Summary

  1. To discover the power and pitfalls of Dreamweaver 2004 MX (7.0.1) and how it can help with accessibility and validated code.
  2. Learn about inexpensive software to encrypt web pages

This is one session from the Colorado State University Professional Development Institute presented on January 6, 2005.

Evaluations

Dreamweaver's Power and Pitfalls

  • Drag and Drop Layers (Pitfall) – Insert > Layer Objects> Layer. Content may layout correctly in the browser but the reading order is typically out of order. If out of order, can be confusing for screen reader users.
  • Properties Box (Powerful/Pitfalls) - Use it to markup content, correctly or incorrectly.
  • Manage Site (Powerful) – prompts to update links when files are renamed or moved. Our webmasters are cleaning up the server files by changing file names to lowercase with dot-three extensions in anticipation of XML.
  • Find and Replace (Powerful) – more than just text. Also source code and specific tags, specifically deprecated tags.
  • Preferences (Powerful) – accessibility and code formatting. Set it and forget it.
  • Convert to XHTML (Powerful)
  • Validator (Not so powerful) – once error-free in Dreamweaver, test with online validators such as W3C’s. Tip: before propagating new web pages from an existing file, make sure the existing file validates for correct coding and accessibility!
  • Link Checker (Overall OK). Checks broken links (powerful), external links, orphaned files (not always accurate).
  • Clean Up XHTML (OK) – may have to manually clean up
  • Clean Up Word HTML (OK) – may have to manually clean up

Encryption Software

Main goal: block students from printing WebCT quizzes

Other items and functions to block:

  • Copying and pasting of items to the clipboard, including URL
  • Email addresses from automatic email harvesters to avoid spam
  • Blocks the right click "Save" function on images
  • Ability to add a generic password to file(s)

What we use – HTML Protector http://antssoft.com/

Holes Discovered

  • Screen capture programs
  • Digital cameras
  • Cell phones with built-in cameras

Partially encrypted pages allow users to view the source code, take out the encrypting code, and save the file. When opened again, the encrypting code is gone. Solution is to encrypt the whole page, a choice within the software under the Encryption Tab.