dreamweaver website

[slotbox]

i built my current website 4 years ago using dreamweaver. My knowledge was limited and there are a few errors, the main one being the pages aren't linked to a template that automatically updates any changes i make to the template.. so i have to update all the links on each page everytime i make changes..
I've decided i fancy a change and am going to redesign the whole site.
First question is, do I create a whole new site/ folders for the new site or just add the new pages into the current folders I use? I can see the this might create problems as i won't be able to have 2 pages called 'index' for instance..not sure if that makes sense
And secondly, can anyone recommend any sites to download dreamweaver compatible templates as i'm not sure i'm technically gifted to create the design from scratch (or are there templates already within dreamweaver that i've not found yet:|)

Thanks, in advance.

 

[takerootdesign]

Without sounding too harsh you shouldn't design a website for professional use using Dreamweaver or any other WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. For starters I can guarantee your website will not adhere to accessibility guidelines (you could technically be taken to court over the disability discrimination act) or web standards. Add to this the fact Google wont be able to understand what your site is about, browser compatibility issues, usability, slow loading speeds plus many other issues. There is no tool out there that can code a website to the standard a knowledgeable coder can, and even if there was, the coding of a website is only a very small part of what makes a website successful.

A website should be profitable, and the more money (or time) you spend on a website, the more profitable it will be.

If you are serious about having a website there are two options - learn how to create professional standard websites or hire a professional to do it for you.

Will the website you create generate a profit with £50+ you inevitably have to pay for hosting every year?

Could a well built, properly thought out website generate much more income than it costs to build and host?

 

[slotbox]

thanks for your reply.

I understand what you are saying, but i make a lot of changes to my site (adding new pics etc) so i want full control over the site to be able to make the changes. My current site ranks well with google (on 1st page)- i have spent time on seo etc.. I have quite a lot of pages/ content, plus a webshop so i imagine that it would work out quite expensive for me to get someone else to do it for me.
i just fancied a change with the design of the site as my business has shifted focus slightly and i want to appeal to a more upmarket client which is my reason for redesigning the site.. is there a better program i should be using other than dreamweaver? I only used this as it was the program i learnt basic web design using.

 

[fisicx]

Without sounding too harsh you shouldn't design a website for professional use using Dreamweaver or any other WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. For starters I can guarantee your website will not adhere to accessibility guidelines (you could technically be taken to court over the disability discrimination act) or web standards. Add to this the fact Google wont be able to understand what your site is about, browser compatibility issues, usability, slow loading speeds plus many other issues. There is no tool out there that can code a website to the standard a knowledgeable coder can

What a load of tosh.

There is nothing wrong with using Dreamweaver to build a website. Ever heard of a thing called codeview? Accessibility has nothing to do with the editor you use, Google has no problem with DW built sites notr are there any browser compatibility issues.

slotbox, if the site you have is working fine leave it alone. Sitewide changes are a doddle, you can do it all with the find/replace feature. You are on page 1 of Google so you must be doing something right.

 

[slotbox]

What a load of tosh.

There is nothing wrong with using Dreamweaver to build a website. Ever heard of a thing called codeview? Accessibility has nothing to do with the editor you use, Google has no problem with DW built sites notr are there any browser compatibility issues.

slotbox, if the site you have is working fine leave it alone. Sitewide changes are a doddle, you can do it all with the find/replace feature. You are on page 1 of Google so you must be doing something right.

well that's what i thought:| but being a novice, i am prepared to stand corrected:redface:

the reasons i am changing it are, because the pages aren't linked to a template that automatically updates all the other pages.. i know i did something wrong when i set the site up 4 years ago, and although i am better with DM now, i can't figure out where i went wrong, so thoguht it would be easier to just do a new site from scratch (and we are also, sort of 'rebranding' to a bit more upmarket theme and a new site would reflect this).

 

[fisicx]

Don't worry about the site not using a template. You can use DW to move all the layout information to an external CSS file. This sort of becomes your template file. If you want to tweak the layout all you then need to do is fiddle with the CSS.

There are loads of tutorials on how to do this. It can take a bit of time but the effort is well worth it. I set up my first website the same as you, it took me about a week to build the CSS file but now if I want to make a layout change it only takes a few minutes.

 

[takerootdesign]

I used the codeview of Dreamweaver up until about a week ago. It is very good, however I've moved to Notepad++ simply because it's more lightweight. I never said the editor used had anything to do with accessibility - I was talking about the code produced with the "Design" view of Dreamweaver. Without seeing your site it's hard to be sure but it's not necessarily your on-page optimisation that is putting you on the first page of Google (and this doesn't necessarily mean much if, for example, it doesn't convert and your on page 4 for all other keywords).

I'm not sure how you've implemented the e-commerce part of your site but you must have some pretty advanced skills in the WYSIWYG side of Dreamweaver if that's how you've done it!

I think the main point of my previous post was your not going to get very clean code with a WYSIWYG editor.

One approach I would recommend looking into are hosted e-commerce soloutions such as Shopify. There are also easy to implement, hosted content management systems such as Surreal CMS - that's if you don't need the e-commerce features. If you want to go slightly more advanced I'm sure you could figure out setting up a Wordpress site and then purchase a high quality theme to go with it.

Hopefully you find this helpful (I would have posted links but I'm not at 10 posts yet) and I've cut down on the 'tosh'!

 

[slotbox]

I used the codeview of Dreamweaver up until about a week ago. It is very good, however I've moved to Notepad++ simply because it's more lightweight. I never said the editor used had anything to do with accessibility - I was talking about the code produced with the "Design" view of Dreamweaver. Without seeing your site it's hard to be sure but it's not necessarily your on-page optimisation that is putting you on the first page of Google (and this doesn't necessarily mean much if, for example, it doesn't convert and your on page 4 for all other keywords).

I'm not sure how you've implemented the e-commerce part of your site but you must have some pretty advanced skills in the WYSIWYG side of Dreamweaver if that's how you've done it!

I think the main point of my previous post was your not going to get very clean code with a WYSIWYG editor.

One approach I would recommend looking into are hosted e-commerce soloutions such as Shopify. There are also easy to implement, hosted content management systems such as Surreal CMS - that's if you don't need the e-commerce features. If you want to go slightly more advanced I'm sure you could figure out setting up a Wordpress site and then purchase a high quality theme to go with it.

Hopefully you find this helpful (I would have posted links but I'm not at 10 posts yet) and I've cut down on the 'tosh'!

I use the design view in DM- i understand some of the code- enough to get me by.. using meta tags and things...

I use romancart for my webshop- really easy to use- generates the code for you and you just copy and paste- although now i've got to grips with the code, I canadjust it myself rather than having to use romancart to generate all the code for me..

I had some basic training with DM and the rest is self taught.. i'm on first page on 3 most common key phrases/ words for my industry.

My main question that i still haven't figured out is should I create a new site or just create new pages in my current folders using my new template? Im probably not explaining myself correctly but when you open DW and select which site you wish to work on, there is also an option to 'manage sites'- this is where i set the connections up to my domain name. Should/ can i create a new site, that connects to my current domain name (that will still be in use until the new site is finished) or should i/ do i need to keep everything in the current folders etc i have set up for the site already?:| or does it even make any difference

 

[Esk247]

In DW you see all your folders in the right hand panel. To edit/remove or add folders you can do that with the right click button or find the folders on your local computer. Remembering to do the same deletes and edits on your server.

However, it is not always best to delete an entire website and start again as you go back to the start (kind of) and Google has already crawled and noted your website, giving your products positions on Google search.

You can set up 301 redirects to content that has been moved permanently but i'm not sure if that is beyond your current coding ability.

 

[mit74]

hi slotbox,

have you looked into creating simple include files into your website? it basically splits your site into parts so if you edit one it changes every page. It easily done it's just a case of removing the repeating code and replacing it with the include command.

 

[Bmcuk]

Couldent belive the statement either , Dreamweaver is pretty dam good and many proffesional sites are built using it.

What a load of tosh.

There is nothing wrong with using Dreamweaver to build a website. Ever heard of a thing called codeview? Accessibility has nothing to do with the editor you use, Google has no problem with DW built sites notr are there any browser compatibility issues.

slotbox, if the site you have is working fine leave it alone. Sitewide changes are a doddle, you can do it all with the find/replace feature. You are on page 1 of Google so you must be doing something right.

 

[mit74]

Couldent belive the statement either , Dreamweaver is pretty dam good and many proffesional sites are built using it.

The CSS code it creates is very inefficient and requires some tidying plus the WYSIWYG editor isnt always accurate meaning it views differently on FF or IE. Personally I use it for its parser/auto fill abilities rather than the visual editor but it's great for people who don't code manually. I don't think Google would penalize sites that much.

 

[Esk247]

Dreamweaver has worked for me. Some disagree with the ftp system on it but you don't have to use the WYSIWYG editor, you do it all in code view but if you're showing the client something you can just flick it back to design view, show them the alteration, then flick back to code view and carry on. You can even mix and match, code and design view available when showing less techy people what you're doing.

If you code by hand, you just use dreamweaver as the ftp client. simples.

I can't see Google knocking your website back because you used dreamweaver, i mean, come on..thousands of people use the programme to build and edit websites.

 

[slotbox]

Dreamweaver has worked for me. Some disagree with the ftp system on it but you don't have to use the WYSIWYG editor, you do it all in code view but if you're showing the client something you can just flick it back to design view, show them the alteration, then flick back to code view and carry on. You can even mix and match, code and design view available when showing less techy people what you're doing.

If you code by hand, you just use dreamweaver as the ftp client. simples.

I can't see Google knocking your website back because you used dreamweaver, i mean, come on..thousands of people use the programme to build and edit websites.

tbh, this is how i've learn't what the codes mean as i can see how the code changes when i make changes in the design view..:redface:

thanks for all the replies. really useful.

Someone earlier mentioned that by scrapping the old site, all my hard work will be lost as i will essentially be starting from scratch.. is there a way i could change the template to my existing pages and link them to the new template? Wish i could just click my fingers and it be done

 

[Swisaw]

I do all my coding on ms notepad. I think things like dreamweaver or templates are some thing good for lazy people .

 

Without sounding too harsh you shouldn't design a website for professional use using Dreamweaver or any other WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. For starters I can guarantee your website will not adhere to accessibility guidelines (you could technically be taken to court over the disability discrimination act) or web standards. Add to this the fact Google wont be able to understand what your site is about, browser compatibility issues, usability, slow loading speeds plus many other issues. There is no tool out there that can code a website to the standard a knowledgeable coder can, and even if there was, the coding of a website is only a very small part of what makes a website successful.

A website should be profitable, and the more money (or time) you spend on a website, the more profitable it will be.

If you are serious about having a website there are two options - learn how to create professional standard websites or hire a professional to do it for you.

Will the website you create generate a profit with £50+ you inevitably have to pay for hosting every year?

Could a well built, properly thought out website generate much more income than it costs to build and host?

Totall rubbish Dreamweaver will produce a professional website for 99% of the applications on the internet.

And as for profit that has very little to do with design.

Earl

 

I do all my coding on ms notepad. I think things like dreamweaver or templates are some thing good for lazy people .

Or people who like to get on with the business of earning money.instead of wasting there time on stuff that is unimportant.

Earl

 

[Swisaw]

Dreamweaver to me is another tool in the box, I cant see what the hang up is

If you are a mechanic, you need spanners, jacks and ramps etc. If you are a web designer, Dreamweaver is the equivalent of a socket set.

On a day to day basis I use Dreamweaver for whole sites, single files and snippets. I also use notepad, and about 20 other tools.

A Mscience in physics graduate like yourself should be a university profissor, not toiling on web dsigns .

 

[Swisaw]

Or people who like to get on with the business of earning money.instead of wasting there time on stuff that is unimportant.

Earl

fair point .

 

[takerootdesign]

Just to clear up a few points that have been misunderstood:

• I have no problem with people learning using Dreamweaver and flipping between code and design view (however I think there are better ways to learn). A website built only with Dreamweaver Design View will not be as well built as a hand coded website. From a browser compatability and a SEO perspective.
• Search engines have no way of telling what software the code was produced in, so no, Google won't penalise you for building your site in Dreamweaver Design View. However if a site has the amount of 'fluff' in its code as Dreamweaver Design View puts in then all other factors being equal, it will not rank as well as a website with semantically correct code.

I have no problem with the fact that people don't have time to design their own websites from scratch. However I always take the principle that if a job is worth doing, it's worth doing well. For the £400+ you spent on the software, you could have bought some good web design books and spent a few hours reading them. You could have even had a pretty good website built for that amount!

 

[fisicx]

A website built only with Dreamweaver Design View will not be as well built as a hand coded website. From a browser compatability and a SEO perspective.

Disagree, there are plenty of DW template sites that rank well and are fully browser compatible. Conversely there are plenty of hand coded sites that have appalling compatiblity and rank poorly (built by programmers not marketeers).

However if a site has the amount of 'fluff' in its code as Dreamweaver Design View puts in then all other factors being equal, it will not rank as well as a website with semantically correct code.

Not true, the SE strips out all the 'fluff' during indexing so has no effect on ranking (take a look at amazon's code - it's full of fluff).

For the £400+ you spent on the software

DW4 is selling for a tenner on ebay.

Sorry, being a bit contrary today - it's not a personal attack on you

 

[slotbox]

Just to clear up a few points that have been misunderstood:

• I have no problem with people learning using Dreamweaver and flipping between code and design view (however I think there are better ways to learn). A website built only with Dreamweaver Design View will not be as well built as a hand coded website. From a browser compatability and a SEO perspective.
• Search engines have no way of telling what software the code was produced in, so no, Google won't penalise you for building your site in Dreamweaver Design View. However if a site has the amount of 'fluff' in its code as Dreamweaver Design View puts in then all other factors being equal, it will not rank as well as a website with semantically correct code.

I have no problem with the fact that people don't have time to design their own websites from scratch. However I always take the principle that if a job is worth doing, it's worth doing well. For the £400+ you spent on the software, you could have bought some good web design books and spent a few hours reading them. You could have even had a pretty good website built for that amount!

I didn't pay £400 for the software- its was free!

 

[Rob S]

Just wanted to add that I re-designed our company website in Dreamweaver about 2 weeks ago. I am not a trained web-designer, but if you put our core business key word into google, we are on the second page.

The industry is quite competitive, so I didn't think that was too bad.

 

[Swisaw]

It is the key words, not codes, search engines are after.

 

[slotbox]

anyone know anything about wix.com/start/matrix

i like some of the designs on there.. maybe transfer the bits i like to my own template:|

 

[slotbox]

To your potential customers, Wix websites say

"I value my business so much, I got a free cheap looking website"

just an idea...

 

[slotbox]

To your potential customers, Wix websites say

"I value my business so much, I got a free cheap looking website"

actually, just what about it makes you think its cheap? i'd be interested to hear feedback as to what you think makes a site look cheap or not.. i think i might rethink this redesigning lark!

 

[mit74]

actually, just what about it makes you think its cheap? i'd be interested to hear feedback as to what you think makes a site look cheap or not.. i think i might rethink this redesigning lark!

Flash sites? don't go there!!!

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Slotbox,

why not ditch your current set up and use a content management system like Joomla - it will make your life a lot easier and your website more accesible!

 

actually, just what about it makes you think its cheap? i'd be interested to hear feedback as to what you think makes a site look cheap or not.. i think i might rethink this redesigning lark!

cheap sites sell a lot of goods.

Earl

 

[fisicx]

why not ditch your current set up and use a content management system like Joomla - it will make your life a lot easier and your website more accesible!

Bad idea. The site ranks well for his chosen keywords (read the whole thread) - change the site and the ranking will doubtlessly fall.

slotbox, leave the site alone. If it's working don't mess with it.

 

[takerootdesign]

cheap sites sell a lot of goods.

Earl

A CMS would also be my recommendation, it'll make your life much easier. There are various options but as I stated earlier, Wordpress would be a good option. There's lots of themes to choose from and it would be easy enough for you to get it working how you want.

I've made it quite clear that I'm not a fan of the code output by Dreamweaver Design View. Dreamweaver is certainly not just about the design view and I have personally coded in it for years. Typography, design etc? I'm sure some pretty nice looking, usable sites can be created in design view if they're well thought out. However I wouldn't think the code would be equally attractive (or accessible).

I'd be slightly wary of buying Dreamweaver for £10 off ebay, even if it was genuine and just second hand (not sure what the EULA says about it!).

 

A CMS would also be my recommendation, it'll make your life much easier. There are various options but as I stated earlier, Wordpress would be a good option. There's lots of themes to choose from and it would be easy enough for you to get it working how you want.

Well I suspect my life could not get a lot easier.

And as I am in the business of making money ,I would avoid wordpress like the plague.

As how a site is built and with what program has very little effect on its ability to earn the green stuff.

Earl

 

[takerootdesign]

Well I suspect my life could not get a lot easier.

And as I am in the business of making money ,I would avoid wordpress like the plague.

As how a site is built and with what program has very little effect on its ability to earn the green stuff.

Earl

What's your reason for avoiding Wordpress? It's certainly not my main choice of CMS but it is one of the best out there. I think in this situation it would be a pretty good fit.

 

[fisicx]

What's your reason for avoiding Wordpress?

Because the site ranks well already and has a shopping cart installed to sell stuff.

Wordpress would be a retrograde step - it would take all the hard work slotbox has done and guck it down the drain.

This doesn't mean WP is a bad application, it just means it's not suitable for slotbox.

You have this very distorted view of WYSIWYG applications. The coding is completely irrelvant. It can be ugly and manky and have zero effect on ranking. Some wordpress themes are really awful but they still work. Your visitors certainly don't care and as long as the site works it matters not one jot how the site was built. Even a site built using wix can be successful if marketed properly.

 

[takerootdesign]

Because the site ranks well already and has a shopping cart installed to sell stuff.

Wordpress would be a retrograde step - it would take all the hard work slotbox has done and guck it down the drain.

This doesn't mean WP is a bad application, it just means it's not suitable for slotbox.

You have this very distorted view of WYSIWYG applications. The coding is completely irrelvant. It can be ugly and manky and have zero effect on ranking. Some wordpress themes are really awful but they still work. Your visitors certainly don't care and as long as the site works it matters not one jot how the site was built. Even a site built using wix can be successful if marketed properly.

I think we can agree to disagree on whether the quality of the code matters.

I think slotbox's rankings could drop in the short term. However, if the switch was handled correctly then in the long term there wouldn't be a massive issue. In addition SEO would be simple with the various plug-ins available, the site could even rank better (depending on how well optimised the site currently is). SEO is only part of the story - the site would be much, much easier to manage. For me this far outweighs a short term drop in rankings.

 

the site would be much, much easier to manage. For me this far outweighs a short term drop in rankings.

Hm let me see if you drop from position 1 to position 2 on average you will reduce your traffic to less than a third of the No1 position.:|

My objection to wordpress is that I have yet to see a wordpress site that earns a great deal of money from a competative ranking.?

There may be some wordpress sites that are at the top of the rankings but I suspect they are very few.?

Earl

 

[takerootdesign]

Hm let me see if you drop from position 1 to position 2 on average you will reduce your traffic to less than a third of the No1 position.:|

My objection to wordpress is that I have yet to see a wordpress site that earns a great deal of money from a competative ranking.?

There may be some wordpress sites that are at the top of the rankings but I suspect they are very few.?

Earl

I think that taking one step back now may allow a few steps forward in the future? Would it be fair to say you should never alter an established website other than a few presentational changes?

I'm not sure how you would ever find out how much money a site earns - it's not something that is generally published. I'm yet to see any problems with search engines and Wordpress, in fact it's regarded as one of the better CMS for SEO.

 

I think that taking one step back now may allow a few steps forward in the future? Would it be fair to say you should never alter an established website other than a few presentational changes?

I'm not sure how you would ever find out how much money a site earns - it's not something that is generally published.

Its a matter of public record for most business's of a certain size.

Earl

 

[takerootdesign]

Its a matter of public record for most business's of a certain size.

Earl

Of a size that wouldn't use Wordpress or Dreamweaver templates?