Creating Templates In Dreamweaver MX 2004

First put your layout together - workout which parts of the page you want to be consistent across your site and which parts you want unique to each page. Then...

  1. Go to the File Menu>Save as Template. Name it something and click OK.
  2. When you start out templates in Dreamweaver are completely locked which means that you're going to have to unlock at least one area.
    Work out which areas you want to make editable then...
  3. Highlight an area
  4. Go to Insert Menu >Template Objects >Editable Region and give the editable area a name (or right click and choose Templates > New Editable region from the contextual menu)
  5. Save your template document by using the ordinary File > Save command.
  6. To use your template. Go to the File Menu>New... Click the Templates tab and choose your template.

Be carefull to not use the Save As... command to create new files. Always go to File > New

Dreamweaver Templates— not your average template.

Dreamweaver Templates let you create a file that can work as an updatable blueprint for all the pages on your site.

You create a layout that contains consistent page elements such as a banner, navigation and content areas.

Then you tell Dreamweaver which areas contain consistent content and which can be edited and updated with unique content.

The great thing about Dreamweaver templates is that they allow you make site wide adjustments to your layout very easily.

When a site wide change needs to be made you just open up the original template file, make your alterations, save, and then Dreamweaver updates all the pages that you based on the template.