Dreamweaver MX 2004: Your Connection to the Internet

Installing Dreamweaver itself could not be simpler. As a matter of fact, as long as you can double-click a mouse and respond to a few simple questions—What is your name? Can you find your serial number?—you should have no problem installing Dreamweaver on your computer.

But you are entering the world of Web development, and in this world the software you use to build your pages is only one small part of the set of programs you will need to be familiar with in order to successfully construct and deploy a data-driven Web application. You will need to make several decisions about the platforms and applications you want to work with while constructing your site. Besides installing Dreamweaver, you will also need to arrange for access to one or more of the following:

• A Web server

• An application server

• A data store

• A staging server

• A live data server

Also, because Dreamweaver supports multiple development platforms, you will need to decide which of these you will be using and make sure that all your choices are compatible with one another.

Let’s look at your options.

You are likely familiar with the way the World Wide Web works, but a refresher never hurts (see Figure 1-5). When you create pages in Dreamweaver, no matter what platform you choose, you will use some kind of FTP program to upload them to a computer that is running a Web server. The Web server program is responsible for receiving and processing HTTP requests that are generated when a user types a URL into his or her browser.

Figure 1-5 How the Web works

Depending on where your host machine is located and who owns it, you may or may not have much control over which Web server you use. Quite a number are available, and the kind of hardware and operating system you are using will narrow your choice to some degree. Some are free (or at least free with the operating system), such as Microsoft’s Internet Information Services (IIS) and Apache, and others you’ll need to purchase. Table 1-1 provides a list of some of the more popular Web servers and the platforms they support.

Table 1-1  Popular Web Servers and the Platforms They Support