Do I need Dreamweaver to edit a Dreamweaver site?

Discussion in 'HTML & Website Design' started by Scott Lyons, Jun 21, 2006.

  1. #1
    Hi Gang,
    I was provided with a site created in Dreamweaver from an affiliate manager for me to use. All I have to do is change the aff code in the links(no problem), and they allow changing the site to suit me, like my logo, links etc.

    My problem is, it uses a template.dwt file and I change the things common to all pages of the site in there but they don't show up on all the site pages.

    Is Dreamweaver required to edit this site correctly? I also want to add the meta tags, but I guess I have to do that for every page manually. I don't have Dreamweaver, and since I'm fairly new I just use text editors for minor changes and NVU for visual.

    Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
    Scott
     
    Scott Lyons, Jun 21, 2006 IP
  2. Jdog

    Jdog Peon

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    #2
    It has been a while since I looked at the template in DW, but I think that it is used only while designing the site. Like you would make a template and then copy it for the next page and edit it as needed. I don't think changing it now will change the whole site (with or without dreamweaver).
     
    Jdog, Jun 21, 2006 IP
  3. Scott Lyons

    Scott Lyons Peon

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    #3
    Geez, so I need to edit all common elements on every single page individually? Yikes!

    Scott
     
    Scott Lyons, Jun 21, 2006 IP
  4. Jdog

    Jdog Peon

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    #4
    Dreamweaver has an awesome find and replace function that you can use on all the files at once, but that doesn't help if you don't have dreamweaver.
     
    Jdog, Jun 21, 2006 IP
  5. gdnovey

    gdnovey Peon

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    #5
    Dreamweaver templates are a lifesaver. I use them all the time. Let's say for example, that one section of your template is site navigation. When you create a new page in Dreamweaver, you can base it off the template causing you to have the same navigation. If you wanted to make a change to that navigation, you would have to change the template and the changes would change for every page that has the template attached to it.

    Does this make sense. In other words, you'll need to get Dreamweaver if you want to make it easy on yourself, otherwise you'll be doing alot of work.
     
    gdnovey, Jun 23, 2006 IP
  6. TechnoGeek

    TechnoGeek Peon

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    #6
    Hello, Scott.
    The process of development in Dreamweaver begins by making a template for each type of page that you will have. Then you make the pages by choosing "New from template" from the menu. When you want to make a global change to the site, you modify the template and not the pages. When you save the template, Dreamweaver asks if you want to change all the pages linked to that template.
    If you are serious about Web development, you may consider buying Dreamweaver because it is the editor of choice for many people.
     
    TechnoGeek, Jun 25, 2006 IP
  7. TrippAllen

    TrippAllen Peon

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    #7
    Scott,

    In essence, yes, you do need Dreamweaver in order to utilize the Templates. The .dwt's are only known by DW and only after setting up a site and pointing DW to the root directory.
    Even then, the Templates folder must be located in the root of the site. Failing any of these prerequisites will make the Templates useless and actually clutter up all of the web pages that are based off of the Template with extra Dreamweaver-specific markups in the head and body tag regions.
     
    TrippAllen, Jun 26, 2006 IP
  8. mdvaldosta

    mdvaldosta Peon

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    #8
    You can open the file in a text editor and manually edit the html. I use Dreamweaver for quick site layouts, although the code is pretty sloppy most of the time. I don't use the templating, it's much easier to build the page in dreamweaver and chop the page up into header, navigation, footer, etc. files and call them from the content file with a php includes. Then, you truley only have to edit one file for sitewide changes.
     
    mdvaldosta, Jun 26, 2006 IP