Using Dreamweaver, InContext Editing, and Spry to build a dynamic site

As a web developer, I've built numerous dynamic websites. Almost all of them have one thing in common: a simple administrator interface. This is where the client comes in and, using a variety of forms, can do basic editing of his or her content. I'll typically provide a list of articles in a simple table. The client clicks on a particular item to edit it. They then use a form to edit the values for an article. If the client is lucky, he or she may have a rich text editor when writing the content, but normally the entire process is separated from the actual public view of the content. Smarter clients may use multiple tabs in their browsers, so it's easier to see their edits while they work, but as you can guess, this isn't the most ideal situation.

Adobe has come up with a pretty interesting solution: InContext Editing, a new service to allow others to edit your web pages online within the context of the site itself. This makes it a heck of a lot easier for a client to see how edits will look when released to the public. You can enable that editing using Dreamweaver (as in this article), a third-party editor, or InContext Editing alone.

In this article, I'll show you how you can use Dreamweaver, InContext Editing, and the Spry Framework for Ajax to build a simple data-driven site that users without HTML or Ajax knowledge can edit.

Important: Before getting started with InContext Editing, you need to be aware of the following: InContext Editing is a new service to allow others to edit your web pages online. You cannot play with InContext Editing on your local server. You must have a web server available on the net.

For example, I created a web server named icedemo.coldfusionjedi.com. I set up DNS so it responded correctly and then ensured I could hit a page there with my web browser. The next thing you need to set up is FTP. The services side of the equation involves Adobe FTP-ing resources back and forth to your site (don't worry, this is nice and secure).

What I recommend is creating an FTP account that is specifically tied to the host you created. Lock it down so it can't get out and everything should be kosher.

Requirements

In order to make the most of this article, you need the following software and files:

Dreamweaver CS4

• Try
• Buy

Prerequisite knowledge

Basic HTML knowledge and familiarity with the Dreamweaver workspace, site management, and building websites. You also want to be familiar with Creating a Spry HTML data set (optional).

Page 1 of 4

Next Page

About the author