Templates

Question

I watched several template tutorials and they seem to stop
short on how to manage a website so that Contribute users can edit
the website easily and web developers adding menu items without the
need to update every page.
So as I understand one creates an HTML page with navigation
in place then saves it as a template file in templates folder. Then
create the HTML web pages from the template. For example, make a
page called About.html. Then convert it to a DWT file. After that
you make About HTML page from this page. Do you then delete the
original HTML file? Now all sub pages of About can assume this
template styles and attributes. You then repeat all these steps for
each page if they are different in anyway to the main template. I
get that much but I have some questions that need a professional to
answer that deal with a more advanced site.
1. What if your nav is using YOU ARE HERE CSS link ID's to
change the style of the selected link so it remains highlighted
when a user is on that page. Then what if the developer needs to
add a new menu item to the main nav? Would one need to make the nav
change on EACH template? If so that defeats the speedy purpose of
using templates. Having Navs always be active with no changes
whatsoever to the link even when a user lands on that page is
confusing and isn't really standard practice.
2. What if we use collapsible DIVS to hide and show content?
Can we still make this template's content editable in Contribute?
From what I gather creating Contribute friendly sites
requires a web developer to stick to very basic layouts and
features unless I am missing something. I wish there was a lot more
documentation on how to create a Contribute friendly website. I
have no problem sticking to CSS menus but not being able to create
you are here id’s and styles makes those menus amateur and
unprofessional.

Answer 1

You create a template that will serve for the entire site.
You spawn child pages from it, add unique content to them and
save them as,
for example, about us, products, services, contact us, etc.
> 1. What if your nav is using YOU ARE HERE CSS link ID's
to change the
> style of
> the selected link so it remains highlighted when a user
is on that page.
This is no problem to do with the scheme outlined above. Just
add the
required CSS to the head of the desired child page.
> Then
> what if the developer needs to add a new menu item to
the main nav?
You would do that to the template, or to the include that's
being used for
the navigation elements. In the former case, that change to
the template
would propagate to all child pages, while in the latter case,
you would just
upload the include, and all pages referencing it would
immediately reflect
the changes.
> 2. What if we use collapsible DIVS to hide and show
content? Can we still
> make
> this template's content editable in Contribute?
You would not be editing the template in Contribute. You
would edit the
child pages.
> From what I gather creating Contribute friendly sites
requires a web
> developer
> to stick to very basic layouts and features unless I am
missing something.
You are missing something.
> I have no problem sticking to CSS menus but not being
able to create
> you are here id?s and styles makes those menus amateur
and unprofessional.
As I said, creating such menus is not a problem.
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Adobe Community Expert
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
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"elstinko" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
news:[email protected]...
>I watched several template tutorials and they seem to
stop short on how to
> manage a website so that Contribute users can edit the
website easily and
> web
> developers adding menu items without the need to update
every page.
>
> So as I understand one creates an HTML page with
navigation in place then
> saves it as a template file in templates folder. Then
create the HTML web
> pages
> from the template. For example, make a page called
About.html. Then
> convert it
> to a DWT file. After that you make About HTML page from
this page. Do you
> then
> delete the original HTML file? Now all sub pages of
About can assume this
> template styles and attributes. You then repeat all
these steps for each
> page
> if they are different in anyway to the main template. I
get that much but
> I
> have some questions that need a professional to answer
that deal with a
> more
> advanced site.
>
> 1. What if your nav is using YOU ARE HERE CSS link ID's
to change the
> style of
> the selected link so it remains highlighted when a user
is on that page.
> Then
> what if the developer needs to add a new menu item to
the main nav? Would
> one
> need to make the nav change on EACH template? If so that
defeats the
> speedy
> purpose of using templates. Having Navs always be active
with no changes
> whatsoever to the link even when a user lands on that
page is confusing
> and
> isn't really standard practice.
>
> 2. What if we use collapsible DIVS to hide and show
content? Can we still
> make
> this template's content editable in Contribute?
>
> From what I gather creating Contribute friendly sites
requires a web
> developer
> to stick to very basic layouts and features unless I am
missing something.
> I
> wish there was a lot more documentation on how to create
a Contribute
> friendly
> website. I have no problem sticking to CSS menus but not
being able to
> create
> you are here id?s and styles makes those menus amateur
and unprofessional.
>
>