Page 1 of 3 Aspen Mountain, packed powder, light snow falling and you've just ascended by lift to the top. If you're a beginner, forget it. You shouldn't have. How will you make it down alive to the warm fire and hot toddy?
But wait. CMX, your expert guide, has negotiated all the slick turns and steep curves. We know you have been waiting for a three column liquid layout, and as our CMX holiday celebration, here it is: JumpStart Aspen.
Image 1: CMX presents Aspen, the fourth 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 base page. We'll show you a screen
shot of the form page later in this article. Click the image above to see a
larger view.
Community MX is pleased to announce the release of its fourth CMX JumpStart: Aspen. 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 three column liquid width layout, a base page, 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.
Let's look first at what the Aspen 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 Aspen pages. Finally, we'll let you know how you can make the Aspen CMX JumpStart your own.
First things first: what do you get when you purchase Aspen for $29.99, or get it free as a subscriber to CMX?
The Aspen JumpStart includes an installer extension, CSS files (including a print style sheet), XHTML 1.0 Transitional files (a base page and a form page), original PNG files, bundled tutorial files, 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 Aspen 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 Aspen, 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, Aspen comes with specific directions on how to modify its two starter pages: the three (floated) column home page and the accessible form page.
You can see that the package includes everything you need to get you started, as well as to turn the Aspen 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, Aspen 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
