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Hey guys. I just started using dreamweaver the other day, as business is starting to slow down as it always does through the end of november and throughout december. One of my good customers has asked me to do their website, which should be pretty easy. I have worked on websites a few times, mostly on different versions of my own (take a look a A Step Above Signs). In the past I did it in raw html code written in notepad, though now I want to save myself some work and give dreamweaver a try, as I have heard good things about it. It seems pretty easy to use, no problems so far, but I had a couple questions for those who use it.
I want to create a basic look with a navigation bar and their logo and some pertinent info at top, and just have an area where the content changes depending on the page you are viewing. Is the best way to do this to create a template for this section? Also, do any of you guys use templates from other sources to create sites for customers, or do you usually do all custom work (also, any good sites with free templates to recommend)? I am assuming navigation bars are just created in fireworks or photoshop and then imagemapped for the buttons. Any input is greatly appreciated. thanks!
PS- you will see that I never even finished my business website that i started last winter, as I got real busy. Most of the work on there is very plain as well, and doesn't reflect the type of work I have been doing for a while now. That is one of the reasons I want to redo the whole thing.
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The way I approach site layout is to design the look and feel of the navigation system and the page as a whole in whatever program you want to give you the desired look.(Corel,Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.) Then send it to Fireworks, and work on "chopping" it up, then send it to Dreamweaver for the final tweaking and editing. I prefer to use layers instead of tables, because I like to be able to move the images around and put them exactly where I want them, but that is a personal preference. Check out the Wise Guys page that I am working on. It still lacks some content, but the main interface is working.
I created the "look" and illustration in CorelDRAW9 then exported pieces into Fireworks.
As far as Templates go, a lot of them are designed for tables, but they do give some good ideas. I downloaded some from Macromedia's web site, and then was able to open them in dreamweaver and see how they made them.
Another idea is to do a search for "free,web,templates" and see what that yeilds.
-------------------- Michael Clanton Clanton Graphics/ Blackberry 19 Studio 1933 Blackberry Conway AR 72034 501-505-6794 clantongraphics@yahoo.com
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Dreamweaver allows you to set up a page and save it as a template. You can define which areas of the page are frozen or editable or you can detach a page from the template and edit the whole thing.
Library items are like mini-templates. Reoccurring page elements can be saved as units and inserted quickly wherever needed.
Dreamweavers manipulation of layers and tables is fantastic. A page can be composed with layers that allow free positioning of elements then all can be converted to tables (which makes everything browser friendly). The conversion of layers to tables and back again is very useful.
The combination of Fireworks - Dreamweaver is excellent. The two are tightly intergrated, working together almost as one program.
You can download em and see how I have them set up. I have everything in tables but will be switching to layers for exact placement of content and images.. plus layers let you re-order the content in the code without changing the content location on-screen, which means you can put the important info at the top where search engines will find it easier.
Basically, set up your navigation system then make that into a template once you have it the way you want.
Doing your navigation first ensures the site will actually work, next generate your content, the pretty graphics and other stuff is secondary. I like using plain ol text links, they load faster than button images and there's no question about their readability on different resolutions.
Once you have the navigation working and the main content, go back and work on the cosmetics and graphics.
It's at this stage you can create image buttons and drop them in to replace the text hyperlinks. Don't use image maps, the reason why is below.
Just stay away from Java and javascript navigation bars if you want the site to be picked up by search engines. The search engine spiders need to crawl through the links on the site in order to index it in the engines. Spiders cannot crawl through javascript and java navigation, nor can they crawl through image maps so forget about those too. Some spiders will reject and ban sites that have java and javascripts on them.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com
Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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The top bar and side bar are all done as templates, allowing for quick changes. The popout mouseouts are done in FW first. They are a nice effect to streamline your navigation.
Julia's Party Planning Very simple, template driven with top and side bars built into table.
Creat the template in DW, making one area where your body copy will go the 'editable' region. Then from the file menu, create 'new from template' and select the main template, then insert the text.
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