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dreamweaver templates

Once you have set out the page how you want it, you will need to save it as a template.

creating a template

• Create a page, as described in the previous page
• Go to "File > Save as Template"
• Create a name for the template, but do not change the file extension - it must remain as .dwt
• Dreamweaver automatically saves the template in a folder called /Templates
• The template needs to have editable regions, so that pages created from it will be able to be edited
  • Select an area, usually a table cell, that will contain editable content
  • Go to "Modify > Templates > New Editable Region"
  • Name the region
  • Continue doing this until all your editable regions are formed
  • n.b.: It's best to keep this to a minimum, or it defies the point of having a template
• It is also a good idea to use server side includes to help minimise download time and site maintenance

creating pages from the template

• Go to "File > New from Template"
• Select the template you wish to use
• Go to "File > Save As" and save the file where the new page will live
• Add content to the new page
• If changes are made to non-editable areas of the template from which this page was created, Dreamweaver will ask if you want to update the page

applying a template to an existing web page

This information is relevant only when you have an existing html web page which hasn't ever had a template applied to it, or had a different template applied.

• Open the page
• From the top toolbar go Modify > Templates > Apply Template to Page
• Choose the appropriate template
• Dreamweaver may ask you where you would like orphaned content to go, if there is any
• Select the editable area you want the content to go in
• You may have to remove any extraneous content manually

n.b.: If the page you are applying the template to was hand coded, or created in another application, make sure the html is clean (free from font formatting etc) before applying a template

See also - adding meta tags to pages made from Dreamweaver templates