Using DS3 or DW8 to edit php site files in design mode

Question

Thanks in advance.
Kinda new to Dreamweaver and website design. Have a site
being designed in .php. I have downloaded the site folder, access
it in DW, but only Code Mode. Is there any way that I can access
the Design code mode to work with it as a php file.
Do I, can I save it as a web page/html, access it, make
changes, then save it again as php?
Or will I need to deconstruct, cut and paste together back
into the original php file?
This is very important as I will need to constantly update
and add content every day and I want to use the $$ DS3 Adobe suite
to work with the php based oscommerce site being built for me.
Unfortunately, my site developer has no experience with any
Dreamweaver software and is not exactly eager to find answers.
So, with great appreciation, I am hoping that someone can
lead me in the right direction. Too much wasted time and energy
just to find out a yes/no or how and how hard answer to this
question.
Peace,
stress-freeliving

Answer 1

Gary,
While a novice to using dreamweaver or coding a website in
general, I am not an idiot or a novice to the art and structure of
computer, i.e., software programming. I have a degree in
engineering; in the day, I programmed in fortran and associated
languages.
So, what I have been discussing this entire thread and my
overall concern is that I want to change content pages and use a
software package such that it will not interfere with the php
coding of the pages and associated function of the site. Are all
end users required to know code to add content -- if so, we would
have millions of programmers to handle the millions of websites.
What I want to be is an end user who can efficiently add
content to his site. I don't want to have to learn how to use php
instead of continuing to research and learning on other subjects
that I wish to share; specifically, the workings of the brain, how
to learn, how stress and sleep affect our lifestyles and what we
need to do to overcome our natural tendencies towards our/my type
'A' behavior. I have spent approximately 20 hours trying to dig
through this the last 3 days, including a few hours associated to
forums without any answers, even though there have been some very
helpful people spending their time trying to understand my
predicament.
So, I don't want to have someone design a website, primarily
a site that is information and content based albeit with ecommerce
functions that will require me to dig into or learn what the php
code for bold this statement, or make this a header, or insert
image here, define this text box with these parameters, etc., then
take the time to insert those specific codes in articles that I
have already written in a word document that should be able to cut
and paste and post effectively and efficiently in the average
website or blog. Is that unreasonable?
All I wanted to know is can I or how can I use the built in
coding tools in Dreamweaver in this (my opinion not the css,html
site I paid for) php designed site and upload it without wreaking
havoc on the system -- irrespective and outside of catalog listings
which should not have anything to do with pure content based pages.
Am I wrong to think that in the design of a site, that templates
for content pages and even the index page could be designed in html
and leave the database functions to the php?
The problem is that every page has a php extension. Am I
wrong to think that this ecommerce site could have been designed
with css and html that would have integrated somewhat seemlessly
with the $2000 software package???
Wisdom is trying to find the people that know more than you
do on a subject, hopefully experts, and ask them the questions in
the right mode to get an answer such that you can continue
proceeding on the same path or come up with a better plan. That is
what I have been trying to do.
So, as an expert in dreamweaver and ecommerce sites: can you
use non php based programming? Can someone design a site in
dreamweaver using OsCommerce such that an intermediate end user of
the dw can add content using the systems tools and not screw up the
structure of the site -- and do so without having to dig into the
page code every step of the way?
And, yes, I have googled the subject and looked through
OsCommerce instructions, help pages, etc.., to no avail.
It seems that I will take what has been made, complete the
project, then find some other way to efficiently and effectively
produce an ongoing dynamic content site that will sell some things
on the side.
I am trying very hard to communicate effectively with my
designer and maintain a positive, forward-thinking mode to create a
workaround to his design mode to allow me to effectively,
efficiently and without harm add to the site without having to type
a backslash in front of every daggone apostrophe or actually
<br> every carriage return in the 100+ articles I have
already written.
Can I create an html document in dreamweaver then upload it
to the php site? I was told that I needed to then give it a php
extension for it to work. What is involved in this?
Dreamweaver supposedly handles php files? How? Just like
Notepad or any other text editor -- without any of the Tools or
functionss?
And, how can I make changes to the index.php file? This is
FAR from a process that I envisioned when my site definition for
contract said: "Css based, 3 column design for content and
ecommerce that user will add content on continuous basis using
dreamweaver".
As you can tell. This is not what I got.