The main challenge in CSS web page layout is positioning blocks of content in different parts of the browser window. The key HTML element used to achieve this is the DIV element (short for DIVISION). The DIV element is pure vanilla: it has no inherent properties or sub-elements (unlike the TABLE element which was originally used for web page layout). It is a block element which can contain any web page content, including other DIVs.

Groups of related elements within the HTML page are placed within the various DIVs. For example, there might be a DIV containing a logo or banner, another containing navigation links, another containing the main content of the page, and so on. Another common practice is to place all DIVs inside an outer or wrapper DIV which acts as the overall container for the page content. Key attributes such as width and alignment can then be applied to this wrapper.

When controlling DIVs with CSS, the key DIVs being used for page layout will normally be given a unique ID; for example, div ‘id=”leftCol”‘. IDs can only occur once within an HTML page and can therefore be referred to in the CSS code; for example ‘#leftCol…’. Some subordinate DIVs (i.e. those contained within the main DIVs) will share attributes with several other DIVs on the page. These will be defined as a class in both the HTML page; e.g. ‘div class=imageLeft’ and in the CSS style sheet; e.g. ‘.imageLeft…’.

You will generally set the overall width you want your page content to occupy by setting the width of the outer wrapper DIV which contains the entire page. The width that you choose will depend on the typical monitor resolution used by your anticipated audience. The lowest common denominator is probably 800 x 600 pixels but many designers are now assuming 1024 x 768. Bear in mind that these pixel dimensions represent the entire screen. The actual web content will occupy only some of this. For this reason, designers usually use a width of 760 pixels when targeting the smaller resolution and 950 pixels when targeting the larger.

You can specify the dimensions of your content in two ways in CSS: using a fixed measurement or using percentages. Using pixels to specify the width you want your content to occupy offers you more control over your design but it can be inconvenient for visitors to your website. If their monitors are larger than your specified width, there will be a lot of wasted space. Those whose monitors are not as wide as your content will have to constantly scroll left and right to read your pages and who can blame them if they lose patience and go elsewhere. Percentage-based design is often referred to as liquid in that the content will simply readjust to fill as much of the available space as you specify.

Author is a developer and trainer with Macresource Computer Training, a UK IT training company offering ASP.NET Classes at their central London training centre.

Depending on how busy a person is Microsoft Powerpoint Training can be very complex and detailed or be as simple as spending an afternoon with the training program offered by the Microsoft company on their website.

Most community colleges and local centers offer Microsoft Powerpoint Training. These courses focus on the basics of the Powerpoint program and teach an individual how to master the basic functions and features of the program. They usually will also teach the functions and features that are most used or most requested by people using the program.

Sitting with someone who has used the Powerpoint program for a long period of time is a great way to get effective Microsoft Powerpoint Training. These people know many different functions that a person who does not use the program on a regular basis would not know. They can teach an individual how to get faster results or produce more effective presentations in fewer keystrokes.

When a person is working within the program there are materials built in that can be accessed if a person needs to get instruction on how to use a particular feature of the program. These instructions are clear and one can often be directed to a video which will provide further information and details.

Learning the full capacity of the Powerpoint program will require that one receive Microsoft Powerpoint Training from an individual who has worked with the program and has expertise in all of it’s capabilities. There are many books available which also provide extra tips and tricks for manipulating the program and creating backgrounds and other features that will make a presentation unique.

Microsoft Powerpoint Training does not end. There is always something new to learn with the program and a new method for creating exciting presentation, slideshows, brochures, and pamphlets. When an individual gets to a point where they feel they have learned all that they want to know they can stop.

Do you need an IT training company that can offer you Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Classes, as well as Microsoft Excel training at their central London training centre.

Many individuals are self taught using PowerPoint but by having some Microsoft PowerPoint training it is possible to get the most out of this software. Within a few minutes you can create your own basic slides but there is a lot more that you can do with your presentation to make it very interactive and interesting.

PowerPoint can be very interactive and is used by many individuals, industries, students, professionals and more. This is the most popular program for creating presentations and with Microsoft PowerPoint training you can create some very professional slides that will be a cut above everyone else’s. The software itself provides some tutorials that can be used to introduce you to many of the available features.

You can create a slide show with some very basic computer skills but to really create a flashy presentation then PowerPoint training can be a great help.

There are many Microsoft PowerPoint training courses available in the form of books and as online courses. As with anything online you need to be aware of where the information is coming from as many free courses may simply be trying to market a specific program or text. The best information that is unbiased is available at sites specifically dedicated to PowerPoint.

As with an anything you can find a lot of training courses for Microsoft PowerPoint online. However you need to be careful as many of these training courses may simply be marketing a specific book or software. There is plenty of free training information available. Check with the Microsoft site or other computer sites dedicated strictly to PowerPoint.

While this may be more expensive than an online course the quality of information will be higher and you know that everyone will be able to work at the same productivity. They also are required to show up so you know that everyone is getting the training that they need.

Are you looking for a UK IT training company offering Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 training courses, as well as Microsoft Word courses at their central London training centre.

If you are wondering how web design training can help your business succeed, it is quite simple. Everyone has experienced the same thing: you are surfing the internet looking for goods or services and you find a site which has problems. It might be that the site takes forever to download, it may be that it uses bizarre imagery and poor design, you may find it difficult to find what you were looking for on that site. It is unlikely that you will ever return and that means that website has failed what it wanted to do. And that is to attract attention to the information it is presenting or the products it is selling.

Why is web design important? You need to make sure that users who are visiting your website can find the products, services or information they are looking for. You need a website which functions the way it is supposed to and that brings together different elements including text, graphics and layout. If you do not have the training in different design programs, you will not have the tools to create sites which customers want to visit again and again.

There are different ways that you can go about getting web design training. You can choose to take different individual courses in the programs which you will be using, or you can take a course which will give you a diploma in web development and design. Either choice can be excellent but it depends on how extensively you will be using your design skills.

If you want to learn business related web design applications, you should concentrate on courses such as writing for search engine optimization, e commerce related programs and general site design concepts so that you can generate a professional and logically designed website. Web designers that are making a career of the business learn basic design principles, information on incorporating images and video, and special applications such as flash animation.

Even if you are more interested learning to design websites for yourself and relatives there are some principals that will carry through from the commercial side of the business. You will want to make sure that your site will load well no matter what the connection speed is of the people viewing it. You will also want to make sure that people can find the information they are looking for. Web design training can help you achieve all of these things and more.

Remember that computers are advancing every day and new versions of software are coming out. They are also introducing new web design programs on a regular basis so you might find that even after completing a course of study you will need to take additional courses from time to time. Keeping on top of the industry by reading magazines and trade journals is also critical if you want to stay up to date.

Web design training might be the best thing you could do to ensure you have the knowledge and skills to design sites properly. Beautiful and functional websites must be built properly and according to specific rules and requirements. Learning how to do this is not hard but it will take some time and effort to do so.

The writer of this article is a trainer and developer with Macresource Computer Training, an independent computer training company offering Web design Classes at their central London training centre.

Whenever you build a new website, you can almost guarantee that you will make mistakes and that there will be errors within the site that need to be fixed before it goes live. Adobe Dreamweaver has a number of tools for helping you to locate such errors and correct them. The program allows you to perform browser compatibility checks, locate broken links, orphaned files and locate syntax errors within your code.

Site testing should be an integral part of building a web site and not an isolated step which is performed after the site has been built. Every page that forms part of the site should function correctly in all its aspects in all of the browsers which the site is designed for. Using Adobe Dreamweaver’s various reports is a great way of ensuring that your site is error-free.

A key aspect of site testing is to preview your pages in as many browsers as possible. Dreamweaver’s Preview in Browser feature allows you to set up primary and secondary browsers and then add as many other browsers as you like. Each time you choose File – Preview In Browser, you can choose any of the browsers you have configured. You should also try to preview your web pages both on PCs and Macs. This multi-browser testing is particular important for testing that CSS and JavaScript is functioning correctly. What works well in one browser does not always work in another.

It is also very important to check both the text and the markup of each page. A simple omission made by many web developers is to check spelling. Naturally, this can be done in a word-processor such as Microsoft Word, prior to bringing the text into Dreamweaver. However, even in this scenario, it is quite typical to make further changes to your text within Dreamweaver. It is always a good idea, therefore, to run the spell-checker on every page. In Design mode, simply choose Check Spelling from The Command menu.

Broken links are another type of error which it is important to eliminate. These are, if nothing else, a potential cause of annoyance to your website visitor. Dreamweaver’s Link Checker will look for any links to pages that do not exist as well as locating orphaned pages; i.e., pages that do not have any links pointing to them and which will therefore not be found by your website visitors. To access Dreamweaver’s Link Checker, choose Check Links Sitewide from the Site menu.

When building websites with Adobe Dreamweaver, you will find yourself alternating between two main views of your web pages: files and document. The Files panel gives you an overview of the entire site and work with the entire site structure. It shows listings of the files in your local root folder and on your server. When you open any document, by contrast, you work on one HTML page at a time, adding and modifying content as necessary.

Once you have finished defining your site, Dreamweaver will open the Files panel automatically and the site you have just created will be the active site. You can also enter site Files view at any time by choosing Window – Files. You can activate a particular site by choosing its name from the site pop-up menu. You can also choose Site – Manage Site and then select the desired site name and click Done.

By default, the files panel shows two listings: on your right, the files in your local root folder are displayed; on your left are shown the files on your server. The toolbar above the file listing contains tools for uploading and downloading files to and from your server. Moving your mouse over an icon displays a tooltip explaining its function. The Connect button is used to establish a connection to the remote server. The Put button uploads the selected file(s) to the server. The Get button downloads files from the server.

Immediately after defining a new site, the next step is usually to create all of the HTML files your site will need together with any necessary subdirectories. To create a new file or folder in a particular folder, right click the name of the folder (or of one of the documents inside it) and choose New File or New Folder from the context menu. You can also highlight the relevant folder (or a document inside it) then choose New File or New Folder from the File menu. When creating documents, be sure to enter the necessary file extension: you may type either “.html” or “.htm”. Naturally, folder names do not need an extension.

One of the main benefits of creating all the files needed for a web site in Files panel view before beginning to edit any documents is that links between pages can then be created by browsing for the linked page which otherwise would not yet exist. Dreamweaver also has a useful Point to File facility whereby a link can be created by dragging from the link object to the linked file.

Next to each folder which contains items, Dreamweaver displays a plus sign (+) is shown. To display the contents of a folder, simply click once on the plus sign. When the contents of a folder are displayed, the plus sign changes to a minus. To hide the contents of a folder, click the minus sign.

Using Dreamweaver’s Files panel view is very similar to working in Windows Explorer or the Macintosh Finder. To delete a file or folder, click once on the item to highlight it then press Delete or Backspace. You can also right-click on the file or folder and choose Edit-Delete from the context menu. It is also important to remember that the site listing is a live indication of a section of your hard disk. When you delete a file or folder, you are deleting an item from your hard disk in real time.

To select a non-contiguous range of files and/or folders, click on the first item then, with the Control (Command) key held down, click on each of the items you wish to add to the selection. The items being selected can be in separate folders and you may collapse and expand folders during the operation without destroying the selection.

To change the name of a file or folder in Files panel view, click on it with the right mouse then choose Edit – Rename from the context menu. You can also click twice on the current name of the item, taking care that the two clicks are on slightly different parts of the name. The name will then be highlighted, ready to be edited.

The writer of this article is a developer and trainer with Macresource Computer Training, a UK IT training company offering Adobe Dreamweaver Classes in London and throughout the UK.

A web page is pure text and is therefore incapable of embedding images in the way that word processing documents can. Instead the page contains a reference to the image which enables the browser to locate and display the image when necessary. Images must be therefore be uploaded to the server along with the HTML pages. This can only take place properly if the images are located in Dreamweaver’s local root folder. Whenever you insert a graphic which is not located in the root folder of the active site, Dreamweaver displays a dialogue offering you the opportunity of saving this image in the current root folder. When this message appears, you should click the Yes button and save the image somewhere in the current root folder.

Dreamweaver Assets panel (Window – Assets) can also be used to insert images. Basically, the Assets panel displays elements which have already been used within your Dreamweaver site(s). Assets are arranged according to category: to change the category, simply click on one of the icons on the left of the panel. Images can be found in the first category. All existing image assets are available for use within your documents by simply dragging them onto a page.

If you ever need to change an existing image for an alternative, simply double-click the existing image. A dialogue labelled Select Image Source appears. This is the same dialogue which appears when the Insert Image command is used. Locate and double-click the replacement image.

As a general rule, images should be saved at the size at which they need to appear on the web page. However, where the same image appears on different pages at different sizes, it is useful to import the same image each time and resize it as necessary. This works best if the image is saved at the largest size required and reduced in size on those pages where it needs to smaller. To resize an image:

1. Highlight the image.

2. While holding down the Shift key, drag the bottom right corner handle towards or away from the centre of the image. (Holding down the Shift key retains the aspect ratio of the image.)

The term rollover image refers to the effect where an image changes appearance when the mouse passes over it. This effect is created with JavaScript. However, Dreamweaver uses visual tools to generate the necessary code.

1. Position the cursor where you want the image to go, then choose Insert – Interactive Images – Rollover Image.

2. Type in a name for the image.

3. Click the Browse button next to Original Image, then locate and double-click the appropriate image.

4. Repeat the above step for Rollover Image.

5. The final step is to create a hyperlink by clciking on the Browse button next to When Clicked Go To URL then locating and double-clicking the linked file.

The writer of this article is a trainer and developer with Macresource Computer Training, an independent computer training company offering Adobe Dreamweaver training courses at their central London training centre.

Images in Photoshop normally have three colour channels: Red, Green and Blue. However, in addition to the colour channels, Photoshop also employs channels to store information which can be used in the process of selecting and masking different pixels within an image. To distinguish such channels from colour channels, they are normally referred to as alpha channels. Alpha channels are one of the most powerful features Photoshop. However, in this article, we will focus on two techniques which generate alpha channels automatically: the Save Selection command and QuickMask mode.

If you want to work with a given portion of an image, you need to make a selection. Photoshop has a number of tools and techniques for making selections and the time taken will depend on the complexity of the subject. Certain photographic elements, such as hair, are notoriously difficult to select and may take hours. So, having made a selection, it is not unreasonable for the user to want to save the selection for later reuse. The Save Selection command, which is found in the Select menu, is one of the ways of doing this.

When you save a selection Photoshop creates an alpha channel and prompts you to give it a name. You can view the alpha channel by going to the Channel window and clicking on its name. Alpha channels are simple greyscale images which use a visual code to represent selections: the black areas on the channel represent areas which will not be highlighted when the channel is loaded as a selection and white areas represent those areas which will be highlighted. In actual fact, the reverse can be true since the user can set his or her preferences by double-clicking the channel thumbnail in the Channel window. The different levels of grey within an image represent different levels of selection. This makes alpha channels ideal for saving selections with feathering and fades.

If you view alpha channels in isolation, they are simply greyscale images. However, it is also useful to look at alpha channels at the same time as the image to which they will be applied. This means that Photoshop needs a way of representing the alpha channel which will not obscure the image. By default, the alpha channel information changes to a red overlay with an opacity of 50%: the user can change both the colour and opacity of the overlay by double-clicking the thumbnail of the alpha channel in the Channels window.

The technique of representing selection and masking as an overlayed colour is also used in Photoshop’s QuickMask mode. To enter QuickMask mode, click on the QuickMask icon on the toolbar or just press the letter “q” on the keyboard. Once in QuickMask mode, all of Photoshop’s paint tools, such as the paintbrush and gradient, can be used to make selections. Selections are represented in pretty much the same way as they are on alpha channels. In fact, if you look at the Channels window when in QuickMask mode, you will notice that Photoshop has created a temporary alpha channel called “QuickMask” which will disappear as soon as you exit QuickMask mode.

CSS enhancements

The Property Inspector can be used to change the attributes of any element you select on an HTML page. In previous versions of Dreamweaver, changing the attributes of highlighted text would cause the program to create CSS classes with names like “Style1″, “Style2″, etc. in the head area of the current page. This random creation of styles was often responsible for getting new web developers into bad habits.

Whenever you open a file which contains linked files, Dreamweaver displays each of the linked files in the Related Files Bar. To access a related file just click on its name. If you make any changes to a related file and asterisk appears next to its name in the Related Files Bar to remind you to save your changes. When you do, the impact of the changes is immediately visible in the main file.

Photoshop Smart Objects

The Photoshop integration which was begun in Dreamweaver CS3 has been enhanced in CS4 to offer via the use of Adobe’s Smart Objects technology. A Photoshop file can be imported directly into Dreamweaver and will automatically come in as a smart object.

Photoshop images are can be inserted using the same techniques as inserting any other image file: Insert – Image; dragging from the Files panel; dragging from the Assets panel; or using the Insert toolbar. A Photoshop-style Optimise window automatically appears and you can choose the settings appropriate for that particular image usually GIF, JPEG or PNG.

Access to Related Files

The fact that the image is a smart object means that if we resize it in Dreamweaver, it will automatically be re-optimised and a new version of the image will be generated with the new dimensions. (In previous versions, resizing an image would mean that the browser was responsible for resizing leading to poor image quality.

Related Files

Integration with Adobe Photoshop CS4

The Photoshop integration which was begun in Dreamweaver CS3 has been enhanced in CS4 to offer via the use of Adobe’s Smart Objects technology. A Photoshop file can be imported directly into Dreamweaver and will automatically come in as a smart object.

Improvements in working with CSS

Once the image has been imported, an icon is displayed in the upper left of the image indicating that it is a smart object. Also, in the Property Inspector, the location of the original PSD file is shown in a box marked “Original”.

In Dreamweaver CS4, the Property Inspector contains buttons which allow you to switch between HTML and CSS options. When working in the CSS options, you can now target a specific CSS rule before choosing an attribute or, if necessary, create a new rule.

Not many people would argue that Adobe Dreamweaver is one of the most widely used web development packages around. It has gained its popularity by appealing to users with a varied variety of profiles. Its user-friendly interface appeals to inexperienced users with not much expertise of the technologies that underpin web pages. At the same time, it allows knowledgeable web developers to interact with code in a variety of handy ways.

Adobe Dreamweaver enables developers to create dynamic web sites whose content is derived from a data source. Such sites feature server-side pages, written in a scripting language such as PHP, ASP or ASP.Net, which need to be executed on the server. It is therefore vital to denote a testing server as part of the site setup while defining such sites within Dreamweaver.

A Microsoft invention, Active Server Pages (ASP) is one of the easiest such languages to configure. Now referred to as classic ASP to distinguish it from ASP.Net, the current incarnation of Active Server Pages, ASP was initially released in the late nineties and revolutionised the way in which web sites were developed. ASP is designed to run on Windows 2000 server and on Windows XP Professional. It is part of Internet Information Services (IIS), an optional Windows component. Once installed, IIS converts your PC into a web server running a default website located in a folder called “wwwroot” which can be accessed with the web address “localhost/”.

Once ASP is up and running, Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 is equipped to start creating dynamic web sites. The features to be had in Dreamweaver for generating the necessary server-side content are to be found in three panels: Databases, Bindings and Server Behaviors. The Databases panel is used to create connections to data sources. In the case of ASP, the most frequent solutions are Microsoft Access and the more powerful Microsoft SQL Server. As soon as a connection to the database is in place, the Bindings panel is used to retrieve data into a recordset. The dialogue box which Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 uses for creating recordsets automatically generates fragments of SQL as the user interacts with the related data objects. However, some familiarity with SQL (structured query language) is needed to be able to retrieve specifically the data necessary for a given recordset.

The Server Behaviours panel is where the majority of the action takes place: It contains a wide variety of pre-built scripts which can be used to add dynamic content to web pages. For example, the Insert Record server behaviour can be used to create a form which adds new records to a database table via a web page or it can be used to create an enquiries sheet which adds every enquiry to an enquires table and after that takes the visitor to a thank you page.