Adobe® Dreamweaver® CS4 Bible

8

Part I

Laying the Groundwork in Dreamweaver CS4

FIGURE 1-5

The revamped Property inspector identifies the existing rule for the current selection and makes it easy to

modify related properties or create a new CSS rule.

Property inspector’s

HTML and CSS tabs

One of the biggest innovations in the previous version of Dreamweaver, the JavaScript framework

known as Spry, continues to evolve. Now, it’s easier than ever to incorporate external data into Ajax-

driven pages. The X in Ajax stands for XML and, while Dreamweaver still supports the integration

of XML data sets, it now also can work with HTML data. Whether you set up your data in a table

of images and text or a series of divs or lists, the completely revamped Spry Data Sets feature can

handle it. Step through a wizard-like interface to identify data columns, define data types, and even

format the output data. Spry Data Sets are a major advance for designers looking to make their pages

more interactive and take advantage of modern Web practices.

In addition to Spry Data Sets, other Spry enhancements have been included in Dreamweaver CS4.

The new Spry Tooltip object brings additional, optional information to your Web pages. The Spry

Tooltip can be applied to any element on the page, such as a text phrase or image, and not just a

link. You also have control over the tooltip’s look-and-feel (Figure 1-6) as well as its method of