Newbie learning Dreamweaver

Question

Hello everybody - my first post! Really excited to be here.
I'm an Instructional Technology & Design graduate student who purchased Adobe CS5 Web Premium last fall, but didn't have too much time to really sit down with it until early this month. With the start of summer, I've fallen into an amazing volunteering opportunity with a small film production company who wants me to learn Dreamweaver and create a new website for them, at my own pace. I'm both excited, and terrified that I've bitten off more than I can chew (and let's face it, I probably have), but I'm going to do my very best anyway.
This isn't my very first time using Adobe products, but I'm still a beginner. I'm a fast learner, a good researcher, and very resourceful on the web. I've got my Adobe Classroom In A Book for Dreamweaver, Flash, and Photoshop. I have good design sensibilities, but it's all the codes/scripts that make me super nervous - HTML, CSS, JavaScript PHP, MySQL, and the list goes on. I have a very elementary grasp of all of them.
I know that the people I'm working for eventually want the ability to go in and manage this website on their own, without needing to call me or any future designer for every little change. So I know that we're eventually looking at installing a CMS - and since we're with Dreamhost, I've got one-click install access to Drupal and Joomla.
My first few questions: Knowing that this website will *eventually* be managed through a CMS, what are some things I should be doing or be mindful of while I'm presently designing locally in Dreamweaver? I just want to get the "heads up" now on designing for future use with a CMS, so that I don't hit a giant roadblock and have to come back and make huge changes. Also, am I correct in thinking that the designing phase (Dreamweaver) happens first, then the connecting/uploading and CMS installations (Dreamhost) all happen later? Or should this all be a simultaneous process?
And of course, any other tips or comments are very welcome. Thank you!

Answer 1

Some reading... 
Open Source CMS http://drupal.org/
Or http://www.cmsmadesimple.org/
CSS explained http://forums.adobe.com/thread/507829?tstart=0
CSS Tutorials http://forums.adobe.com/thread/545660?tstart=0
As well as the links below - another way to learn (including anyone else's bad habits) is to find a page you like, and then tell your web browser to show you the code view for the page and/or do a "Save As" and save the page to your computer to then copy & paste code segments into your file (in IE click View at the top, select Source from the options)
HTML and/or DW Tutorials, and other information links that I have saved
http://validator.w3.org/
http://www.w3schools.com/
http://www.hotscripts.com/
http://webdesignledger.com/
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/
http://www.scriptarchive.com/
http://www.htmldog.com/guides/
http://www.htmlcodetutorial.com/
http://alistapart.com/topics/code
http://www.how-to-build-websites.com/
http://css.maxdesign.com.au/floatutorial/
Download User Guide as PDF for easy search
http://www.adobe.com/support/documentation
http://www.ianr.unl.edu/internet/mailto.html
http://lynda.com/ Hours of videos. (must pay)
http://apptools.com/examples/pagelayout101.php
http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/css.shtml
http://www.projectseven.com/tutorials/index.htm
If not PDF (link above) an online guide to read
http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/Dreamweaver/9.0/
Nate's Forms http://www.mindpalette.com/scripts/
Customizing the layouts that come with CS3 (VIDEO)
http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop/?id=vid0155
FormMail http://www.bebosoft.com/products/formstogo/index.php
For those using MySQL - Installing PHP and MySQL on Windows XP
http://www.webassist.com/professional/products/solutionrecipes.asp
Community MX lessons http://www.communitymx.com/abstract.cfm?cid=3D074
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/designcenter/search.cfm?product=Dreamweaver&go=Go
The Contact Form Solution Pack is only $29.99. To learn more, visit
http://www.webassist.com/go/cfsp
Web advisor extension to DW
Date and Time through Javascript http://www.mediacollege.com/internet/javascript/date-time/
Tutorial for building your first website:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/first_website_pt1.html
Tutorial on building a dynamic website (one with a database):
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/first_dynamic_site_pt1.html
HTM Color Codes
http://www.visibone.com/
or http://html-color-codes.com/
or http://www.pagetutor.com/common/bgcolors1536.html
or http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Network/2397/