splash page or something) then you will see the live site and not your testing site.

My guess is that you have absolute links on your testing site. But even with absolute links it should show the first page you open on your local machine since you are not going to that by an absolute link, but are opening it directly.

Updated software recommendation list

Every so often I update my recommended software list.

Here is my recommended list for best programs to use for professional graphics work:

Adobe Photoshop - working with photos and other raster graphics
Adobe Illustrator - working with vector graphics (logos and stuff like that)
Adobe InDesign - page layout program
Adobe Dreamweaver (used to be Macromedia Dreamweaver) - best web design program on the planet
Adobe Flash (used to be Macromedia Flash) - for web based animations
Adobe Premiere Pro - video editing. This is a Prosumer program, better than consumer, not as good as fully professional products like a stand alone Avid editing station. Good choice for TV and commercial work.
Adobe After Effects - for video effects and title sequences

Since Adobe purchased Macromedia about a year ago they have basically cornered the market on quality graphics programs.

The only non-Adobe recommendation I would make is if you are using a Mac computer and you are planning on working for a Magazine. They all use QuarkXPress for page layout, but if you are working freelance InDesign is about 100 times better than Quark and any magazine can use InDesign files. Many major publications are now switching away from Quark and going with InDesign.

George

Dreamweaver Flash Buttons only allowing one link

Using Flash Buttons in Dreamweaver can be a little confusing. You would think that you are creating a Flash graphic and that you can change the link as you like on different pages, but this is not so.

Flash buttons have the link built in. If you use the same Flash button on a different page it will retain the same link. No way around this. If you want a button on a different page that goes to a different location you will need to create a new Flash button for that link.

So think of it this way, for each link to a specific page you need a separate Flash button. You can then use that Flash button on any page that you want to have that link. So, each new link gets its own Flash button.

Personally I never use Flash buttons, mostly because of this limitation. I create all of my buttons from scratch in Photoshop as images, I also create a second version to use as a rollover image. Then when I use those in my web pages I can put any link I want on them, since images don't store link info, the link info is specific to the image use on the one page.

But to be complete on this discussion, if you have a button that says one thing (like HOME) in your web site, that button should always go to that one page link, no matter what page it is used on. This is a usability issue, where people will expect a certain button to do the same thing each time they click on it no matter what page they find the button on. So in this respect the Flash buttons are behaving properly by only accepting one link.

Hope this helps,

George

How do I set up Dreamweaver to use ACDSee to view image files?

To set Dreamweaver to open the images in ACDSee, you need to set ACDSee as the file Editor for that image type. Here's how:

Go to the Edit menu and click on Preferences at the bottom of the menu.
Under Category on the left click on File Types / Editors

On the right side you will now see two lists, one showing the file types that Dreamweaver can recognize and one showing which program is used to edit that file type. Click on each of the file types in the left window and then edit the program associated with that file type in the right window. You will need to do this for each needed file type separately. The ones you want are .png .jpg .gif

To set the program associated with the file type, first click on the + button and locate the program you want to use. The file will be in your Programs folder, probably in the ACD Systems folder, then in the ACDSee folder, then in the 8.0 folder, probably named ACDSee8.exe. I don't have version 8 here but I am guessing that I am right on all this.

You will now see ACDSee in your list of Editors for the file type. Now select ACDSee in the list and click on the Make Primary button. Once you have done this for all three file types click on the OK button to close the dialog box and you should be all set.

George

I just finished a page and in Internet Explorer...looks great...then I check Firefox and Netscape...and everything is all over the place..

You hit on the biggest problem on the internet, different browsers see things differently. But here are a few hints to keep things consistent.

Only use simple fonts (Ariel, times new roman, etc.) Dreamweaver comes with only 6 fonts as standard, stick with those.

Don't us layers. Netscape has a real problem with layers (specifically the div tag).

Keep styling of fonts to a minimum and use CSS. If you need a fancy headline or other font use, better to do it as a graphic.

Make sure that your graphics are created at the correct size for where they are placed. Don't resize graphics in Dreamweaver, do your resizing in Photoshop then put them on your web page. Some browsers will not see the Dreamweaver resize and will show the graphic at its original size. So make the original size correct. You should be doing this anyway.

The reference files in Dreamweaver have good information on which browsers support what. If you are using Dreawmweaver 8 look in the Window menu and click on Reference. Dreamweaver MX and MX 2004 have reference in the panels on the left.

Basically Netscape and Firefox use a different interpretation of HTML than IE uses. So you will see problems, especially with Layers and JavaScript. Netscape and Firefox also interpret CSS differently, especially with font styling.

So, bottom line, keep it simple. Use only simple fonts. Don't use layers for anything important, or for layout (I always use tables). Do all your fancy stuff with images. Or if you want a perfectly controlled web site that views identically in all browsers build the whole thing in Flash (but you will lose your search engine compatibility)

And don't forget that all of the browsers let the user customize how they work, including how they handle fonts. So even with your best efforts there will be people who will see your page layout differently than you designed it.

It is possible to use a JavaScript to see what type of browser is being used to view the page and then have the viewer forwarded to a page built for that browser. But in my opinion that is really doing things the hard way.

Do you recommend using ImageReady to create web pages?

I only use ImageReady to slice images. That was what it was designed for originally, to make Images Ready for the web, and that is still what it is best used for. Everything else I do in Dreamweaver. This is partly a personal preference and you can do quite a bit with ImageReady, but even Adobe has a different product for creating web pages in GoLive.

My personal preference is to use the best product or tool for the job.

My personal favorites are:

Photoshop for image creation

ImageReady, used with the Photoshop images if needed.

Dreamweaver for web development work

Flash for animations

Freehand for vector images (I like Freehand a lot better than Illustrator)

I have found that Dreamweaver has some problems with ftp access to some servers, so for those problem servers I use WS-FTP.

I also don't use any templates, I always create web pages either from scratch, or based on an existing web page that I built from scratch. I just prefer the greater level of control doing it myself.

How do I capture video from my computer screen?

I use a high-end professional screen capture and editing program, so that will not fit your needs. But there is a good, relatively low cost, product on the market that does a good job of capturing screen video. It is called Camtasia from Tech Smith. Here is their web site: http://www.techsmith.com/

Their Camtasia Studio costs about $300 but it is the best low cost solution that I am familiar with. There are probably others out there and a lot of times you will find software like this bundled with computer video cards.

As far as video format, I would recommend recording your videos as .avi files. This is an old standard and most video players can play this type of movie. I use avi myself because you can easily record larger videos, where some of the more modern video formats limit you to a specific screen size or resolution.
Also, to learn all there is to learn, just go to Google and do some searches. Try "video capture" "screen capture" "avi", I know you will think of some more.