Resources for Web Design + Dreamweaver

If you are new to web design, you may want to use the class templates for your site. Please remember that these are only designed to be learning tools; you can and should move beyond them as soon as you feel confident working with Dreamweaver.

Click here to download the templates for your website. To see the basic web design guide (in PDF format) for the class, click here. (Right-click the link to download the PDF.)

The software you will need to create your website is available for download to MIT students (see the end of this page), but is also available in various locations on the MIT campus:

Location Access Software + Equipment
10-485 Unlocked 9-5; otherwise course 11 card access
*Non-majors can get card access for the semester; see Charlotte Liu in 10-485. 		Adobe CS2, Dreamweaver
2 scanners, slide scanner
Color printer
W20 cluster Cluster combo Adobe CS2, Dreamweaver
CRN (9-547) Unlocked 9-5; otherwise, Course 11 card access Adobe CS2, Dreamweaver, ArcGIS (mapping software)
Scanner across hallway (requires Course 11 ID card)
Color printer (colormaps)
37-312 cluster Cluster combo and ID card Adobe CS2, Dreamweaver, ArcGIS (mapping software)
Color printer (echo)

Web Design

The Web Style Guide is an online resource that covers almost all elements of web design, with a particular focus on good and bad page layout:
http://www.webstyleguide.com/

You may want to pay special attention to the following areas of this guide:

In designing your site, remember that the web as a medium has different properties than more traditional media like printed papers and publications. Your site should not simply present your paper online; take advantage of hyperlinks, images, and other aspects of the online world that can make your site unique and innovative.

Getting Your Site Online

For this class, we recommend either SecureFX (or Fetch for Macs) or OpenAFS for transferring your files from your computer to your Athena webspace. SecureFX will allow you to transfer files within the program, whereas OpenAFS adds a network drive to Windows Explorer that allows you to drag and drop files into your Athena webspace as you do with the local files on your computer.

This page from MIT explains how to transfer files from your computer to your Athena webspace using SecureFX:
http://web.mit.edu/ist/web/reference/webspace/index.html

This page has useful information on setting up your web space and designing your web page at Harvard, along with info on getting Dreamweaver:
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~help/kbhtml/kb0032.shtml

To set up a web site from Wellesley, you can use the student-run "Wilbur" server that gives free web space to all Wellesley students (this also has a little bit of web design help):
http://wilbur.wellesley.edu

Dreamweaver Basics

This page has information for MIT students on how to get Dreamweaver, which you can probably also find on any Windows-based machine at MIT:
http://itinfo.mit.edu/product.php?name=dreamweaver

Additional Software

You may need Photoshop to edit your images. If you are a student in Course 4 or Course 11, you can get a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 2 (Adobe CS2) for free, during your years at MIT.

Adobe CS2 includes Photoshop (image editor), InDesign (document layout), and Illustrator (drawing). If you are in Course 4, contact your network administrator to get the software. If you are in Course 11, there are instructions here.

Troubleshooting

Having trouble with Dreamweaver? Check the forums and links above in the Dreamweaver section of this page. Macromedia's Dreamweaver support page is really good for answering questions. If you still can't get it to work for you, try this guide. If you have additional questions or problems, please don't hesitate to contact Marissa Cheng.