Using Adobe GoLive CS, Part 1

If GoLive has an Object palette where the sibling application's toolbox resides, does it mean that GoLive is toolbox-less? Au contraire, mon ami! If you look closely at the toolbar at the top of your screen, you'll see that what initially appears to be one toolbar is actually three toolbars docked together: the Main toolbar, the Document toolbar, and the Version Cue toolbar. You can turn one or all of the toolbars off via the Window menu, but you need to separate them first. Put your cursor over one of the dividers and it will turn into a white hand icon; now click and drag to detach a toolbar from its neighbors.

The Main toolbar is context-sensitive like the Inspector palette. It will contain a different set of tools depending on whether you are working on a page, a site, a layout grid, and so on (see Figure 9.10).

Figure 9.10 The Main toolbar helpfully switches its set of tools according to what you are working on. Here are the two modes you'll see the most.

As we go through this chapter, we'll learn how to use the Objects palette, the toolbars, and the Inspector palette together to easily create pages, place images and text on those pages, link them together to build a Web site, and upload the whole caboodle to the Web server.

Understanding the Site Window

The site window is your best friend. Never work on individual pages without first opening the site window if you want your site to be trouble free. GoLive depends on the site window to do its heavy-duty link checking and site management; so heed this simple rule of thumb and your job will be significantly easier. Open a site now. Notice that the site window is split into two panes, and that each pane has a series of tabs across the top. There's a good reason for that...keep reading.

The Files Tab

Click the Files tab on the left side of the site window. Any item that will ultimately end up on the Web server, such as HTML pages, images, QuickTime movies, PDFs, or external CSS or JavaScript files, will be listed in the Files tab. This tab is a reflection of the items that physically exist in the web-content folder of the site.

From within the site window you can create new pages or folders, rename pages or folders, or move any of them around just as you would in the Mac's Finder or in Windows Explorer. The difference between doing those things on your desktop and doing them in the Site window is that when you use the Site window all your links and references remain intact. Promise me now that you will always work with your site window opened!