1. Create a New Project. Use this if you're starting a new DVD. This will create a file called a '.dvdproj' .
2. Open an Existing Project. You can use this to reopen dvdproj file you previously worked on.
3. Magic DVD. This will take you through most of the steps of creating a DVD automatically.
4. OneStep DVD will do everything for you from uploading from the camera through to burning the DVD.
5. Video Tutorials will take you the Apple website where you will find actual videos tutorials about how to use iDVD. (You will need to have a live internet connection to make this work.
6. Quit. 

Creating a new project
1. First you're going to want to give the DVD project a name. This is so you can find it later.
2. Find a place to store that file. Typically, Documents is a good place.
3. Choose the Aspect Ratio for the DVD. If the DVD is going to be viewed on an older TV, 4:3 is good. If it's going to be viewed on a modern computer or flat-screen TV, 16:9 is the best
4. When you're satisfied, click Create.

The main window of iDVD has a number of components. 
1. The Canvas. This is the work area of iDVD. It's also where you will be able to preview what the DVD will look like.
2. The Media pane. This is where you will find Themes, Buttons, Videos, Pictures, and Music for your projects
3. Media pane buttons.
4. Visual group buttons. 
          The slider makes the image larger or smaller in the Canvas. 
          The > button allows you to preview what the DVD will look like. 
          The Burn button will let you burn your DVD project to a disk.
5. The Action Group
           The Map button allows you to see the structure of the DVD.
           The Action button allows any animations or music to play in the theme
           The Drop-zone button shows you the spots where you can place images into the theme
6. Add-on Group
           The + button will allow you to add Slideshows, Movies, or Submenus
           The 'i' will show you information about the project.

There are multiple themes built into iDVD. Some of these have no animations. Many do. Look through them to see which will work best for your particular project.

Each theme comes with 3 different types of pages, a Main page, a Chapters page, and an Extras page. Just like you'd find in a professional DVD. You can use these pages for their special functions. 

Each theme has a name and that name is what you will find on each page. To make is yours, you will need to change that. 

To change it, double-click the title and it should highlight. Just start typing the name you want it to be. Then click anywhere else to set it.

Here, I changed that name to "My Vacation" and set it. You can see that the title to the right is changed, but also the name circling the middle of the image.

Now, get a video. You can do this from several ways, but if you used iMovie and exported it to the Media Browser, it will show up in iDVD. Choose the size you want, larger will take up more space on the disk , but look clearer on a monitor. Another way to bring in a video file would be to simply drag it into the Canvas area from any folder on the computer.

Drag the file onto the Canvas and drop it. No need to align it, it will snap to the right place.

To fill the Drop Zones, click the Media button at the bottom and Photos at the top of the Media Pane. That will reveal the libraries from both iPhoto and Aperture (if installed). I usually create an album beforehand iPhoto or Aperture and put all the images I'm going to use for a DVD project into that. That makes it super easy to find the images you want and rapidly put them into place.

Once you drop the image(s) in the Drop Zones, they will appear in the theme. Above is what it might look like.

The Map View is very important, especially in multi-movie DVDs or DVDs with chapters. iDVD automatically creates these links and sets up the right structure for your DVD so people can navigate the various media you might put on it.

In the above image, you see a very simple, linear map. The second frame is the menu frame where you choose your movie. The last frame is the actual movie. The first frame, is where you can drag the move to automatically play immediately after you put in the DVD.  To make it do that, just drag and drop the third frame into the first.

Once you've created your DVD, you need to preview it. There are a few reasons to do this, but mainly it's to make sure that you've completed the whole project and there are no blank drop-zones or missing media. 

Click the Preview button (which looks like a Play button on a DVD) and it will take you to a DVD Player simulator.

Above is what the DVD simulator will look like, complete with a DVD controller. This should show all the motion and animations of the theme, all the images and when you click on the title of the video, it will play the video. Clicking on the Menu on the controller, will take you back to the Main window and clicking the Exit button will drop you out of the simulator.

When everything is 100% ready, you can burn a disk. You'll need a DVD-R (DVD+R's don't always work as well). When you're ready, click the Trap door above to reveal the Burn button. Click that.

Once you click the Burn button, it will bring up the above window. 

Insert the blank DVD.

The process is automatic from this point. It will probably take anything from 5 minutes to an hour, depending on the amount of data, chapters, menus, etc... Once it's done, it will eject the finished disk and ask for another. If you're going to make multiple disks for a function, it's best to do them at this point. Otherwise, you'll have to go through the long process of recreating the menus and such all over again (and the time it takes). If you do it after the first disk, the next disks will come out much faster.