Smaaz’s Blog

Dreamweaver’s Approach To Css

Because of its ability to separate design from content, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) has become an extremely important technology in web development. A single CSS document can contain information regarding the position of elements on all the pages in a web site as well as style information such as font, sizes and colours. In terms of building websites, CSS definitely represents the future.

Adobe Dreamweaver has long had support for the use of CSS and has responded to the growing importance of this pivotal technology. Dreamweaver’s implementation of CSS is all the more important since many of the people using the program are not specialist web developers and rely on Dreamweaver to guide them through the maze of technologies which drive web pages.

Dreamweaver CS3 is the first version of the program which assumes that the user will want to use CSS to control the layout of their web pages. To assist inexperienced and would-be web developers, each time a new page is created, the program allows the user to choose allocate a preset CSS layout to the page. There are about 30 such layouts and they come in single, double and three column varieties.

CSS page layout is based in the DIV element, an HTML container which can be used to hold an arbitrary amount of web content. The CSS rules control the appearance and positioning of DIVs on the page. Dreamweaver CS3’s preset CSS layouts create a series of DIVs containing placeholder text and basic formatting. The placeholder text, as well as the code underlying the page, both contain useful explanations of how the page has been constructed and a few tips on how to personalise them.

CSS works most efficiently when you can place all of your CSS code in one external file and link that file to each of your HTML pages. Dreamweaver CS3 still does not make it easy for inexperienced users to create CSS-based pages in this way. If the user creates ten web pages based on Dreamweaver’s preset CSS designs, each will have its own code embedded within the page itself. There is, however, a great feature for moving embedded code across to an external CSS file. You just select a series of CSS definitions, right-click and choose “Move CSS Rules” which is available in the “CSS Styles” section of the context menu.

Moving CSS code into an external file is not something a beginner would be expected to think of doing and is not something that Dreamweaver recommends to new users. So, in spite of the improvements, some familiarity with CSS is still required to get Dreamweaver to handle CSS efficiently.

It is also disappointing that Dreamweaver still automatically generates CSS styles called “style1”, etc. each time the user applies a font or colour to selected text. Surely it would be easier to simply remove these basic attributes and just let the user either apply a style to the selection or, if no styles exist, create a new one. Perhaps this will be introduced in the next release of this excellent program.

The writer of this article is a developer and trainer with Macresource Computer Solutions, an independent computer training company offering Adobe Dreamweaver training courses in London and throughout the UK.

Add comment October 9th, 2007

Google opens new content distribution channel on AdSense

As media becomes more and more fragmented, content providers and advertisers are looking for new ways to distribute their messages to the right audiences at scale. To better connect content providers with consumers and to give publishers new ways to further engage their audiences, Google today announced the availability of video units, the first offering for content distribution on AdSense. Video units enable AdSense publishers to display relevant, targeted video content within a customized, embedded player that’s ad-supported. Google is working with select YouTube content partners including TV Guide Broadband, Expert Village, Mondo Media, lonelygirl15, Extreme Elements, and Ford Models to supply the video content. The video units are user-initiated and will play only after a user has clicked to play the video.

The ads within the video unit are targeted based on a combination of the video content and the publisher’s site content. Advertisers are charged on a cost-per-click or cost-per-impression basis. Ads appear as a companion banner ad at the top of the video unit and as a text ad on the bottom portion of the video once the video begins playing. AdSense publishers and YouTube content partners will receive a share of the ad revenue.

Content distribution on AdSense improves the overall web experience by connecting consumers with more relevant information and entertainment on the sites they visit. This new program is a scalable and cost-effective way to distribute content online, creates a new revenue opportunity for publishers and content owners, and helps advertisers reach their target audiences in new and innovative ways. It will also allow AdSense publishers a unique way to enhance their sites with fresh, dynamic content.

Video units are now available in the U.S. for English language websites. Over the coming months, Google will expand the program to include other types of content to bring these benefits to content owners no matter their medium of choice.

For more information, please see: http://adsense.blogspot.com/.

Add comment October 9th, 2007