a nav bar

ball420 · 03-13-2007, 09:17 AM

i'm trying to figure out what the best way to make a nav bar is that i would only have to change it in one place and it would change on all my pages? i'm not savy in php but i do know html know of any good tutorials or can you guide me in the right way??thanks a million for the replies

DaveyBoy · 03-13-2007, 09:34 AM

PHP includes are simple, you don't have to know PHP really.

Just insert this code wherever you want your nav to appear :

Code:

<?php include("nav.php"); ?>

Obviously, your navigation will go on a page called nav.php and all pages it is on must have the .php extension.

ball420 · 03-13-2007, 09:41 AM

so basically the php document will be my templete and i can build all my pages aroud that. or do i jsut put this code into a layer and it can pull from the php document

DaveyBoy · 03-13-2007, 10:05 AM

Just build your document however you normally would, but whenever you want a nav bar to appear, insert that line of code into the document.

Taltos · 03-13-2007, 10:07 AM

The php includes is an easy way to go but if you are not using php for anything else then it might be worth a look at Dreamweaver templates. If you are using DW already, then take a quick look at templates. That is the way I usually create my nav and the ability to change it in the template. Then DW updates all the pages created on that template for me. One change to the nav in the template and all pages change.

ball420 · 03-13-2007, 10:24 AM

that reply was really helpful because i thought that was the case with the templets but wasn't sure so i make the templete and then do use it for everypage i jsut open it and rename it to what the .html page will be called and when the original is changed it will change all of the rest. if i understand right or am i missing somthing?

thanks again

ball420 · 03-13-2007, 11:29 AM

i figured this out Once you have created a page which will be the same structure as the template all you need to do is, Go to Modify/Template/Apply Template to page but now a new issue i'm having trouble maing a region editable ex i have a layout cell with some tables i want to make them all editable i choose Modify/Template/make attribute editable but it still won't make it editable? what am i doing wrong

Taltos · 03-13-2007, 11:32 AM

You are pretty close. What I usually do is create the visual look and feel with junk text in text areas and then do a "File >> Save as Template" in DW. Then to create a page from that template, just do:

1. Select File > New.
The New Document dialog box opens.

2. Click the Templates tab.

3. In the Templates For list, select the Dreamweaver site that contains the template you want use, then select a template from the list on the right.
For more information about options in this dialog box, see Setting options in the General tab of the New Document dialog box.

4. Click Create.
The new document opens in the Document window.

5. Save the document (see Saving a new document).

This is just straight out of DW help but sometimes, just the right help doc can be tough to find if you don't have the right words yet to search for.

DW does a pretty good job of sticking default editable regions into a template. You can add or change the default editable regions. Just do a search in DW help for "template editable region" and see what you get.

Then when you want to change all pages made from the template, edit the template rather than each page. When you save the template after editing, it will ask you if you want to update all pages based on this template. Just tell it yes.

Hope this helps. It is worth getting comfortable with as it makes maintaining common parts of a site very easy and quick.