AECT WORKSHOP - 05-CC Lloyd Rieber IMPORTANT WORKSHOP PREPARATION NOTES
The purpose of this note is to give you some up-to-the-moment information about the workshop. Second, a reminder of the key workshop prerequisite: All participants should already be competent and comfortable using Dreamweaver to create static pages. This is very important because this workshop will *not* introduce Dreamweaver to you. We will be focusing attention on using Dreamweaver to create dynamic Web sites using PHP that interact with a MySQL database stored on a web server. You need to already be completely comfortable using DW to create/manage web sites involving static content. Third, AECT will not be furnishing any hardware or software for this workshop. (I assume they told you this or made it clear in their promotional materials.) It is expected that all workshop presenters and participants will bring their own laptops with the Dreamweaver CS3 or CS4 software already installed -- Mac or PC is fine (but earlier versions of DW may not work.) Given that this is only a half-day workshop, I have planned a workshop that is about half demonstration and half hands-on, with the hands-on portion being very guided. You will not have the opportunity to truly practice the skills during the workshop. In addition, even this plan could be severely affected by the following item... Internet Access I've told to expect Internet access at the workshop for all participants only via a wireless network. I can only hope that this wireless network will be strong and stable because database connectivity requires constant access to a web server. In doing this workshop for AECT in previous years, I know from experience that one never knows for sure until arriving on site to check it out. However, things look promising this year, but I am, of course, a little worried that we'll find out on the day of the workshop that the Internet is not available or not working well. So, to be fair, I think everyone needs to understand that this workshop may need to be conducted *solely* as a demonstration with little or no hands-on activities if the Internet is not available. At 1:00 pm, we will begin the workshop regardless of the state of any single person's computer. If your computer is not ready to go at that time, you will need to accept the fact that your attendance at the workshop will be as a demonstration format. I do apologize for all of this, but I would rather everyone be completely informed as to the situation of things now, rather than get upset at the start of the workshop. Again, I'm optimistic about having Internet access at the workshop. All that said, I am truly looking forward to conducting this workshop and I think you will even find it useful if we revert to demo mode only. The ability to use database connectivity on a web site opens up tremendous opportunities. Even as a demonstration, I think attending this workshop will be beneficial. (And, after all, it is only $15!) Dreamweaver Extension One more thing. Although it is not totally necessary, I would like attendees to download and install the following Dreamweaver Extension prior to the workshop: 'Go To Detail Page for PHP' Server Behavior Here is the specific web site where you can download this free extension: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&extid=627434 Again, it's free. This little extension will make one step of the workshop
much easier to perform. (If you don't install it, that's OK, but you'll be
forced to type in a very cryptic piece of code every time you need to add
the "go to detail page" behavior, which is a very common behavior when If you have any questions, please let me know. See you in Louisville! Lloyd P.S. And if time permits at the end, I'd love to show you Google Forms and compare and contrast it to using DW with PHP. |