Dreamweaver MX Extensions

Floating panels are our friends . With them, we can add all sorts of varied utility, tutorial, and informational interfaces to Dreamweaver. Floaters can interact with documents or simply present information. They can be splashy and flashy, or transparent pieces of the Dreamweaver user interface. Because floaters can have such different interfaces, and can require drastically different skill sets than the other more typical interface elements in Dreamweaver, we have to be careful with them. As a rule, users aren't looking for new and drastically different experiences when they open Dreamweaverthey just want to be productive and build on the skills they already have. As long as we remain sensitive to our users' needs, however, we can go far with floaters.

This chapter completes our tour of the basic extension types in Dreamweaver. In the following chapter, we'll see how different kinds of extensions can be used together, how their functionality overlaps, and how to strategize which kind of extension will work best for which jobs.