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Dreamweaver: Lesson 5 - Working with Templates

To use templates, create a new page and insert a layer 600 pixels wide to hold a grid for the history page. This will contain the same images and text as used for the page history.html when created in Composer. When images and text have been formatted, links entered for top level pages and background images and link colours set, the entire page may be saved as a template by selecting File, Save as Template and then giving the page an appropriate title, such as basic page. Going to the site manager will reveal a new folder called Templates in which this file is stored.

When a template is created, the default setting is that sections cannot be edited so that consistency is ensured across a site. While our links to top level pages will not be changed, the images and text entered into the main grid needs to be updated for each page: to make this section editable, select the table holding these components and go to Modify, Templates, Mark Selection as Editable. Such sections will now appear in blue. To create a new page, go to File, New From Template and select this template: non-editable regions are now indicated in light yellow, but other sections of the page may be selected and modified.

Click here to see a larger version of an editable template, then click on the Back button to return to this page.

Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4
Lesson 5 Lesson 6 Lesson 7 Lesson 8

 

© Jason Whittaker 2000-04



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Web Production for Writers and Journalists in paperback.
The Internet: The Basics in paperback.
The Cyberspace Handbook in paperback.