I read your Dreamweaver book but didn’t find anything about adding a search engine to my website. Can you direct me to make this element in my website?

Sincerely
Hossein from Norway

Greetings Hossein,

Creating your own search feature in Dreamweaver is very complex and generally not worth the effort because there are services that you can use instead.

Google offers a search feature you can add to your Web site. You can learn more about it at www.google.com/sitesearch/

I just added the features offered at www.wibiya.com because I like the fact that the service combines Google’s search engine with a few social media features all in one.

Hope that helps and I wish you all the best,
Janine

Still want more? Visit the Dreamweaver Help Center at www.DigitalFamily.com/dreamweaver to find Dreamweaver tips, tricks, and tutorials.

I have been reading one of your web design books and am interested in learning Dreamweaver but live in Cairns, Australia, where there is no training center available. First, is it possible to learn Dreamweaver (with no past training in web design) by using your videos? Second, if it IS possible, can it be delivered to Australia?

Thank you very much.

Alice

Hi Alice,

I’ve known many people who learned web design over the years. It’s a new and growing profession, so lots of people are starting in now. I’ve been doing this for 15 years (which makes me the age of a grandparent in Internet time) and I’ve learned that some of the important things to consider when you start to learn web design are (1) what kind of site do you want to create? and (2) what is your background (what programs do you already know)?

If you give me a few more details about what you want to do, I can help you assess the best approach and which of my books or videos (as well as other resources) might help you achieve your goals.

In the meantime, you can find many free tutorials and other resources at www.DigitalFamily.com.

Thanks,
Janine

I’ve been creating posts in Dreamweaver and then copying and pasting them into WordPress.  I love being able to use Dreamweaver’s more sophisticated editor, but WordPress keeps deleting my paragraph and break tags. Is there a way to prevent WordPress from stripping out my line breaks?

It’s making me crazy. . .

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

I know exactly what you’re talking about, but it has nothing to do with Dreamweaver. That behavior is part of TinyMCE, which is the editor running behind the WordPress engine. It’s a common problem, so common there is a relatively easy fix.

Download and install the plug-in called TinyMCE Advanced, and you can change this annoying WordPress behavior. I recommend TinyMCE Advanced for every WordPress site.

To stop WordPress from stripping out your break and paragraph tags, open the Settings page for the plug-in after you install it. At the very bottom of the Settings page, you’ll find a check box that says “Stop removing <p> and <br /> tags when saving and show them in the HTML editor.”

Check that little box, and keep your sanity.

Janine

I’m trying to add a Flash file to a template page, but I keep getting the error message “Making this change would alter a region that is locked by a template or translator. The change will be discarded.”

Do you know what I’m doing wrong?

Thanks,

Kate,

You’re not doing anything wrong. This is a common error in templates, and there is a fix that will take care of your problem.

Here’s a somewhat technical explanation of the problem with your template pages, followed by detailed instructions for correcting it. In addition to making it possible to add Flash files to pages created with templates, this fix will enable you to edit the title of your pages and to add AJAX, CSS, and Behaviors to pages created from templates.

The errors for all of these problems are caused because of a missing editable region in the header tag area at the top of the page (more on what that means below).

There are two ways to create templates in Dreamweaver. You can create a new template (.dwt file) directly, or you can create an HTML page and then later save the page as a template. When you create a new .dwt file from scratch in Dreamweaver, the head area of the template is automatically set up as an editable region.

Here’s what caused your problem and why it doesn’t always happen in Dreamweaver. When you turn an existing HTML page into a template (using Save As to change the file to the .dwt format instead of .html), Dreamweaver should make the head area editable — it does that when you create a new template, but not when you save an existing page as a template. This problem can be hard to find because the head region of a page is not visible in the design area, but it’s very important.

If you’re using Dreamweaver CS3, 8, or a previous version, you’ll need to make the head area of the template an editable region manually, and you’ll have to do a little code work to fix it. (Don’t worry, I’ve included the code below so you can just copy and paste it.)

Note: If you are using Dreamweaver CS4 (the newest version), this problem was fixed in most versions. That said, if you’re having this problem and you’re using CS4, the following solution will work for you, too.

To manually add an editable region to the head section of a template so you can insert Flash and other files into your pages, follow these steps:

1. Open the .dwt file and choose Split or Code View so you can see the code behind the page.

2. Find the Head section of the page — it should be toward the top of the page in the HTML code and should look something like this:

<head>
<meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=utf-8″ />
<title>Untitled Document</title>
</head>

Note: Your code may be longer and include other details, such as a real document title instead of Untitled Document, but you want to identify everything between the <head> and </head> tags before you fix it.

3. Dreamweaver creates editable regions in pages by adding a little code that looks like this: <!– TemplateBeginEditable name=”head” –> around whatever area you want to be able to edit. That code is not inserted when you create a template from an existing page, but you can copy and paste the following code into the top of your page to fix it.

4. The easiest thing to do is to replace the entire head area in the HTML code of the original .dwt template file. (Note: You can’t do this in an HTML page created from the template; you need to do it in the original .dwt file. The bonus is that if you’ve already created multiple pages from the template, this should fix all of the pages you created from the template at once.)

Here’s what you need to do:

First, select all the code at the top of your template contained between the <head> tag and the close </head> tag and Delete it.

Then copy the following code and paste it into your .dwt file in place of what you deleted (be very careful to paste this in exactly the same place where you cut the old <head> content. Note that you may want to preserve your title tag or other custom code by saving it and pasting it back into place very carefully. HTML is for the detail-oriented; one missing quote mark and it won’t work. . .

<head>
<meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=utf-8″ />
<!– TemplateBeginEditable name=”doctitle” –>
<title>Untitled Document</title>
<!– TemplateEndEditable –>
<!– TemplateBeginEditable name=”head” –>
<!– TemplateEndEditable –>
</head>

5. Save the page to complete the changes. If you are prompted to apply those changes to pages created from the template, make sure to approve the changes.

6. Although you shouldn’t see any change in the main design area of the page (unless you made a mistake such as deleting the <body> tag), you should now be able to add Flash files and other elements to any page you’ve created from your template, because Dreamweaver will not have an editable region at the top of the code where it needs to save the scripts that make your Flash files, behaviors, and other interactive features work.

7. Once you’ve changed the head code area in the template, you should be able to open any of the pages created from the template and edit the title, insert Flash files, and anything else just as you would any other page . This will also make it possible to add Behaviors that use Javascript, Spry features, such as drop-down menus, and other elements that require adding code to the head region.

Hope that solves your problem, and I wish you all the best with your Web site!

– Janine

I wonder if you could help me with the following: I’m new to building Web sites (I started 3 days ago!) and the problem I have is small but annoying. When defining rules for links, I am able to change the “hover” color but not the link color. When previewed in IExplorer, the link color insists on being purple when I’ve defined it as blue. Can you tell me what I’m doing wrong?

Hope to hear from you.
Regards,
Justin

Hi, Justin,

I’m guessing you’re seeing the visited link color in IE because you’ve already “visited” those links.

There are four color settings for links and you need to change all four. And keep in mind that you can use the same color for both active and visited links if you don’t want the color to appear to change after someone has visited the page.

On my website, you’ll find a tutorial on how to use CSS to create styles for links formatted in an Unordered List, which is a popular way to create navigation bars. Follow this link to the tutorial, where you’ll find more details about how to define styles for each of the four link states.

Best regards,
Janine

I have tried everything under the sun to get my site to look proper in IE on the PC. Every other browser looks fine, but in IE there is always a “gap” between the top div and the middle. The bottom looks fine.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Sincerely,

Ronnie

Hi Ronnie,

Unfortunately, CSS differences in IE are a frustration for most Web designers. Microsoft just hasn’t followed the rules the way other browser makers have. As a result, to get your designs to look exactly the same in most Web browsers, you’ll have to move on to some advanced CSS techniques.

On my site, you’ll find links to a few places where you can continue your training. You’ll find instructions there to get you started with CSS and how to edit a CSS layout in Dreamweaver — they are designed to look good in many browsers from the start and can help you avoid problems.

If you really want to learn the best and latest, advanced CSS, I recommend AListApart.com for high-level CSS tips, but you won’t find much help with Dreamweaver there.

You may also appreciate my article about online browser emulators, which can help you compare your site on different browsers and even different versions of the same web browser.

I wish you all the best with your CSS,
Janine

Still want more? Visit the Dreamweaver Help Center at www.DigitalFamily.com/dreamweaver to find Dreamweaver tips, tricks, and tutorials.

I created a tabbed panel on one of my pages. When I preview it in a browser, the page has this restriction message about scripts and ActiveX controls at the top, and a pop-up window asking if I’m sure I want to run this active content.

What can I do to have the page appear without the ActiveX restriction?

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

That “error” is designed to protect you from the fact that when you execute a script or ActiveX control on your computer, you run the risk of getting a bad virus or unleashing some malicious program.

All that is to say that Internet Explorer is trying to protect you — in this case, from your own script.

The good news is you don’t have to change anything and most people who visits your site on the Web won’t see the error.

This error message only appears when you preview pages on your computer that have active content (drop-down menus, panels, and other interactive features that require scripts).

Beware that IE offers many security settings and there are many reasons users do sometimes see this error message on live web pages, especially if you’re using scripts to download active content to a user’s machine.

You can test it yourself by publishing the page and viewing it in the same browser on the server that you used to view it on your hard drive. If you only see the error when you view the page on your computer, you can assume your visitors will not have a problem with your content.

I hope that helps you as you build your site and I wish you all the best,
Janine

I’m a Chinese teacher in France. Actually, I’m doing a project on how to make Chinese Learning easier, a quick method that I created to help foreigners learn to speak real mandarin.

Thanks to your Total Training DW course, I could start building my Web site step by step. I’m not flattering, but I must say you’re a very good teacher, with much patience that could be heard in your voice. Your language speed is quite suitable for us non-English speaking students.

As you said in DW CS4 Essential Training: “You don’t have to do backbends to set links.” So today, I’m trying to link with my teacher to get some help with the questions that I’ve googled for a long time without any ideal result.

My first question is how to make my Web site both in French and English?

The second one is how to make a Virtual Scene, like an office environment that appears in your Total Training DW CS3? Because I’m going to prepare an online course and I want to make it a bit stylish. But I just don’t know where to start and what software I should use.

If it won’t take too much of your time, could you please just let me know the working process and the software involved for getting it done?

I would be most grateful if you could send me your advice. I’ll be very happy to make your acquaintance.

Kind regards,
Mengnan

Hi Mengnan,

Thank you for your kind words about my videos. To create a site in more than one language, you essentially need to create a second version of the site and translate the text. Just treat the second version as a section of the first version and set the links to the pages in the second language as you would link to anything else. If you visit my www.jcwarner.com or www.artesianmedia.com sites, you’ll see that I’ve done this with my sites in English and Spanish.

As for creating the ‘virtual office’ scene, the professional video editors at Total Training did it in a program called After Effects, which is used for video editing. I create all of the Web sites and training in my videos, but they do the video editing, so I can’t help you with that part.

I wish you all the best,
Janine

Still want more? Visit the Dreamweaver Help Center at www.DigitalFamily.com/dreamweaver to find Dreamweaver tips, tricks, and tutorials.

I am a new web designer and am practicing doing some web sites and trying to find a job in this new career. I live in Ontario, Canada and I am designing a photography site for my niece in High River, AB.

My question is: How can I show her some of the designs I create, say the homepage or how the navigation works?

She wanted the navigation as text, not buttons, which I finally figured out, using some CSS code from the Internet.

At the moment I do not have my own site, and I am looking into creating a portfolio, once I figure out how.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Steve

Hi, Steve,

When I want to show a client how a site looks as I’m building it, I usually set up it in a temporary address at one of my domains. For example, I have a site at DigitalFamily.com. If I had a client who sold cars, I might set up a test site at DigitalFamily.com/cars so my client could go to that address to see how the site looks while I’m working on it.

Once I’m finished with the site, I would move it to their domain name and whatever server they prefer.

Hope that helps,
Janine

Still want more? Visit the Dreamweaver Help Center at www.DigitalFamily.com/dreamweaver to find Dreamweaver tips, tricks, and tutorials.

Thank you for making the DVD Dreamweaver CS3 (Total Training) lessons on creating Web sites. I have found your instruction method to be clear and easy to understand. I have found one or two places where your lessons might have included more clarifying information but did not, yet know this could also have been just an example of my missing something. The point is, I have very much enjoyed working with you via DVD, and now want to FTP the 60-plus page site.

Some time ago I subscribed to WebAssist so as to gain access to their many extensions. I have not downloaded anything as of yet so that if I suddenly experience some kind of difficulty, I will not have to isolate the one from the other to further isolate/identify its cause. So far, all well and good. Are you still with me?

A couple of weeks ago, WebAssist made available an extension upgrade called Surveyor 1.0.5; perhaps you are familiar with it. I decided to give it a try, using a copy of my Web site, in case problems should arise. Unthinkingly, for a moment forgetting everything you had taught me, I simply dragged the entire site to my other dedicated partitioned 1-terabyte HD, on which I intended to test Surveyor. Perhaps you know where I am going with this?

Suddenly I have files searching for their images or graphics. And when I actually can view an image on, say, Firefox and then attempt to test the links, nothing works as before, even though they worked perfectly prior to my dragging the entire site’s Root Folder to another partition. When trying to view via browser, I sometimes have an image, sometimes not. The more I read the more fearful I become that I may further damage the site; so I ask you, what can I do to remedy my major fopah? Is there anything I can do, or have I completely screwed everything up? Can you please help me?

Thank you, Janine.
Jamie

Hi Jamie,

From what you’ve written, it appears that you’ve moved your main root folder for your site and Dreamweaver is having trouble keeping track of your links and image references.

You have a couple of options. You can move the folder back to exactly where it was before, without changing an folder names, and Dreamweaver should find it again.

If you want to leave it where it is, or don’t want to move it back exactly, you can use Dreamweaver Site Management features to reset the root folder (just follow the basic site setup features I cover at the beginning of almost every one of my video lessons).

Once Dreamweaver knows where the root folder is again, you should be back on track, and if any images or links were broken in the meantime, they should be pretty easy to fix (consider using Dreamweaver’s Link Checking options to make sure).

You may also benefit from understanding that you can have more than one copy of the same web site on your hard drive; you just have to treat them as different sites in Dreamweaver. That means you’ll need to keep each copy in its own folder and then go through the site setup process using Dreamweaver’s Site Management dialog for each site separately. You can name them something like site1 and site2 so you can keep track.

A good practice is making a backup copy for testing new features, especially features as complex as the ones you can get from Web Assist.

Sorry I don’t have much experience with Web Assist, but I hope this helps you with your Dreamweaver challenges.

I wish you all the best with your Web site,
Janine

Still want more? Visit the Dreamweaver Help Center at www.DigitalFamily.com/dreamweaver to find Dreamweaver tips, tricks, and tutorials.