DH Templates

Website creation... been out of the loop and need some guidance?

I need to create a simple website of approximately 8 pages depth. In the olden days I would have created a frames start page so that only the content of the page changed and the navigation menu, logo, notifications stayed the same. I dont want to create a template of how the site generically looks and use this to construct the other pages as, even though I will use stylesheets for fonts, each amendment would have to be done on all pages creating a total administrative nightmare! I'm just not up on the current creation methods but know frames are not the way to go, flash is too complicated for the requirement, free website templates may go some way to the actual look of the site but seem to use seperate html pages, oh and for the record I am not proficient in XML or ASP. FYI - Am using DreamWeaver 2004.

Public Comments

1. I'm not proficient in website building, for sure, but I came across this site: http://sitebuilder.whateverlife.com/ and they (supposedly) will help you build a website for free. Hope this helps! Good luck.
2. Well.. idk about DreamWeaver.. i have it but never got around to learning it so instead i like to use Microsoft Word 2003.. i know its not optimal for website design but i'm pretty happy with what i came up with.... www.danwayfilms.com :D
3. Frames are a big no-no! They will kill any rating you could get in the search engines, and despite being around for a decade, browsers still get confused by them and you get frames stuck in frames. The easiest way, avoiding XML/ASP etc, is to use templates. Once you've set up the main page, you simply change the data. It will also increase the number of inbound links which should eventually help your page rank on search engines. Dreamweaver 2004 has some decent templates, and I think you can download more from Adobe.
4. Cascading Style Sheets are for pretty much everything now, especially if you are using a strict DTD. Try validating your webpatges here and see what happens:-
5. Perhaps it is DreamWeaver that makes it a nightmare to include the same changes in a mere 8 pages. I use IE View/Source with Notepad. There you can cut/paste a common block and Edit, Find/Replace to change a series of letters/word e.g. for a link.
6. try this program
7. While you are starting out continue to use Dreamweaver or FrontPage if you can get a free version. Separate pages is a better idea, avoid frames as you say, and XML takes some time to learn. Create one HTML page and copy it for further pages replacing text.