Creating a new template in Adobe Dreamweaver
Adobe Dreamweaver is a user-friendly website development program that allows quick and easy site production without knowledge of HTML or any other source-coding language. Developers access drop-down menus and toolbar buttons to customize their space and add interactive features like FTP, or file transfer protocol (used for eCommerce, or sales sites.) A quick tutorial will help you breeze through the process of creating a Dreamweaver website.
New Template or Page
Begin Dreamweaver by creating a new site. Click on the "Site" button and scroll to "New Site". This will open a toolbox where you fill in the name you have chosen for your site and the URL, where it will be published too. If you don't have a URL yet, you can leave that blank. When you have finished, click "Ok".
If your site is going to have multiple pages and you want all the pages to look alike, you should create a template for your site. Click on "File" and scroll to "New Template". A blank page will open in front of you. Give it a name and save it. If you don't want to use a template, simple scroll to "New Page" and the page you create will not be a template.
Using Tables
The best way to keep your page organized is to use Tables to create it. At the top of the page click "Insert" and scroll down to "Table". A toolbox will appear and ask you how many columns and rows. Start with 2 of each, you can add more later. Table cells can be broken up or merged depending on how you want your layout to look.
For starters, merge the top row into one column. Highlight both columns in the top row and Click on "Table" and scroll down to "Merge Cells". Now you have a table with one singe cell as the top row. This is where you can place the title of your page. Click anywhere in the cell and start typing. Use the "Properties" pull-down menu to select font size, style and color.
Creating Your Menu
Think about your page and how many links you want. For example, many pages have and "About", "Contact", "Photos" and other links to subsequent pages in their menu. For the purpose of this tutorial, we will use these three. The second row of your table is divided into 2 columns. Highlight that row and click on "Table" and scroll to "Insert Rows". Then choose 3, so there will be a row for each of your menu buttons and an added row for a "Home" button. In the left column of each row, type the name of the menu button. So in one cell it will say "Home" in the cell below it, it will say "About", and so on.
Click on each word and click "Insert" and scroll down to "Hyperlink" and name the page these buttons will link to. Now you have a menu down the left side of your page.
Save Template and Create Pages From It
For the right column of your rows you will merge the cells. Highlight the right side of your table under the title cell and merge those cells. This will create a large, blank space. Now save your template. This is what all your pages will look like with the exception of the large blank space, which will be different for each page. When you create the rest of your pages, open a "New Page From Template" from the template you designed and fill in the large blank space with text and photos for that page.
To add photos, click "Insert" and scroll down to "Picture" and a browser box will appear. Find the picture on your hard drive and select it. When you have finished creating a new page, save it by the same name you linked its menu button to. When you have finished creating all your pages, click on "File" and scroll to "Publish Site".
