Hi guys
I hope that you can help with this, because it is driving me crazy
I am reasonably experienced as a coder having built sites using HTML, CSS, PHP and SQL before.
However, recently I purchased The Adobe CS4 package which inluded Fireworks and Dreamweaver. I though that it would assist in making my sites look richer, and more exciting. And also speed up development time.
However, after going through numerous tutorials on the topic of 'How to export CSS layouts into Dreamweaver', things are still not going as they should!
I have designed a layout within Fireworks. As it is a multi page site, I have added multiple pages within Fireworks. I have also included a 'Master Page' because there are various elements/objects that I want to be inherited by every page of the site.
I have also added some slices and hotspots in order to apply functionality to the site.
This leads to my first question:
1/ I've added 'swap image' functionality to the master page using the 'States' function. This has been done just to jazz up the links (make them change colour on mouseovers). I have applied this with javascript rather than CSS, just to experiment with a different technique.
However, I noticed that although I'd applied these states to the master page: their effects were not being carried over to the other pages of the site when I tested in the browser. I had to add the states (state 1 and state 2) to each page of the site. Why was this necessary if I'd set the state functionality on the master layer in the first place???
However, this is not the main area of concern....My real headache comes when I try to export the pages to Dreamweaver.
I want to use CSS instead of tables for site layout. So, in Fireworks I've produced the layers accordingly: In the Master page I have created a 'headers, footers and navigation' layer.
In the other pages, I have created a content layer for each - which is basically text only for each page. Although I have added swap image functionality for a 'next page' button on one page
However, when I export to Dreamweaver - the pages are blank i.e. no content appears. I get the black canvass, the header and footer, and the nav bar but that's it. No content, and also the rollover functionality is not there (It doesn't look like it has imported the javascript).
When I went back into Fireworks, I double checked the slices that I had made. The only slices I have are for the header, footer and side nav bar (which includes navigation). As far as I am aware this is correct, because text should not be sliced. Only images! Is that right? However, I have created a black rectangle content area, where the text has been placed (in order for it to be treated as a 'Div' by Dreamweaver). The text is white, so the black background should not be a problem.
I have chosen the export 'CSS and Images' option when exporting - because CSS is the route I want to go down: I do not want to use HTML tables.....
However, out of frustration, I chose the alternative export 'HTML and Images' option just to see what the result would be: surprisingly (and most annoyingly) the text content, images, header,footer and rollover functionality was all present I am tempted to just use this method instead (it has got to that stage of frustration!), but the trouble is that the text is not editable!! I don't know why that is: I think that Dreamweaver is treating it as part of the background image!!
Anyway, if anyone can offer me some advice on where I am going wrong when it comes to exporting the CSS and Images, it would be appreciated.
Cheers
Will
Linear Mode
