modifications to many pages at the same time

[babytarantula]

hi, i'm a newbie and i would like to know how to make modifications to many html pages of a site at the same time. I have a menu that shows on each one of my 8 pages and when i want to add a link on the menu i need to modify each one of pages!! I guess there's a fastest way but how???

thanks in advance!

 

[vacunita]

What you are looking for are templates. Or SSI's (server-side Inlcudes) but since this is a Dreamweaver forum, i'll discuss dreamweaver templates.

To create a template create a new page.
Add everything that is going to stay the same throughout all the pages, leaving out the parts that you know will change.

When you have everything set up the way you want. Save the page as a template in the site you want to use it this will create a folder named templates with a file called whatever you called it with a dwt extension. This is a template. Then go back to the file and add editable regions, which will be the parts of the page that will change.

This can be done through the Insert menu i believe. When you have your editable regions in place save the template again.

Then to use it go into file and create a new page but this time select from template and select the template you just created.

This will open up a page with the setup you made for the template. You wont be able to alter anythng but the editable regions you specified.

You can then add whatever you want to those regions for each page of your site.

If you at some point decide you have to add somethng that must be on all pages. Close all the pages for yur site, and just open the dwt file you created earlier. modify what you need in there and save. wqhen you save it dreamweaver will ask you if you want to update all the pages that use that template. Say yes, and all the pages you built using that template will be updated with the new aditions.

[red]NOTE:This templating method works for small sites with fiew pages, however for bigger sites with alot of pages SSI's are the way to go. Becasue instead of having to upload every modified page by the template, you only need to upload the included file and the pages automatically get updated[/red]



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[dmacster]

Or create the navigation system and make it a library item. Then just insert the item on the page(s) - if it changes, just change the library item>