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Part I
Laying the Groundwork in Dreamweaver CS4
For complete details about working with JavaScript behaviors, see Chapter 12.
Once you’ve developed and tested your page, you can extract the JavaScript and place it
in an external file for a cleaner source code page. The Externalize JavaScript command
gives you the option of just moving the JavaScript functions or also employing an unobtrusive JavaScript
technique, which replaces the trigger attributes, like
onClick, with external DOM functions.
Program Extensibility
One of Dreamweaver’s primary strengths is its extensibility. Virtually no two Web sites are alike,
either in their design or execution. With such a tremendous variety of results, the more flexible a Web
authoring tool, the more useful it is to a larger group of designers. When it was introduced, Dream-
weaver broke new ground with objects and behaviors that were easily customizable. Now, Dream-
weaver lengthens its lead with custom floaters, commands, translators, and Property inspectors. The
basic underpinnings of Dreamweaver can even be extended with C-Level Extensibility options.
Objects and behaviors
In Dreamweaver parlance, an object is a bit of HTML code that represents a specific image or HTML
tag, such as a
<table> or a <form>. Dreamweaver’s objects are completely open to user customiza-
tion, or even out-and-out creation. For example, if you’d rather import st ...