Dreamweaver has preference settings that control the general appearance of the Dreamweaver user interface as well as options related to specific features such as layers, style sheets, HTML, external editors, and previewing pages in browsers. Information about specific preference options is provided throughout this help system in conjunction with the associated feature topic.
See one of the following topics for information about the various preference options:
Use General preferences to enter settings that control the general appearance of the Dreamweaver user interface.
To change these preferences, choose Edit > Preferences, and then click General.
Update Links Determines what Dreamweaver does when you move, rename, or delete a document within your site (always updates links automatically, never updates links, or prompts you to perform an update). See Managing links.
Dictionary Lists the dictionaries available in the Configuration/Dictionary folder inside the Dreamweaver application folder. If a dictionary contains multiple dialects or spelling conventions (for example, UK English and US English), they are listed separately in the Dictionary pop-up menu.
Color Scheme Specifies the colors of Dreamweaver palettes and inspectors. The options are Dreamweaver Two-Tone, Desktop Two-Tone, and Desktop Standard.
Object Palette Lets you view the contents of the Object palette as Text and Icons, Text Only, or Icons Only.
Add Extension when Saving Automatically adds the specified extension (for example, .html, .htm, .asp, or any other extension that describes an HTML document) to the filename when you save the file. The default extension is added only when you don't supply one.
Faster Table Editing (Deferred Update) Makes typing in tables faster by deferring some adjustment of column widths and row heights until you click outside the table. If this option is on, you can update the table while editing by pressing Control-Spacebar (Windows) or Command-Spacebar (Macintosh).
Open Files in New Window (Windows only) Makes it easier to open several documents at once. When this option is off, files open in the current window, replacing the current document. Files always open in a new window on the Macintosh.
Show Only Site Window on Startup Displays only the Site window and open palettes rather than a new document when Dreamweaver starts up.
Show Dialog When Inserting Objects Determines if Dreamweaver prompts you to enter additional information when inserting images, tables, and Shockwave movies with the Object palette. If this option is off, the dialog box does not appear and you must use the Property inspector to specify the source file for images, the number of rows in a table, and so on. For rollover images, a dialog box always appears when you insert the object, regardless of this option setting.
Enable Double-Byte Inline Input When this option is selected, you can input double-byte text (such as Japanese characters) in the Document window. When this option is deselected, a text input window appears for entering and converting text. The text appears in the Document window after it is accepted.
Use Fonts/Encoding preferences to set the default fonts and font encoding for Dreamweaver. These settings, like a browser's fonts preferences, let you work with text in the font and size you prefer without affecting how the document appears when viewed by others from a browser.
To change fonts/encoding preferences, choose Edit > Preferences, click Fonts/Encoding, and choose the desired options.
Default Encoding Specifies the encoding that is used when a new page is created or when a document is opened that does not specify any encoding using a META tag. The META tag is inserted in the head of the document and tells the browser and Dreamweaver how the document should be decoded and what fonts should be used to display the decoded text. For example:
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If Western(Latin1) is specified the following META tag is inserted: <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">. |
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If Japanese(Shift JIS) is specified, the following META tag is inserted: <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=x-sjis">. |
Choose Western to specify the fonts used for US English and all Western European languages. Choose Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, or Korean to set appropriate double-byte fonts for Asian languages. All Asian languages require a system that supports double-byte fonts to display. You can also choose Central European, Cyrillic, Greek, Icelandic Mac, and Other.
Font Settings Determines the set of fonts used for documents encoded in each of the font setting encodings. The various font sets must be installed on your machine for the fonts to appear as choices when you select proportional, fixed, or HTML inspector fonts.
Proportional Font Is the font used for normal text (for example, text in paragraphs, headings, and tables). The default depends on your system's installed fonts. For most US systems, the default is Times New Roman 12 pt (Medium) on Windows and Times 12 pt on the Macintosh.
Fixed Font Is the font used for text within PRE, CODE, and TT tags. The default depends on your system's installed fonts. For most US systems, the default is Courier New 10pt (Small) on Windows and Courier 12 pt on Macintosh.
HTML Inspector Is the font used for all text that appears in the HTML inspector. The default depends on your system's installed fonts.
Use Status Bar preferences to set options for the status bar at the bottom of the Document window.
Window Sizes Lets you customize the window sizes that appear in the status bar's pop-up menu. See Resizing the Document window.
Connection Speed Determines the connection speed (in kilobits per second) used to calculate the download size. The download size for the page is displayed in the status bar. The download size for images is displayed in the Property inspector when an image is selected.
Show Mini-Launcher in Status Bar Makes Dreamweaver display the Mini-Launcher at the bottom of the Document window. The buttons in the Mini-Launcher launch windows, palettes, and inspectors.
Use Floating Palettes preferences to determine which windows, palettes, and inspectors always appear on top of the Document window.
To specify Floating Palettes preferences:
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Choose Edit > Preferences, then select Floating Palettes. |
| By default, all windows, palettes, and inspectors are set to always appear on top of the Document window. If you would like the HTML inspector to move behind the Document window when not in use, for example, deselect the HTML option. The HTML inspector will appear on top of the Document window only when it is active. |
Highlighting preferences let you customize the colors used to identify template regions and library items in the Document window. For more information, choose one of the following:
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To customize template highlight colors, see Template preferences. |
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To specify the highlight color for library items, see Library preferences. |
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You can also specify a color for third-party tags to make it easy to differentiate them from Dreamweaver tags. |