I’ve built my site in Dreamweaver & on every page I have the same pulldown menu with hyperlinks. How do I create this (with CSS?) so when I make a change, I only have to make it once & not change it on every page? I know this sounds basic but I haven’t figured it out yet 
The best way to do it is with something like PHP includes, but if you want to do it with Dreamweaver, you can set up a library item that does something similar. Either way, the menu code sits in one place and feeds into each page from that one source.
Yes, how would I set up the library item? Just create a Dreamweaver page with the pulldowns & hyperlinks on it, then hyperlink every page to it?
You create a library item and paste the menu code into that. Then on each page you put a link to that library item. I’m not familiar with the process in Dreamweaver, as I would always use PHP includes for this—which are much easier and cleaner. But it’s easy to Google topics like “How to set up a Dreamweaver library item” to find instructions on what to do.
Actually, you may benefit from creating the SITE entirely in DW. I mean that DW has to have the ability to MANAGE your site for what you want to work.
You can then build that you have as a TEMPLATE (INSERT>COMMON> TEMPLATES).
from there you make editable/non editable items (you can still insert library items into either,btw)
Essentially whenever you create a new page from a template (or when you have DW update site pages… if you make a change to a template) all the HTML for UNEDITABLE areas are updated for all pages using said template.
This means , for example if you have a header/menu area that is the same through the site, you build it once … as a template … and each time you are building a new page for your site you do new page > from template> your template.
IF you had to add /remove something in thus common ares, then you go back and edit the template file ( where you can actually change undeditable areas)… and then Manage> update site. ( you must update site because dream weaver actually rewrites all HTML documents based on your templates to reflect the changes you made).
Thanks, and this brings up a general DW question:
I use Dreamweaver at my university and store my files on USB, but when I want my site to be live where do I house my DW files? (I’ll be using a Cloud Service for hosting.) In other words, how will my DW files continuously link to my FTP?
when you want your site on the INTERWEBS you need to upload to a SERVER. PERIOD.
Even if your sites are hosted on a “storage area” they wont necessarily be available as websites. ( in another words, uploading to a DROPBOX.COM wont make the file accessible via HTTP://) but maybe you knew that.
I normally just upload my site folder all at once when I update my FLAT HTML sites.
BUT DW >Manage SITE makes a site file to manage changed pages, you can use DW’s FTP to UPLOAD to your WEBSERVER and upload the recently changed HTML documents.
Sorry, it’s still not clear. I know this is basic, but I just don’t understand it yet: do I upload my DW files (ie, site folder?) to my cloud host’s server? Then every time I make a change to my site via DW, I just re-upload and voila, the changes are there? If so, for comments live on the site, what happens when I re-upload new changes?
Yes.
Then every time I make a change to my site via DW, I just re-upload and voila, the changes are there?
Yes. If you just change a page or two, you can just re-upload that, rather than upload the whole site again.
If so, for comments live on the site, what happens when I re-upload new changes?
If your site is static (meaning that everything is just in your HTML page templates—that is, you’ve typed the comments into the page in DreamWeaver) then you will have that on your local computer, too. If, instead, site comments entered by users are stored in a database (as they would be if you are using something like WordPress) than the comments won’t be affected, as you are only modifying templates in DW, and the comments are pulled from elsewhere when someone visits your web page.
Thank you, I think that answers it.
How are comments added to your pages?
That’s a work in progress - still debating on whether to use Facebook social plug-in, or phpbb, or Echo, or something else. I want ownership over my comments pages, so maybe not Facebook - and the others I’m currently researching. Any thoughts?
Depends on what kind of site this is, but if it’s a blog, perhaps go with WordPress. (That’s wordpress.org, not .com, meaning that the code is all on your own server and you have full control over the comments, database etc.) But there are lots of other content management systems (CMSes) out there that are better suited for a regular website, so I’d recommend looking around a bit. I like ExpressionEngine, but that costs a bit. A free alternative is MODx. But as I say, there are lots available. If you want dynamic (like comments etc.) you really should investigate the CMS option now, rather than find out about it later (when it will be a lot more work to integrate).
Joomla! , and WP is not bad, with knowledge of PHP you can actually wrangle it to look and act like regular site… even one with ecomerce (tho there are some security concerns for the latter).
BTW, I meant that DW was panels to manage sites via FTW ( the old way), so that modified pages can be uploaded without the need for additional programs.
If so, for comments live on the site, what happens when I re-upload new changes?
I am going to guess that “comments” is referring to message s people try to leave on your site and not “<!-- this is an HTML comment–>”. For those you will needed a HOSTED DATABASE am afraid, comments are stored as data ( think of it as an online spread sheet of messages) which is then read by a CMS or processed by a script (usually based on PERL, PHP or ASP). W/O a DB you just cant record any user interaction.
