Dreamweaver 8: The Missing Manual

Chapter 18. Automating Dreamweaver

One of Dreamweaver’s greatest selling points is that it makes you more productive. You’ve experienced this firsthand if you ever labored over tables in an HTML text editor. What once took many keystrokes now takes one click of the Insert bar’s Table object.

If you’re looking for even more ways to cut time off your day, Dreamweaver doesn’t disappoint. In addition to its Snippets, Library, and Template features (see Chapters 16 and 17), the program offers two tools that let you automate common and time-consuming tasks—the History panel and the Find/Replace command—as well as one tool that makes creating graphic photo albums a snap.

The History Panel Revisited

As you work on a Web page, Dreamweaver keeps track of everything you do. You can see a list of your actions—your history—in the History panel. Each document has a separate history, which Dreamweaver discards when you close the document or quit the program.

You can use the History panel to quickly undo or redo multiple actions (see Section 2.5), but that’s only the tip of the iceberg. You can also use it to replay and record a series of actions you wish to repeat. If you’ve ever used macros in Microsoft Word or actions in Adobe Photoshop, you’ll probably quickly get the hang of this feature.

To open the History panel, choose Window → History, or press Shift+F10 (see Figure 18-1).

Replay Your Steps

To replay a step in the History panel, click the step’s name to highlight it. You can also select multiple ...