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Templates are a key feature of Adobe Dreamweaver, enabling you to control and update the appearance of an entire site. They are one of the features covered in detail on our Dreamweaver training courses. This article looks at how to set up, apply and modify templates. Templates facilitate site management by allowing you to modify and update several pages at once. A template is a web document (HTML, ASP, ASP.NET, etc. ) which contains a combination of locked elements and editable regions. When creating a new document, if you opt to base it on a template, the page will inherit all of the elements which the template contains. You individualise the page by modifying the content of the editable areas. If you later modify the template, all of the pages which are based on it can be automatically updated.

Templates can be created from scratch or you can take an existing document and convert it into a template. To create a template from scratch

1. Choose New from the File menu.

2. Click on New Template in the first column of the New Document window.

3. In the second column, specify the Template Type ((HTML, ASP, ASP.NET, etc. ).

4. In the third column, optionally choose one of Dreamweaver’s preset CSS layouts or click None to start with a blank page.

5. If you choose one of the CSS layout, in the forth column, you will need to specify whether the necessary code is placed in the head of the document, in a new CSS file or an existing one.

6. Finally, click Create to generate your new template.

As soon as you start using templates, Dreamweaver creates a special Templates folder which it stores in the root folder of the site. All templates are automatically stored in this folder. You can also take a regular HTML document and convert it into a template.

1. Open the document which you wish to convert into a template.

2. Choose Save As Template from the File menu.

3. Enter a name for the new template and click Save.

By default, all of the elements that you place on a template will be locked. They will appear on each page based on the template but will not be editable. To create the locked regions of a template

1. In the templates folder, double-click the name of the template you wish to edit.

2. Create all of the elements which you wish to appear on every page.

3. All of these elements will remain locked and unchangeable on all pages based on the template.

4. If you save the changes you have made to the template at this point, Dreamweaver will remind you that you have not yet created any editable regions. Click OK.

If you would like to learn more about Web development training courses, visit Training Company . Com, an independent computer training website offering Dreamweaver Classes at their central London training centre.

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The Remote Info tab of the Dreamweaver Site Setup dialog box allows you to supply details of the remote web server. This will be used by Dreamweaver to connect to the server hosting the site so that information can be uploaded and downloaded. For internet sites, Dreamweaver uses file transfer protocol (FTP) to connect to the server, as shown in the QuickTime example. For intranets and sites being developed on a local server, the Local/Network option is used.

The FTP host is simply the host name or IP address of the FTP server associated with your domain. The name usually takes the form ftp.yoursite.com or www.yoursite.com. If in doubt, consult your internet service provider (ISP).

Host Directory refers to the name of the directory on the web server in which internet files need to be uploaded if they are to be visible on the web. Check with you ISP to see whether files should be uploaded to the root directory or into a sub-directory.

The next section allows you to enter the login and password which have been allocated to allow you FTP access to the server hosting your site. Note that Dreamweaver activates the save password option. If you think this is a security risk then click the checkbox to deactivate this option. Again, this information will be available from your ISP.

Firewalls are widely used by companies to block access to their intranets and to control how their own workers access the Internet. If your company uses a firewall then you must enter the relevant information in Preferences. Once you have done so, the Use Firewall option will be automatically selected. If your company uses a firewall, check with your network administrator to see whether it uses passive FTP, a system whereby the FTP connection is initiated by the client rather than the server.

The Check-in/Out facility within Dreamweaver can be used when several team members are working in collaboration on the same site. When a team member is working on a particular file, Dreamweaver will place a check mark next to the file in the remote listing in site files view as well as the name and email of the person editing the file, so other users can email him or her. If you activate this option, you must enter your name and email in the appropriate boxes.

If you would like to learn more about Dreamweaver training courses, visit Macresource Computer Training, an independent computer training company offering Dreamweaver training courses in London and throughout the UK.

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One of the key concepts which any user of QuarXPress 8 needs to master is the distinction between item and content. Basically, an item is an object or container while the contents of an item may either be text, graphics or none. Understanding this fact and being aware of which level you need to be working at to carry out a certain operation can help new users to avoid a good deal of confusion and frustration.

There are four types of item which one can create in QuarkXPress: picture boxes, text boxes, path text, lines and tables. Text boxes and picture boxes are both containers and QuarXPress allows you to convert one of them into the other. Simply right-click and choose Content then Graphic, Text or None.

An example of this difference is the use of Content and Item tools. They are the first two tools on the toolbar and the two that are most frequently used. The Item tool is used for manipulating items. Typically, one one selects this tool when you want to move items around and when you want to work with groups of items. When this tool is active, it is not possible to manipulate the contents of items. Thus, for example you cannot select the text in a text box or move a picture around inside a picture box. Naturally, lines are never containers, so it doesn’t usually make any difference which tool is selected when you want to manipulate a line.

Tables in QuarkXPress have three levels: the item level, the cells level and the text level. Basically, as far as QuarkXPress is concerned, a table is simply a series of text and/or picture boxes stitched together. Each cell is basically a box which can have the same content choices as other boxes: graphic, text or none. If the Item tool is selected, you can only work with the table as a whole. However, when the Content tool is active, you can work either with the contents of an individual cell or you can drag across a range of cells to work at the cell level.

Grouping items is really flexible in QuarkXPress. Basically, if you click on any item in a group using the Item tool the program highlights all the items in the group. However, if you click on an item which is part of a group using the Content tool, the group is ignored and you can still edit the contents of that item. In fact, you can even move the item by holding down the Control key and dragging it.

Another important distinction between Item and Content can be found in the menu: Item-related commands are all in the Item menu, while command relating to the contents of items is found in the Style menu.

The author is a trainer and developer with Macresource Computer Training, an independent computer training company offering QuarXPress Classes in London and throughout the UK.

The author is a training consultant with OnsiteTrainingcourses.Com, an independent computer training company offering QuarkXPress Classes at their central London training centre.

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