Posted by Steve Pugh on 02/02/06 19:35

John Salerno wrote:

> 1. I'm a little confused with how Dreamweaver handles
> templates. What I'd like to do is create a simple template that contains
> *only* the markup I put in it, and have this template be available when
> I choose to create a new HTML file. How do I do this?

Use the options from the Insert > Template Object menu to create a
template with editable regions, optional regions, repeating regions and
so on. Save the resulting .dwt file. When you want to create a page
based on that template select the Template tab from the File > New
dialogue box and pick the template you want to use.

You'll then be able to add copy, etc. the editable regions (note that
to use some template features such as repeating regions you'll need to
be in Design View). Code outside of editable regions can not be edited.
By editing the template you will be offered the option to update all
pages based on that template.

> The only templates I've been able to create so far have some strange
> Dreamweaver code added to it,

The only code DW adds to templates are comments that it uses internally
to marke the start and end of editable regions, etc. If you absolutely
don't want any additional code in your templates then you'll have to
save them as normal HTML files and use cut and paste / search and
replace.

> and in some cases it has commented out most of my own template.

When a page uses a template the code outside of editable regions is
locked and can not be edited - it is displayed in the same grey colour
as comments but is not in fact commented out.

> 2. I'd like for my markup to be automatically indented and outdented as
> follows:
>
> 1. After pressing enter on a line with an opening tag but no closing
> tag, the next line is indented.
> 2. After pressing enter on a line with an opening and closing tag, the
> next line is flush with the previous line.
> 3. After typing the beginning of a closing tag ("</"> as the first
> characters of a line, the line is outdented to the previous tab stop.

Edit > Preferences > Code Format contains some basic options.You can
use the Tag Library Editor (linked at the bottom of that dialogue) to
specify rules for new lines and indenting of individual elements. Not
sure how close to what you want you can get. Personally, I either don't
bother or just use Commands > Apply Source Formatting to give some
basic structure to the code.

Steve

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