Importing a website for beginners

[kayt61]

Hi,

I have installed v8 Business to evaluate for my own business and am wanting to import my own website into Actinic and then expand on it by adding products.

My product is that with little knowledge of html or Actinic I do not know the correct process for importing my own website. Can you please advise.

Kindest regards,

Trevor
kayt61

[cdicken]

Hi Trevor

Have you not used Actinic before at all then? OK - well there are a couple of options for starting a new site with v8 if you have an existing design.

If you use Dreamweaver, you can convert one of your existing pages into an Actinic design by registering it via the Actinic Macromedia plug-in. Read about this in the beta testing guide, in the last chapter.

Do you have data ready to import via a spreadsheet? If so, you can import via Actinic's import wizard. You can read more about this in the help under the chapter on 'Importing'.

Sorry not to be more specific, but maybe if you say what you are starting with, I can help out.

By the way, v8 is only in beta at the moment (i.e. it is an early version for people to try out). I suggest you wait until the full release is ready before you start spending a lot of time building a site as there is no guarantee you will be able to upgrade your work to the live production version.

[kayt61]

Hi,

Many thanks for your response.

No, I have not used Actinic before. I am wanting to use it for my business with is due to be launched in a couple of months. Hence, I have can determine that the software can adapt to be website layout and build upon that I would like to buy the full 'live' version once it is released.

My website consists of 4 pages written in HTML with a CSS template added into them. I do not have any data in a spreadsheet format.

When registering the CSS template which Actinic CSS file should this replace as I see there are currently 3 different versions within the manufacturer's default settings?

Also, would I then just need to register 1 page of my existing site which would then be used as a template for all following pages?

Many thanks for your help so far and I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Trevor

[jont]

Hi Trevor,

there has been much discussion about the CSS in v8 .. see (amongst others) this thread http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=22428 for how best to handle / combine the css files in use in v8.

As for the page templates - yes registering the one outer layout can then be used site wide which Actinic will use to compile all the product date etc into ... you can also register other outer layouts and use on a section by section (page by page) basis should you so require to change the theme between sections (pages)

[kayt61]

Hi,

Thats great advise. Many thanks for the info.

Regards,

Trev

[kayt61]

Hi Chris,

I have tried to register a page from my website as instructed but (in Dreamweaver) the background colours and images do not show. Also, the navigation bar is not formatted correctly as it only shows standard text with black colour and no linking to other pages. The general page formatting has also reverted to basic black text and lost all it's alignment. The header and footer images are visable.

I have registered the css file but this has not made any difference to the page.

Within Actinic the coding shows in the layout code section and the page preview section.

When downloading my website to my PC the files including are

contact.asp
jewellery.asp
about.asp
contactSend.asp
default.asp

highstreetsaver.css (within a 'css' folder)

within the include folder:
footer.asp
navigation.asp
header.asp
within an images folder the are also various images including the background images.
Imagine.asp

I have followed all the instructions I can find within this forum and the starter and advanced guides but cannot seem to show the page correctly within Actinic or Dreamweaver.

Please can you assist further as determining that I can build around my existing webpages in essential if I am to buy Actinic v8 when it is released.

I hope the above information is sufficient but is you require any more information please let me know.

Regards,

Trevor

[pinbrook]

Ok

1. install Actinic extension in DW (this was an option when installing V8)
2. Open actinic and choose your base theme, best to choose a theme new to V8, (executive, technical, comtemporary, cleancss), choose the colours too
3 open DW, open a blank page and save it (save in site1)
4 register the design with actinic (menu in DW, actinic extension)
5 add the code to the head to use your custom css file (place custom css in site1)
6 use the DW/actinic extension to place the actinic variables on the page, wrap the variables in your own css
7 save the file in DW
8 View result in actinic, page preview and browser preview

repeat 6,7,8 as often as is required

I think that covers it (I have written this from memory and not tested it)

[kayt61]

Hi Jo,

Thanks for your comments.

Just one query, please can you elaborate or point 6:

'use the DW/actinic extension to place the actinic variables on the page, wrap the variables in your own css'.

Many thanks,

Trev

[pinbrook]

use the DW/actinic extension to place the actinic variables on the page, wrap the variables in your own css'.

When you open DW, you should have a Menu "Actinic" ie the actinic extension. There is an option on this menu, Insert ActinicContent.

Use this to place the actinic content into the DW design.

[kayt61]

Hi,

Apologies, but I still am not getting any changes.

I have created a html file in dreamwearer with the html coding from my website. I have also created a css file in dreamweaver with the css from my website. Both pages have been saved and registered with Actinic via the dreamweaver extension. I have placed some of the Actinic variables on the html page but have seen no changed.

Please can someone advise further as to what I am doing wrong. I appreciate that I am most likely making a simple mistake but as the beginners and advanced guides do not clearly show a notice user how to set out this type of design I am unable to determine what the mistake is.

As I only have 12 days until my trial period expires I am needing to resolve this issue quickly.

Your help is very much appreciated,

Trev

[pinbrook]

are both the html and css files stored in site1?

[kayt61]

Hi Jo,

Yes, both files are stored in the site1 folder.

Trev

[pinbrook]

I've got no more ideas.

the first time I tried to register my own design I didn't see any change within actinic. I never found out what I was doing wrong. I took a day off then returned and started all over and got it to work. Not much help to you though

[cdicken]

First of all I suggest you uninstall the beta and download and install the production version of 8.0.0. This will mean that you can get support from Actinic Support if what I am suggesting doesn't work. Also uninstall and re-install the Dreamweaver extension, to make sure you are using the latest one.

Then prepare a completely clean file (i.e. with no Actinic bits in) to take into Actinic. You may need to strip out any extra code that Actinic added to your <head> area when you first tried the registration. This file does not need to be in 'Site1' - it can be anywhere in your site. Also, you don't need to separately register your css file. This will be picked up by Actinic following the registration.

Once you have re-installed Actinic and got your clean custom design ready, start Actinic and Dreamweaver and then go to 'Actinic | Register A Design With Actinic'. Then check Actinic - your design should be in place and working.

[kayt61]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your last comments, I have some positive results after following your advice.

The main page layout now shows in actinic. To begin with I received an error message that the location of the css file was invalid. Moving the folder the css file was originally in to the PreviewHTML folder resolved this issue.

I also had to move the folders containing my asp files and images to the PreviewHTML folder in order to view the background and header images.

I do have a couple of problems though, I hope you can help.

Firstly, my nagivation bar located down the left hand side of the site does not show in Actinic, although it is still visable in DW. I have looked at the site option but cannot seen to alter this. The design code within Actinic does make a reference to the navigation asp file as follows:

<!--#include file="includes/navigation.asp"-->

Secondly, I have removed my welcome page text and tried to find out how to view the products within my design but have failed to resolve this issue.

Currently I have my website design within Actinic (minus the navigation bar) and a blank white table in the body of the design which is where I would like my products, introduction etc to be show.

Please can you advise how I overcome these problems.

Kind regards,

Trev