Page 1 of 3 Put down that coffee, and get your Grunge thing going on. That's right, we're off to the "Emerald City", once called Duwamps, but now known as Seattle! Who's ready for a spin on the Space Needle?
Community MX is pleased to announce the release of its second CMX JumpStart: Seattle. Based on Web standards, this versatile layout employs valid CSS2 and XHTML 1.0 Transitional markup and passes WAI and 508 accessibility checkpoints. With a unique home page containing four floated boxes, a 2-column inner page with navigation in list format, and a form page that satisfies the most stringent accessibility requirements, it will be easy for you to quickly create new sites that work on a variety of browsers and platforms. You are only a few simple edits away from your own look and feel.
Image 1: CMX presents Seattle, the second of its CMX Jump Starts based on Web standards, XHTML 1.0,
CSS2, and WAI and 508 Accessibility requirements. The screen shot above shows the inner page. We'll show you screen shots of the home page and form page later in this article. Click the image above to see a larger view.
Let's look first at what the Seattle CMX JumpStart package includes. We'll then look at why its Web standards construction is important. Next, we'll look at how easy it is to customize the design so that it is completely unique, and show you an example of a site created from modified Seattle pages. Finally, we'll let you know how you can make the Seattle CMX JumpStart your own.
First things first: what do you get when you purchase Seattle for $29.99, or get it free as a subscriber to CMX?
The Seattle JumpStart includes an extension, CSS files, XHTML 1.0 Transitional files (a unique home page, an inner page, and a form page), original PNG files, bundled tutorial files and extensions, the CMX Design-time extension, and documentation to help you learn new techniques. Let's look at each item in some more depth.
Note: While all of the pages and files included will work in any version of Dreamweaver, or any other HTML editor, the extension to install the design into the New Document window will only work in Dreamweaver MX 2004.
Tip: There are no restrictions on the number of sites for which you may use the Seattle layout. Apply it over and over again to create unique pages; you are limited only by the boundaries of your imagination.
For those of you who want to understand the structural and design basis of Seattle, the package comes bundled with all the tutorials you'll need to decipher its essential methods. Additionally, Paul Boon's CMX Design-time extension is included (more about that later in this article.)
In addition to the bundled tutorials and extensions, Seattle comes with specific directions on how to modify its three starter pages: the four (floated) box home page, the 2-column inner page with list formatted navigation, and the accessible form page. There is documentation for the following techniques:
You can see that the package includes everything you need to get you started, as well as to turn the Seattle CMX JumpStart into an in-depth learning experience. You probably have other questions, however. For instance, why are the Web standards components of this layout so important, and why should you care enough to use them in your own pages? Let's examine those questions now.
Keywords
design, CSS2, CSS, XHTML, WAI, 508, CMX JumpStarts, Seattle JumpStart, CMX layouts, Web standards, template, positioning, CSS-P, lists, list buttons, CSS buttons, buttons, slicing, slice, wrapper, div, float, two column, 2 column, valid XHTML, valid CSS, nested lists, navigation, menu, design time style sheets, design time
