Tip: Modify Dreamweaver’s default HTML New Document

Dreamweaver inserts an incomplete DOCTYPE in its default New Document. You can modify that. In Dreamweaver, open the default.html page located in Dreamweaver’s Application Folder > Configuration/DocumentTypes/NewDocuments. Look at Code View and find the DOCTYPE in line one. It says:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN”>
Edit that line to add a URL before the closing greater than bracket, like this:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN”
“http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd”>
Save and close the page.

Congratulations! Every new default HTML page you create with Dreamweaver will now have a correct DOCTYPE.

This tip is from the Student edition of Macromedia Dreamweaver MX for Windows and Macintosh Visual Quickstart Guide that I’m in the process of writing.

New Dreamweaver MX books

Many new titles are appearing for Dreamweaver MX now. One I haven’t seen yet is Building Web Sites with Macromedia Studio MX. The three authors are Tom Green, Jordan Chilcott and Chris Flick, all well known in the Dreamweaver ‘community.’ They say the book takes a different approach to the topic and that the book’s supporting web site will offer many resources related to Macromedia MX. More to come on this one, as soon as I know more.

Tip: Dreamweaver MX Site Definitions on OS X

We have previously explained how to find the preferences file for the Dreamweaver site definitions using a Mac. With Mac OS X and the new Dreamweaver MX, the site definitions have moved. Here is where to find them now.

/Users/<username>/Library/Preferences/Dreamweaver MX Prefs

This is the file that contains your FTP info and your passwords. Making a backup copy if you have to reinstall DW can save you a lot of time.