Backgrounds and images:

It is crucial that you be able to read the body text of your document. Your background image or color needs to work with your text style and color so that your text can be read. Images should seamlessly fit with your document. There are several different ways to do this.

Background colors in Dreamweaver:

To select a background color for your document in Dreamweaver:

1. Go to Modify
2. Select Page Properties
3. Click on the square tab to the right of "background color"
4. A selection of 256 websafe colors will appear. Select one. Note that a 6 alphanumeric code will appear. This is a very helpful bit of information to note. When you type this code into Fireworks or Dreamweaver, this exact color will show up.
5. Click OK

Background images in Dreamweaver:

To select a background color for your document in Dreamweaver:

1. Go to Modify
2. Select Page Properties
3. Click "Browse" to the right of the "background image"
4. Navigate to your images folder and select the appropriate .gif file.
5. Click okay

Important notes. I MUST approve of any background image that you use. Images will repeat if the browser window is larger in pixels than your .gif file, or if you have a great deal of content, and therefore need to scroll down. If you do not want your background image to repeat on today standard monitors make it at least 1050 pixels wide. Depending on how much content is on your page you might start with 800-1000 pixels tall.

Cell backgrounds

Although I do not highly recommend it (less control) you can also change the color of your cell backgrounds. To do this:

While in the cell that you want to adjust click on the tab to the right of "Bg" and select the color. You may also choose a background image by clicking on the folder to the right of "Bg" and the accompanying white box.

repeating background images

You can exploit the repeating background feature by making a very thin, but long image in fireworks and allowing it to repeat. The background image for this document is only 1024 x 10 pixels. This safe a great deal of memory and processing time.

exporting images from fireworks with transparent backgrounds

When in the image preview window, below where you select Format> Gif, there is a tab that allows you to choose Index or Alpha Transparency. The default says "No Transparency". Explore what these two features do. Note that things with blurry edges do not do transparency well. Note that you may also use a contrasting border around the edge of a graphic to do away with the need for a transparent background.

changing canvas color in fireworks.

If you have a solid color background in dreamweaver, copy that 6 alphanumeric code cited earlier to use as your canvas color in fireworks. This will allow your background of your image and your website to merge effortlessly.