Simple web design

[Big_Dave]

As well as running my Actinic store I sometimes build simple (non ecommerce) websites using basic HTML or maybe Frontpage if I'm feeling lazy.

One problem I am coming across is that some of these simple websites require a detailed navigation structure linking to hundreds of pages. Of course this means that each time I amend the navigation menu in frontpage for example, I then have to add the amendment to each html page I manually created (potentially hundreds of pages).

I thought of using Serif Webplus 10 or NetObjects 10 but am worried that these will not allow me access to the HTML source code enough to tweak things. They would however allow any changes to the navigation menu to ripple through the whole site so it would solve my main problem.

Any ideas? Perhaps a question more for a web design forum.

[george]

Evens that Jont will nail the solution in one post.




*puts on 20p*

[jont]

Frontpage is a much knocked product but is fine for regular HTML work.

If you need to change something site wide have you tried a find and replace and select site wide.

Ctrl +H > all pages > find in HTML only

You would be potentially better using some PHP to include a single a page containing the navigation into the one page (depending on how complex it is getting)

[jont]

Evens that Jont will nail the solution in one post.

*puts on 20p*

Dave - please report back if this sorts your problem as the 20p is riding on the outcome

[Darren B]

Ease up jont i never got to place my wager before you replied

[pinbrook]

Of course this means that each time I amend the navigation menu in frontpage for example, I then have to add the amendment to each html page I manually created (potentially hundreds of pages).

Dreamweaver templates

[leehack]

Website template for sure is the way to go.

[Big_Dave]

A template would help keep page design consistent but may not help if my navigation menu is forever changing/expanding and therefore needs changing on all previous and current pages?

Dreamweaver a little too pricey for me but if its a web design tool I need then the cheaper Serif Webplus or NetObjects would do the job.

Jont's find and replace in frontpage could work, however its only the menu I want to change so I would worry that other elements may also change. Each page will have different content, just the menu will expand and change over time as new pages added.

Not familiar with PHP but something I could look into.

[jont]

Templates can be set to include different elements (parts of the page) - this could include the navigation area - changing the part of the navigation is passed to the rest of the site.

If you are concerned about the find and replace it is best to expand the find code to encompass more HTML ... this is then unlikely to be replicated elsewhere on the page as it is searching a longer, more specific string of text.

[los_design]

A template would help keep page design consistent but may not help if my navigation menu is forever changing/expanding and therefore needs changing on all previous and current pages?

Dreamweaver a little too pricey for me but if its a web design tool I need then the cheaper Serif Webplus or NetObjects would do the job.

Jont's find and replace in frontpage could work, however its only the menu I want to change so I would worry that other elements may also change. Each page will have different content, just the menu will expand and change over time as new pages added.

Not familiar with PHP but something I could look into.

If you could stretch then IMHO your best investment would be DWCS3 (around £300) and as Jo states the DW Templates are a god send saving bags of time.

For free why not look at Nvu (free download here*) It is open source and you can do pretty much what you wish with it similar to DW but it is not bloated with functions...

FAO Jonty, FP is knocked for a reason....it is ***t IMHO


*Please note that we do not support this software it is just a resource made available.

[jont]

FAO Jonty, FP is knocked for a reason....it is ***t IMHO

FP is perfectly capable of very clean code so long as you stay away from the proprietary Microsoft code (typically the DHTML stuff) - for regular HTML there is now't wrong with it (this is post FP 2002 - earlier versions were not user friendly at all)

[pinbrook]

A template would help keep page design consistent but may not help if my navigation menu is forever changing/expanding and therefore needs changing on all previous and current pages?

A DW template works in exactly the same way as Actinic overall layout

the nav is on the template which is then applied to all pages, thus one change to nav is applied automatically to all pages

[Coggy]

Hi Dave,

I have found Xara Webstyle a brilliant tool for creating and managing navigation bars/menu structures. You create/amend your navigation bar and it produces 1 or 2 JavaScript files (depending on whether you use a DHTML drop down menu system), which you then reference in your HTML. The great benefit is that you don’t have to do exactly what you are doing at the moment!! Instead you change the navigation structure in one place and upload the new files. It integrates with DW for production of templates, as suggested above.

Webstyle allows you to create other graphics so if this is not of interest you may wish to try Menu Maker, which is a cut down version. Both versions, IMO, provide awesome value for money and Webstyle has saved me hours!!

HTH

Chris

[george]

I use Xara Webstyle in another life and got to say its incredibly handy. Maybe not one for the seasoned pros though who probably live by DW.

[los_design]

FP is perfectly capable of very clean code so long as you stay away from the proprietary Microsoft code (typically the DHTML stuff) - for regular HTML there is now't wrong with it (this is post FP 2002 - earlier versions were not user friendly at all)

My comments are based prior to 2002 as I have never gone back to it...

nowt wrong with notepad