When you launch Dreamweaver CS3, the first thing you see after the program has finished loading is the welcome screen. The three columns in the top section provide quick access to a recently opened document (this list is empty the first time you launch Dreamweaver), create a new document or Dreamweaver site (site definition is covered in Chapter 4), or select from a predefined layout. The Dreamweaver Exchange option at the foot of the right column takes you directly to the Adobe Dreamweaver Exchange (www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?view=sn120), where you can obtain extensions to add extra functionality to Dreamweaver (many are free; others are sold on a commercial basis). The bottom section of the welcome screen takes you to various parts of the Adobe website and displays what Adobe considers useful information, for example, available updates to the program.
The Dreamweaver welcome screen reappears whenever you close all documents in the workspace and connects to Adobe to see if there are any new announcements. In previous versions, leaving the welcome screen enabled was a resource hog, so many developers chose the Don’t show again option at the bottom left. This means what it says: once you select it, the welcome screen disappears forever. If you want it back, go to Edit > Preferences (Dreamweaver > Preferences on a Mac), choose the General category, and select Show welcome screen.
Although the welcome screen no longer appears to be a resource hog, you may prefer to switch it off because you get a much better range of options from the New Document dialog box. You can also configure Dreamweaver to reopen on startup any documents that are still open when you close the program. Just select Reopen documents on startup in the General category of the Preferences panel.
by David Power
