Tutorials - Using Dreamweaver Templates

Designing Web pages can be a fun and rewarding experience. However, implementing a new design on many Web pages can be time consuming and tedious. A standard design, called a template, can help make this conversion process easier. Dreamweaver allows you to create new Web pages from a template and convert existing pages to a template — all in a relatively simple process.

What are templates?

Templates, as used in Dreamweaver, represent generic Web pages that contain the key elements you want future Web pages to look like. Elements such as a logo, header, navigation, content and a footer can usually be found in a template. It may also include sample text to remind you what information goes in which area.

Advantages of templates

• When you modify the template, Dreamweaver can update all of the Web pages that were created from the template.
  • Spend less time updating your Web pages when your overall look and feel (the design) changes.
  • You only need to add or change major navigation links to your template, not every page.
• Since your site will have a consistent look and feel, your visitors will find it easier to navigate.

Lessons in this tutorial

• Introduction (this page)
• Creating a Template
• Using Editable Regions
• Creating New Pages
• Converting Existing Pages
• Updating Templates
• Additional Resources