Working with the Electronic Portfolio Template

  • In the example web page pictured to the right, there are static areas that are the same across all pages in your site (the header at the top, the navigation on the left, and the footer at the bottom) and then there are editable areas that change from page to page (the main content in the center of the page). These static and editable regions form the basis of working with Templates in Dreamweaver.

To modify the header, footer, or left-hand navigational elements

  1. open the "main.dwt" file in the Templates folder
  2. make any desired change to the file
  3. Select File->Save
  4. Dreamweaver will ask if you want to update the files that are based on the template. Click Update whenever you see this message.

Creating additional pages

  • Follow the directions below to make additional pages for the site (e.g., if you create additional links for your site in the left-hand navigation bar)

  1. Select File->New and then click the Templates tab at the top.
  2. Select your site from the list on the left.
  3. Select the "main.dwt" file and click the Create button in the lower right.
  4. Save the file to your local site folder (the "eport template" folder somewhere inside your My Documents area on the network).
  5. When saving the file, be sure to name it properly (no spaces or unusual characters in the filename).
  6. If you want this new page to have its own entry in the navigational area:
    1. open the "main.dwt" file in the Templates folder and create a new entry on the left-hand side for your new page.
    2. create a link from the new entry to the page it should link to (see separate handout for info on creating links).

Uploading to the web server

  • Don't forget that your changes will not take effect on the web server until you upload your changed files (you'll also need to press the Reload or Refresh button in your browser).

  1. Click on the uppermost folder in your site window (in the "Local Files" side)
  2. Select Site->Put to upload your site
  3. Click OK when asked if you want to upload the entire site.

last updated 2004 NOV 4