Chapter 6. Accessing the Code Directly

IN THIS CHAPTER

  • Laying the code foundation

  • Working with the <head> section

  • Developing the <body> section

  • Exploring Code view

  • Dreamweaver Technique: Collapsing and Moving Code

  • Adding special characters

As far as most designers are concerned, in a perfect world, you could lay out a complex Web site with a visual authoring tool and never have to see the HTML and other code, much less modify it. Dreamweaver takes you a long way toward this goal—in fact, you can create many types of Web pages using only Dreamweaver's Design view. As your pages become more complex, however, you may need to tweak your code in one way or another.

Programmers, on the other hand, are happiest working directly with the code. To accomplish their goals efficiently, coders need a responsive, flexible editor capable of handling a wide range of computer languages. Just how much assistance is required is a matter of personal taste: Some code writers want all the help they can get, with features such as syntax coloring, code completion, and Code Hints, among others. Other programmers just want the editor to stay out of their way.

Dreamweaver tries to give coders the best of both worlds by providing a full-featured editor with numerous options. In addition to the features mentioned in the preceding paragraph, Dreamweaver includes full tag libraries in numerous languages: HTML, CFML, ASP.NET, JSP, and PHP, to name a few. Both hand-coders and visual designers can enjoy the benefits of Dreamweaver ...

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