Can I add Video to a Web Page using Fireworks?

On adding video to a web page using Fireworks, you can't do that. Fireworks is designed to create graphics for web pages, it is not designed to create actual web pages. Fireworks assumes that you will be interfacing with Dreamweaver to create the actual web page, so you will need to place any multimedia using Dreamweaver.

But, you can use Fireworks to lay out the page so that it is ready to accept video in Dreamweaver. What you need to do to make sure that your layout is not affected is to put in a placeholder image using Fireworks that is the same size as the video you want to insert using Dreamweaver, that will create a properly sized place for the video to go. Then simply replace the placeholder image with the video in Dreamweaver. If you open the Fireworks Help file and do a search for Video you will get step by step instructions on putting in a placeholder image.

Fixing palette and menu locations in Dreamweaver 8

Hi George:

I did something to dreamweaver and lost the side panel and properties director.

These things came up automatically. Also, when I did this, I could not expand the page to the side to see the files, css etc. Nor, Can I expand the file downwards.

Could you please let me know how to make this correction.

Try this. Go to the Window menu,

Scroll down towards the bottom

You will see Workspace Layout

Clicking on that will open up a flyout menu

Click on Designer in the flyout menu, that is the default for Dreamweaver

That should put everything back to the normal setting.

George

Some thoughts on Computer Monitors

"Hi George,

I'm starting to look for a new computer monitor that will be used primarily for Photoshop editing etc. There are a number of 20" to 22" inch widescreen LCD monitors in the under $300.00 range - however, I'm not sure if widescreen systems are the best choice for digital editing. I noticed some of the specs describe 1680 x 1050 resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio. The small print in the specs also say if you use a resolution other than the recommended one, you may see degradation or other visual artifacts.

Any tips on what I should look for in a monitor or suggestions on specific models that you might have experience with would be greatly appreciated." ....

No specific recommendations, but I do have some general ones. First off, if you are looking for exacting color accuracy then you should be looking at a CRT and not an LCD. Most people don't need exact color match, but if you are working in the printing industry then this could be a consideration (designing magazine ads for instance). Any design work for the web or digital output (CDs, DVDs) really doesn't need the high color accuracy of a CRT, since you have no control over what monitor the image will be viewed on. Differences in viewing monitors will be much larger than any color inaccuracy in an LCD.

The more expensive the LCD, generally the better the color accuracy. I do all of my design work using a CRT, but I have an LCD as a second monitor on my system.

As far as screen resolution goes, it really doesn't matter. Basically the larger the resolution the smaller the images will appear on the screen, so with a large screen you can go for a large resolution. A smaller screen would require a smaller resolution so that the images (icons, text, etc.) would not get too small to be useful. Most CRTs can change resolution with no loss of quality. Most LCDs are limited to a small number of resolution settings and many are limited to one recommended setting. Changing resolutions on an LCD can cause a significant loss of quality, so you should stick with the recommended setting. A wide screen useful in a few cases: you can see a larger desktop on your computer (like taking a normal screen and stretching it out sideways to show more of the desktop). This would allow you to have more room on your screen to work with, which can be useful if you are creating wide images, like 2 page magazine spreads. Of course a wide screen will also show wide screen DVD movies more accurately, so if you plan on watching movies on your computer a widescreen LCD would be a good choice. Also if you are planning on editing video, then the same advantage applies. Most print design work is vertical so a wide screen would not be an advantage there. Basically with a wide screen you can have your program opened up normally and still have some space off to the side to show more stuff. But aside from that there is no real design advantage to having a wide screen.

As far as specific models, go with a well known name brand, my personal preference is for IBM and NEC but there are lots of other good name brands out there. Don't get a budget monitor, you will get what you pay for. There are many areas in the computer world where price and quality don't really matter, but Monitors are one of the few areas where it is worth spending a little more for better quality.

George

Putting borders on tables in Dreamweaver 8

Question:

Hi:
I Purchased you complete software program dream weaver 8. I am having a problem. When I want to create a new document Basic - HTML, I then put in a background display which is twinkling stars GIF. I go to insert and put in a layer. The layer box that shows is in blue. I then go to insert a table. When the table appears it does not show any rows or columns it is as if they are hidden. I know I programmed the table right giving it rows, columns etc. I don't understand why the table does not show the rows and columns. I must of done something to hide them and this pertains to all the tables that I sent up in my web site. I might of changed the visual and preferences but I am not sure. Please help me with this.

Answer:

By default there is no border shown on tables in Dreamweaver. You can easily add a border using the Properties palette below the design window. You can also show a design outline for the table if you want to see the borders, but not have them showing on the web.
To put a border on the table that will show on the web:
Click anyplace inside the table,
Then below the design window you will see a line of text something like this: body table tr td
It won't necessarily be exactly the same, just similar.
Click on the table text that is furthest to the left, this will select the whole table on your page
Now in the design panel below the design window you will see the properties for the table, where it says Border with a box after it put a 1 in the box, this will add a 1 point border to your table. Try different numbers to see what happens.

To put a border on the table that only shows in Dreamweaver Design View, but does not show on the web:
Click on the View menu
Click on Visual Aids,
Then click on Table Borders.
This will put dotted lines around all of your tables, rows, and cells, making them easy to see while you work on your layout.
These dotted lines will not show up on the web, only in Dreamweaver Design View.

George

Using PageMaker to create interactivity

> Hello. I recently purchased the pagemaker training and found it very
> helpful, so thanks for that. However, I am trying to design an
> interactive manual, similar to the "How to Gurus" home page, where you
> have a listing on the left side of the screen and by clicking on a topic
> it will take you to that subject. Can that be accomplished in pagemaker?
> If so, I would like to know the best way to do it. Any help would be
> appreciated. ..............Thanks


PageMaker is designed for creating printed material, not interactive
materials. So you can't create the interactivity in PageMaker. What you can
do though is to do the design/layout in PageMaker, then save the file as
Adobe Acrobat (this would of course require that you also own the full
version of Acrobat). You can then put together the interactivity in Acrobat.
This is basically what I did for an e-Book that I am giving away on our home
page, the e-Book was designed in InDesign, but I didn't do anything that you
couldn't do in PageMaker. Once the e-Book was laid out I saved it as a PDF
file (Adobe Acrobat), opened it in Acrobat and then put in the interactivity
by creating links to the different pages. We don't currently have any
training on Acrobat, but it is pretty easy to use and has a good help file.
Go to www.howtogurus.com to get the free e-Book for an example of using a
page layout program (PageMaker, InDesign, QuarkXPress) along with Acrobat to
create interactivity.

George

Photoshop Elements 5 saved Image location

I have purchased your training for Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 but still have a few questions.

I received an email from another person that has Adobe Photoshop Elements 5. It seemed like they were having trouble with having disconnected files and a hard time trying to burn them as a backup onto a CD. What method do I use to prevent that?

I have a file system on the computer where my pictures are organized. I have not moved all of them to Adobe Photoshop as yet especially after i heard this i was hesitant.

I was also confused with making a duplicate copy of all the pictures. When i have edited a picture it seems to make another copy and my original is still there. What is the need to make a duplicate copy?

Thanks Luella

----------------

Hi,

Photoshop Elements always makes backup copies of files and works on the backup. It never edits the original file directly. This is a safety precaution. If you go into the Organizer side of Elements, then open up the Edit menu and click on Preferences, the click on Files (or click on General, then on Files) you will get a page which shows you the different preferences set for saving files in Elements. On the bottom of this page it will show you where Elements saves the catalog (thumbnails shown in Organizer) and where it saves the files that it is working on. You can change where Elements saves files by clicking on the Browse button and choosing a different folder. When you backup the files that you have worked on to a CD you need to backup the files in this folder. If you want to save a specific file to a specific folder location then open the file in Elements Editor and click on File/Save As, then navigate to the folder you want to save to.

My guess on your friend's problem is that they don't understand how Elements organizes files and they were backing up the wrong location. You are also able in Elements Organizer to Move the Files Offline (a file menu option), what this does is put the working files anywhere you choose and only keep a thumbnail in the Elements file folder. Then if you backup the Elements file folder you will only get the thumbnails, not the actual files.

My recommendation in Elements is to set the preferences (as described above) so that you know exactly where Elements is saving the files. Then all you need to do is save that file location. I admit this is one drawback in Elements, that it wants to use its own organization scheme, but as long as you understand what it is doing it should not be a problem.

So, real basic description: When you add images to Elements Organizer it simply creates thumbnails of your original images and displays the thumbnails. It saves the thumbnail images in a location displayed in Preferences/File. When you edit a file in Elements Organizer or Elements Editor it saves the edited version in a location displayed in Preferences/File and leaves the original alone. You can change the location of thumbnails and saved files using Edit/Preferences/File. And you can save a single file to a specific location using Elements Editor/File/Save As.

George

Do I need to learn ActionScript 3.0 to use the new Flash CS3

Do I need to learn ActionScript 3.0 to use the new Flash CS3 or can I still use ActionScript 2?

ActionScript 3.0 was a major change over previous versions, although the
basic programming language stays the same. The layout of 3.0 is different.
But, you can still program in ActionScript 2.0 if you are using Flash CS3
and there is no reason not to unless you are an advanced programmer. When
you open up the Actions pane in CS3 there is a drop down list that lets you
select which version of ActionScript you want to use. You can also decide on
which version you want to use when you create a new file.

George

Sound Controls using ActionScript

Question:
I installed a instrumental drum music on stage from the
library in flash CS2 and a layer of 2 buttons on the stage named "sound
on" and "sound off". I cannot get the correct scripting for shutting off
and on when pressing the relative buttons. I have also asked a few friends
and no luck. Please help. I have the music on "loop" and "stream".


Answer:
The function you want to use is setVolume()

For no sound it should look like this setVolume(0)
For full sound it should look like this setVolume(100)

With the number being the percentage of sound.

"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.