Questions about Dreamweaver (Webdesign)

[Zerayla]

I recently found out that many website templates are designed in Photoshop, which is awesome because thats the problem I like to play with.

However, I'm nearing the completion of my template and now i'm unsure how i'm able to open this in Dreamweaver, which is the program I would be using to actually enter "my website". So, first question is how do I move the template into Dreamweaver? What would I have to save my template as? (Currently its saved as a .PSD file)

Also, I was looking up a few tutorials that show you how to do a template in photoshop, and in them it shows that you put your text directly onto the template design. For example, almost all sites have a "Contact Me" link, and in the tutorial I was reading it showed that you just take the writing tool, and put your text "Contact Me" wherever you want.

So my question is, will the "Contact Me" be editable once I'm able to open it in Dreamweaver? Or will it be part of the template, which I assume becomes "one" layer when I open it in Dreamweaver?

If anyone understands what i'm trying to get at, please let me know. I'm not the best with terminology or really understanding exactly how things work because i've just been teaching myself how to use these programs as I play around with them.

Thanks~

 

[Negorissimo]

To make a document-relative path, your document should be saved first. If not, a 'file://' path will be used until you save it. You can Import from the File menu too (XML).

The files will work better if you save them (as a copy of course) in jpg. Fireworks had a great comunication with Dreamweaver when making templates for websites, but that program is no longer being made because of the Adobe "takeover". lol

ADDED: If you put text in Photoshop you can make an area link in DW but won't be able to edit the text. You have to go back to PS and edit there.

 

[Arctyrael]

Adobe "takeover". lol

Adobe can suck my balls covered in mayonaisse and pig shit. Fucking hate that company. Macromedia can too for being a huge sellout - they had a wonderful wonderful product.

 

[Pasquale]

Adobe can suck my balls covered in mayonaisse and pig shit. Fucking hate that company. Macromedia can too for being a huge sellout - they had a wonderful wonderful product.

So very gross.

Other than that first part, I agree.

 

[Negorissimo]

Adobe can suck my balls covered in mayonaisse and pig shit. Fucking hate that company. Macromedia can too for being a huge sellout - they had a wonderful wonderful product.

lol I feel u bro. But what is happening is exactly what I predicted to the guys at web-design in my agency over 5 years ago. Back when we had our Photoshop vs Fireworks arguments. XD

 

[Zerayla]

To make a document-relative path, your document should be saved first. If not, a 'file://' path will be used until you save it. You can Import from the File menu too (XML).

The files will work better if you save them (as a copy of course) in jpg. Fireworks had a great comunication with Dreamweaver when making templates for websites, but that program is no longer being made because of the Adobe "takeover". lol

I'm a little unclear with what the above means. Should I save my "template" which has many layers, from .PSD to a .JPG? I guess the way that i've understood things, which may be wrong... is that the "template" i'm creating would be like a backround and when I decide to open it in dreamweaver (once I know what file to save it as) I could add the tables for images/text?

ADDED: If you put text in Photoshop you can make an area link in DW but won't be able to edit the text. You have to go back to PS and edit there.

I guess this kind of goes with my understanding of what i'm actually doing. When I open the file in Dreamweaver, I figured I wouldn't be able to edit the text (thanks for confirming that) but if i'm not able to edit it, how will I be able to select it to link it to something? Does the text and the rest of the layers on the template not "meld" into one?

(Thanks sooo much for posting, wasn't sure if anyone here would be able to help >_<)

 

[Negorissimo]

Yea it all turns into one image. You then select the tables for linking in the area of the image you want. Since there is CS3 now that includes PS, DW and Flash maybe DW can work with a layered PS document (.psd) Idk since I haven't bought it... yet. ;D

 

[Zerayla]

Ok, i've figured out how to get the program into Dreamweaver and i've made "sliced" sections for where i'm going to have text etc, however the tutorial i'm following has one step that seems to be skipping something, and I was hoping someone might be able to help.

Here's the tutorial:


9. We now need to fix our content boxes so we can type into them. Click the main
image in your content box like so,

10. Now at the bottom, in the Properties box copy the 'Src' link, and delete the
image.

11. You should now have an empty table, look at the properties box at the bottom,
you will see 'Bg' and a text area like below. Paste your 'Src' link into the Bg bar.

12. Just to the left of the 'Bg' you should see Horz and Vert. Change the Vert to
'top', this will set the cursor to the top of the table instead of the center.

13. At the top go to Insert > Table > These settings,

14. This will create a Table inside of your content box's table so that you can type
text without it hugging the very edge of the table which is why we added 5 Pixel
padding.

15. Repeat Steps 9-14 For ANY other table that you have that you plan on typing
in, Like navigation, affiliates, other content boxes etc.


So the part i'm confused about, is when I click on a box and remove the "Src" Code (and copy it), I don't end up with a box that says "Bg" for me to paste the code into. Any suggestions?

 

[Zerayla]

Ok, well I managed to figure out my problem. I had to have the document not in "layout" mode, but in "standard".


So here's my next question... I've finished linking everything properly. If I want to put my actual website contents "in" using this template, how do I go about doing that? I assumed I had to save this file as a template, which I did. And when I open a new .html document and "add" this as the template to be used, everything is fine up until I "preview" in browser.

It keeps the dimensions of the actual template when I had made it in photoshop. How do I get it so that it takes up the whole web browser window? I have a huge section of white because the actual template doesn't fit.