Dreamweaver CS3

1. Dreamweaver CS3

   You will need Dreamweaver CS3 (obviously). The tutorial assumes that you are using Dreamweaver CS3. There are versions of Dreamweaver for both Windows and Mac OS X — either version will do fine. For the most part, both versions work in the same way.
   
   Note: if you are using Dreamweaver CS4, please see my other tutorial series Dreamweaver CS4 Tutorial instead. The latter was written specifically for that version of Dreamweaver, and takes advantage of some of its newer features. Likewise, Dreamweaver CS5.5 users should read the Dreamweaver CS5.5 Tutorial and Dreamweaver CS5 users the Dreamweaver CS5 Tutorial.

2. A Web Hosting Account

   You will need a web host to publish your pages to. For the complete beginner, a web host is (loosely speaking) a company which has computers that are permanently connected to the Internet. After you design your web page(s), you will need to transfer your pages to your web host's computer (called a web server), so that the rest of the world can see it. There are numerous web hosts around — you can find a list of cheap web hosts on http://www.thefreecountry.com/webhosting/budget1.shtml
   

There are other things involved in getting your first web site up and running, such as getting your own domain name, making your website search engine friendly and promoting your web site. This tutorial however does not deal with those matters — it is strictly about designing (creating) and publishing (uploading) your website using Dreamweaver. If you are a total beginner, you may want to consult my article How to Start / Create Your Own Website: The Beginner's A-Z Guide for an overview of the entire process and all the things you will need.

Overall Goals of the Dreamweaver Tutorial

By the end of this tutorial, you will have set up a working website with multiple pages, including a main page, a feedback form, an About Us page, and a Site Map. Your pages will contain a sophisticated navigation menu bar, images, multiple columns, a form, links to other pages within your site, links to other sites, text in different font sizes, etc. In other words, you will have a fully functional website.
More importantly, you will know how to use Dreamweaver to create, design and publish your site so that you can design new sites any time you want.