The Macromedia Dreamweaver MX have these powerful new addition to its toolset – introducing, Snippets! Do you often use blocks of code? Well, snippets make it easy to save it or put it over the same conversion on a block already written on your page. It also allows you to save and reuse chunks of code over and over. Snippets save you time and effort in maintaining a large Web site. You can use snippets to store things like:

• Headers and footers
• Logos
• Scripts
• ...

In this tutorial, you will get to know how to create snippets and use them to your heart’s content! Creating snippets are not that difficult and would take only at least 5 minutes of your time to do…

Of course, you need to have the Macromedia Dreamweaver MX downloaded and ready on your PC and then, let’s start creating snippets! Here’s how…

Upon opening Dreamweaver MX, click “Snippets” in the Window menu. You can also access it by holding down the shift key and press F9 (Shift-F9). A number of useful snippets are already pre-installed in Dreamweaver. Then, highlight the text or code you wish to turn into a snippet and click on the New Snippet icon below the snippets window. This icon looks like a file with a plus sign. Assign a title to your chosen snippet, plus, provide it with a concise description.

Depending on what you prefer, if the snippet is to wrap around text on the page, choose "Wrap selection" and if you want a single block, choose "Insert Block". Then, add the code for the snippet, if you did not have any code highlighted. Whether you prefer it, you could also choose how you want the preview in the snippet pane to display – either as code or design. Lastly, click OK and you’re all done.

It would be very useful for you to check out the pre-installed snippets. There may be one or two there that can help you in managing your site!

Then, if you’re wondering how to use your newly created snippet, here’s a guide on how to use it: 1. Open the snippets tab through the same procedure given above, then click in the page where you want the snippet to be placed, in whatever view you prefer it: code or design; 2. Navigate to the snippet you want in the folders and double-click on the snippet to add it to your page.

It’s as simple as you’ve read it…So start creating your snippets now, and put them to good use! -30-