Template vs. SSI for navigation

[punkrok]

Help! I work for a non-profit, and have been building websites for years, but they have always been smaller sites and navigation has always been very, very simple. I am now challenged with building a new website. It has approximately 150 pages, but all of them are built off of the exact same template. I am considering doing two templates, one index and one subpage that is essentially a nested template. I will have navigation at the top of the page on both templates, with each "section" of the site getting its own subpage "index" with left nav as well. I know that on my left nav it is probably better, since we use an article generator, to use a template as the "index" for each section. My question is this - do I HAVE to use ssi for the top navigation, or can I just use a template so when I make changes to it, I upload only the first template file (all other templates will be nested within the index template). This seems easier to me than ssi, but I might be missing something? Thanks for the help!

 

[lebisol]

or can I just use a template so when I make changes to it, I upload only the first template file (all other templates will be nested within the index template).

no you would have to edit & upload each file not just the tampate file.
think of it in these terms:
Template = save time with any new page you are making but not as slick when updating old pages.DW WYSIWYG friendly.

SSI = create ones and call/include as needed + update 1 file you are incluing and every other pahe is already updated.Not DW WYSIWYG friendly.


The answer is NO you do not need to use SSI and you can use templates and run your updates of files that used that template but given the choice SSI would be better for the long run. If you relay on DW gui to design then SSI will be bit harder to work with.


All the best!

:--------------------------------------:

All around in my home town,
They tryin' to track me down...

 

[JillC]

Hi Punkrok,

I'm going to add my two-penneth worth. You can use and a template AND use ssi EXCEPT if you intend to use Contribute (ie if you are going to allow other users to update various sections).

If you use a template and/or nested templates for your layout and navigation (without ssi), then every time you make a change to the navigation in the template, DW will prompt you to update all attached pages. If you need this to happen to files which are already on the server, then the best approach is to use the check in/out function. That will mean that every time you make a change, you get a prompt to download and update all files from the server. You'll know which files to upload again, because they'll all have green ticks on them. So then you "check-out" the files with green ticks. (Not put/get).

Now, if you use ssi for your navigation, then when you change the nav section the only file you need to upload is the nav file. So, for a site of that size, you will probably find it easier to use the ssi especially if you are always making changes, but it can be a bit tricky getting it to display properly in DW. "Probably" being the operative word.

 

[punkrok]

Thank you for the input. Since I am the only one who updates the site design (content is limited to people who update articles, and we do not use contribute), I would be the only one updating navigation, I am going to use DW. I am a bit of a coding "dummy" so I really need to see visually what I am doing, so ssi makes that really difficult for me. Thanks for the two cents, from both folks. It made a huge difference!

 

[Valeda]

How easy is it to change an existing website to use SSI instead of templates? How would this work when the user creates a new page in Contribute using the templates?

 

[sette]

I am making changes on my company website, there's 6 pages all but 1 page has changed/synchronized. Here's the problem; the hyper link text at the foot of the page is not changing, the link works perfect. The actual text has not chagned. I am sure there must be a simple solution, I just dont have it. Can anyone help?