Unit 8: Using Libraries and Templates

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Unit 8 Using Libraries and Templates

• Dreamweaver CS4
• Adobe Authorized Training
• December 2008

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Unit Topics

• Using Site Library Items
• Creating Site Templates
• Defining Editable Regions
• Using Templates
• Applying a Template to an Existing Page
• Modifying Templates
• Using Adobe Contribute CS4

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Site Library Items

• A collection of page elements, text or graphics
• Are reusable and updateable in one place
• Are ideal for such content as page headers,
  footers and navigation bars
• Are fully locked and cannot be edited on the
  pages they are used on

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Creating Library Items

• Use the Assets panel, Library category
• Click New Library Item
• Choose Modify ? Library ? Add Object to Library
• Drag the content into the Library panel

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New Library Items

• New library item
• Title of Untitled change the name
• Library item content will be highlighted in a
  pale yellow color
• Not updateable
• Note You will receive alerts if you have styles
  applied to the content. Ensure a external style
  sheet is linked to all documents that use them.

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Storage Location

• Library items (.lbi extension) are saved in the
  \Library folder
• Dreamweaver adds the Library folder if it doesnt
  already exist
• Must always be at the root level

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Viewing Library Items

• Assets panel, Library category
• Preview of item is shown

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Placing Library Items on the Page

• Position the insertion point where you want to
  insert the item
• Assets panel, Library category, select library
  item
• Click the Insert button or drag the item to the
  page

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Placing Library Items on the Page

• Library content appears highlighted in yellow
• You cannot directly edit

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Modifying Library Items

• To update an item
• Select it from the list of library items
• Click Edit
• Modify it in the document window
• Save
• Or edit it within the Property inspector

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Immediate Update

• Dreamweaver checks all documents that use it and
  prompts if you want to update the files
• Any files not open are updated and saved
• Open files are update and not saved

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Immediate Update

• Update Pages dialog box

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Deferred Update

• You may want to update large sites later
• Select the item in the Assets panel
• Right-click (Windows) or Control-Click (Mac) and
  choose Update Site
• For current page only, choose Update Current Page

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Detaching Library Items

• Prevents Library Items from updates
• Detach an item
• Select the item on the page
• Click Detach from Original on Property inspector

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Detaching Library Item

• Warning

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Detaching Library Item

• To insert detached Library item
• Hold down Option (Macintosh) or Ctrl (Windows)
  and drag the library item from the Library panel
  to the document

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Recreating Library Item

• Select the item in the page
• Click Recreate on the Property inspector

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Walkthrough 8-1

• Creating a Library item

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Creating Site Templates

• Templates used for large sites with multiple
  pages that share a common design
• Starter page that contains site design
• Create site pages from it
• Change the look of your site quickly
• Possible template elements
• Overall design of the page with colors, layout
  and an attached style sheet
• Common navigation items for all pages
• Common page regions, such as a common site footer
  
• Stored in the /Templates directory

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Template Regions

• Templates are created with the following regions
• Editable regions
• Optional regions
• Repeating regions
• Any content not in an editable region is
  considered locked cannot edit on any page
  created by template

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Creating Templates

• Create template from existing HTML page
• Choose File ? Save As Template
• Choose Templates --gt Make Template from the
  insert panel

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Creating Templates

• From scratch
• Choose Window ? Assets
• Template category, click New Template
• Name the template
• Edit the template

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Storage Location

• Template files (.dwt) stored in Templates folder
• Must be at site root level
• Dreamweaver creates the folder

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Walkthrough 8-2

• Creating a template

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Defining Editable Regions

• All areas of template are locked by default
• Add editable regions
• Pages built from a template cannot change locked
  areas, can edit editable regions

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Define Editable Regions

• Select area of page
• Choose Insert ? Template Objects ? Editable
  Region
• Type unique name

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Define Editable Regions

• Highlighted area displays region name
• Note If you do not see the region names, choose
  View ? Visual Aids ? Invisible Elements.

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Define Editable Regions

• Multiple table cells cannot be designated as a
  single editable region.
• make the entire table editable
• break it up into several editable regions
• If you select multiple cells within a table and
  make them editable, the whole table will become
  an editable region.

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Remove Editable Region

• Remove an editable region
• Region locked for any page based on the template
• Select the region and Choose Modify gt Templates gt
  Remove Template Markup
• If pages based on template already built
• Those regions will be reverted back to the
  original template content
• You will have an option to store the displaced
  content to another region

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Color Coding

• Change colors in preferences, choose
  Highlighting category

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Walkthrough 8-3

• Defining editable regions

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Using Templates

• To use a template
• Choose File ? New
• Click Templates tab
• Select the template
• Click Create
• Finds templatesin any definedsite

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Using Templates

• Templates from current site only
• Use Assets panel, Templates category, New from
  Template
• Drag a template on top of a new blank document

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Walkthrough 8-4

• Creating template pages

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Applying template to existing page

• Open page to use the template
• Select the template name in the Assets panel
• Click Apply

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Applying a Template to an Existing Page

• Drag the template on the page
• Right-click (Windows) or Control-click
  (Macintosh) on the template and click Apply from
  the context menu

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Inconsistent Region Names

• Dreamweaver attempts to match the existing
  content to regions in the template
• If it cant match, you are presented with a
  dialog box to match content with regions

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Walkthrough 8-5

• Applying a template to a page

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Modifying Templates

• Edit a template and update all pages
• Double-click the template to open it in Assets
  panel
• When you save, Update Template Files dialog
  appears
• Click Update

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Modifying Templates

• Changes listed in Update Pages dialog box

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Walkthrough 8-6

• Modifying a template

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Adobe Contribute

• Companion product for Dreamweaver
• Enables non-technical contributors to add
  content and participate in review workflow
• Part of Creative Suite or available separately
• Recognizes Dreamweaver Templates and Library Items

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Adobe Contribute Features

• Content Versioning
• Content Approval and workflow
• Roles-based security
• Auto-Save
• Restricted access to specific library items and
  styles

• Content Expiration Notification
• In-Context Shared Reviews
• In-browser Editing
• LDAP/Active Directory authentication via
  Contribute Publishing Server

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Adobe Contribute
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Unit Summary

• The Library is a collection of page elements that
  can easily be reused on multiple pages.
• Library items can be updated and the changes are
  applied to all pages that use the library item.
• A template can be used to apply the same design
  to a whole site or set of site pages.
• Templates contain editable and locked regions.

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Unit Summary

• Editable regions can be altered in documents that
  use the template.
• Locked regions cannot be altered in documents
  that use the template.
• Templates can be used to create new pages and can
  be applied to existing pages.