[DW4] Templates and You Are Here

According to http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20031110.html item #10, we
should remind people of what page they're on by giving some sort of
indicator. That's great! I'd like to have a red arrow pointing to a
user's location, which would remind them of the link they last clicked on.
Example: If they click "Contact Us" then when the "Contact Us" page loads,
a red arrow will be underneath the link. It's no problem to do this. It's
elementary. But the useit.com site also says we should deactivate the link
because we should never have a link on a page that leads back to itself.

Well, how can one accomplish this and still benefit from the use of
templates? The whole beauty of templates is that I don't have to go
through and change the main navigational links on each individual page
every time I want to apply a small, sitewide change. If I try to
deactivate one link on each page, that means each page is different and
essentially my template would only be good for the title graphic and a
footer with a copyright notice on it. Blech! If I'm going to do that, I
might as well use EDIT.COM to write all my HTML code.

What are your opinions?

Thanks,
Damaeus

I don't use templates, though I use library items and SSIs. Depending on the
site depends on whether I do what you're finding out, which is to customize
each page's navigation. Of course there are other ways of doing this,
including a small subhead in the main text area that has the name of the
page or area. There are a zillion ways of doing this and, as with
everything, you have to decide not only what suits your site and
viewer's/client's needs best, but whether you want to blindly listen to
everything someone at useit.com says!

MD


Damaeus wrote:

According to http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20031110.html item #10, we
should remind people of what page they're on by giving some sort of
indicator. That's great! I'd like to have a red arrow pointing to a
user's location, which would remind them of the link they last
clicked on. Example: If they click "Contact Us" then when the
"Contact Us" page loads, a red arrow will be underneath the link.
It's no problem to do this. It's elementary. But the useit.com site
also says we should deactivate the link because we should never have
a link on a page that leads back to itself.

Well, how can one accomplish this and still benefit from the use of
templates? The whole beauty of templates is that I don't have to go
through and change the main navigational links on each individual page
every time I want to apply a small, sitewide change. If I try to
deactivate one link on each page, that means each page is different
and essentially my template would only be good for the title graphic
and a footer with a copyright notice on it. Blech! If I'm going to
do that, I might as well use EDIT.COM to write all my HTML code.

What are your opinions?

Thanks,
Damaeus

In news:macromedia.dreamweaver, "Mad Dog" <md (AT) mdp (DOT) com> posted on Tue, 27
Jul 2004 21:17:12 -0700:

I don't use templates, though I use library items and SSIs. Depending on the
site depends on whether I do what you're finding out, which is to customize
each page's navigation. Of course there are other ways of doing this,
including a small subhead in the main text area that has the name of the
page or area. There are a zillion ways of doing this and, as with
everything, you have to decide not only what suits your site and
viewer's/client's needs best, but whether you want to blindly listen to
everything someone at useit.com says!

Well, not having a link to the same page you're on is a good idea, but I
can see why it wouldn't be crucial, especially if there's a bright red
arrow pointing directly at it.

Thanks,
Damaeus

See if this helps you any ..
http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com/tutorials/tutbuttons2.cfm


--
Nadia
------------------------------------
Free Templates | Free Nav Bar Sets
http://www.DreamweaverResources.com
Dropdown Menu Designs | CSS Layouts
Ecommerce - YVStore | SEO Articles
Table Tutorials | Background image Tutorials
------------------------------------------------


"Damaeus" <no-mail (AT) hotmail (DOT) invalid.net> wrote

According to http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20031110.html item #10, we
should remind people of what page they're on by giving some sort of
indicator. That's great! I'd like to have a red arrow pointing to a
user's location, which would remind them of the link they last clicked on.
Example: If they click "Contact Us" then when the "Contact Us" page
loads,
a red arrow will be underneath the link. It's no problem to do this.
It's
elementary. But the useit.com site also says we should deactivate the
link
because we should never have a link on a page that leads back to itself.

Well, how can one accomplish this and still benefit from the use of
templates? The whole beauty of templates is that I don't have to go
through and change the main navigational links on each individual page
every time I want to apply a small, sitewide change. If I try to
deactivate one link on each page, that means each page is different and
essentially my template would only be good for the title graphic and a
footer with a copyright notice on it. Blech! If I'm going to do that, I
might as well use EDIT.COM to write all my HTML code.

What are your opinions?

Thanks,
Damaeus

While that tutorial is dated (meaning that there are better ways), it is
still comprehensive.

If you want other suggestions, just post back....

--
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Team Macromedia Volunteer for Dreamweaver
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
==================
http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com - Template Triage!
http://www.projectseven.com/go - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.dwfaq.com - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/ - Macromedia (MM) Technotes
==================

":. Nadia .:" <forums@-ozzie-perrelink.com.au> wrote

See if this helps you any ..
http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com/tutorials/tutbuttons2.cfm


--
Nadia
------------------------------------
Free Templates | Free Nav Bar Sets
http://www.DreamweaverResources.com
Dropdown Menu Designs | CSS Layouts
Ecommerce - YVStore | SEO Articles
Table Tutorials | Background image Tutorials
------------------------------------------------


"Damaeus" <no-mail (AT) hotmail (DOT) invalid.net> wrote in message
news:ui8eg01r7sqnh6esjshcn87vptq3qctl2l (AT) 4ax (DOT) com...
According to http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20031110.html item #10, we
should remind people of what page they're on by giving some sort of
indicator. That's great! I'd like to have a red arrow pointing to a
user's location, which would remind them of the link they last clicked
on.
Example: If they click "Contact Us" then when the "Contact Us" page
loads,
a red arrow will be underneath the link. It's no problem to do this.
It's
elementary. But the useit.com site also says we should deactivate the
link
because we should never have a link on a page that leads back to itself.

Well, how can one accomplish this and still benefit from the use of
templates? The whole beauty of templates is that I don't have to go
through and change the main navigational links on each individual page
every time I want to apply a small, sitewide change. If I try to
deactivate one link on each page, that means each page is different and
essentially my template would only be good for the title graphic and a
footer with a copyright notice on it. Blech! If I'm going to do that,
I
might as well use EDIT.COM to write all my HTML code.

What are your opinions?

Thanks,
Damaeus

In news:macromedia.dreamweaver, ":. Nadia .:"
<forums@-ozzie-perrelink.com.au> posted on Wed, 28 Jul 2004 19:16:41 +1000:

See if this helps you any ..
http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com/tutorials/tutbuttons2.cfm

Heh... Hopefully I can upgrade to Dreamweaver MX later this year. I just
had to spend $840 to get my car out of the repair shop, and missing three
weeks of work with no car (38.5 mile commute) I'm almost wiped out.

Thanks for the tip. I'll bookmark it for when MX floats in my door.

Damaeus

When you upgrade, make sure you get MX2004, not MX.

So you are using DW4? You could still do this with DW4, but you would have
to use CSS buttons for your menu.

Here's a brief summary -

Create two background images that contains your button design (no text) on
one, and the button design with a red arrow on the other. Make the text on
your buttons just be plain HTML text. Define a pseudo-class set that
specifies the first button image as the background for your a tag, e.g.,

#menu a { background-image: url(images/button_up.gif); }

and the second image as the background for the "over" or "down" state of the
a:hover, e.g..,

#menu a:hover { background-image: url(images/button_over.gif); }

I'm assuming your 'buttons' look like this -

<div id="menu"><a href="home.html">HOME</a>....

You'll need to add a bit to the definition of the <a> tag, e.g.,

#menu a { background-image: url(images/button_up.gif); display:block;
height:30px; width:155px; }

so that the whole space occupied by the <a> tag is clickable.

Now when you mouse over the HOME button, you will get the rollover (without
javascript!).

If you uniquely identify each button, e.g.,

<a id="button1">...<a id="button2">...<a id="button3">....

then it's a simple matter to add a style to the editable region in the head
of each child page that styles its specific button so that the over/down
state is always shown, e.g.,

#menu a#button3 { background-image:url(images/button_over.gif); }

Did I just overwhelm you?

--
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Team Macromedia Volunteer for Dreamweaver
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
==================
http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com - Template Triage!
http://www.projectseven.com/go - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.dwfaq.com - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/ - Macromedia (MM) Technotes
==================

"Damaeus" <no-mail (AT) hotmail (DOT) invalid.net> wrote

In news:macromedia.dreamweaver, ":. Nadia .:"
forums@-ozzie-perrelink.com.au> posted on Wed, 28 Jul 2004 19:16:41
+1000:

See if this helps you any ..
http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com/tutorials/tutbuttons2.cfm

Heh... Hopefully I can upgrade to Dreamweaver MX later this year. I just
had to spend $840 to get my car out of the repair shop, and missing three
weeks of work with no car (38.5 mile commute) I'm almost wiped out.

Thanks for the tip. I'll bookmark it for when MX floats in my door.

Damaeus

In article <ce864a$n3p$1 (AT) forums (DOT) macromedia.com>,
"Murray *TMM*" <forums (AT) HAHAgreat-web-sights (DOT) com> wrote:

Here's a brief summary -

Create two background images that contains your button design (no text) on
one, and the button design with a red arrow on the other. Make the text on
your buttons just be plain HTML text. Define a pseudo-class set that
specifies the first button image as the background for your a tag, e.g.,

you overwhelmed me! How about a quickie visual tutorial URL <SMILE>

--
raizel
remove the STARS from your eyes to reply

Will hand shadows do?

--
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Team Macromedia Volunteer for Dreamweaver
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
==================
http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com - Template Triage!
http://www.projectseven.com/go - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.dwfaq.com - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/ - Macromedia (MM) Technotes
==================

"raizel" <739239 (AT) STARSistar (DOT) ca> wrote

In article <ce864a$n3p$1 (AT) forums (DOT) macromedia.com>,
"Murray *TMM*" <forums (AT) HAHAgreat-web-sights (DOT) com> wrote:

Here's a brief summary -

Create two background images that contains your button design (no text)
on
one, and the button design with a red arrow on the other. Make the text
on
your buttons just be plain HTML text. Define a pseudo-class set that
specifies the first button image as the background for your a tag, e.g.,

you overwhelmed me! How about a quickie visual tutorial URL <SMILE

--
raizel
remove the STARS from your eyes to reply

In news:macromedia.dreamweaver, "Murray *TMM*"
<forums (AT) HAHAgreat-web-sights (DOT) com> posted on Wed, 28 Jul 2004 08:27:59
-0400:

When you upgrade, make sure you get MX2004, not MX.

So you are using DW4? You could still do this with DW4, but you would have
to use CSS buttons for your menu.

Here's a brief summary -

Whooo! I just found this message. As you have seen, I'm about to upgrade
to MX 2004. I hope you didn't have to type all that out just for me!
However, I did read it all, if that's any consolation. :-) Probably
doesn't hurt to know this anyway. I'll save it in my library of hints and
tips for future reference. :-)

Create two background images that contains your button design (no text) on
one, and the button design with a red arrow on the other. Make the text on
your buttons just be plain HTML text. Define a pseudo-class set that
specifies the first button image as the background for your a tag, e.g.,

Damaeus