The Workflow for Dynamic Page Design

A key benefit provided by Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 is the ability to create dynamic websites without having to be experienced in programming languages. The Dreamweaver visual tools let you develop dynamic websites without having to hand code the complex programmatic logic required to create a site that displays dynamic content stored in a database. Dreamweaver lets you create dynamic websites using any of several popular web programming languages and server technologies. These include Macromedia ColdFusion, ASP.NET, Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP), JavaServer Pages (JSP), and PHP.

This chapter outlines the key steps you must follow to successfully design and create a dynamic website. At the end of each section, you will find references to the specific procedures necessary to develop a dynamic page. The five key steps to developing a dynamic web page are as follows:

Designing the page

Creating a source of dynamic content

Adding dynamic content to a web page

Enhancing the functionality of a dynamic page

Testing and debugging the page