Content design considerations
27
Templates in Contribute
To be used in a Contribute site, the Dreamweaver template files, identified by the .dwt file
extension, must reside in a folder named Templates in the root folder of the website (for example,
/Templates/contactPage.dwt
). When you create templates in Dreamweaver, they are automatically
saved in a Templates folder, but you need to publish the folder to the web server. If users do not
have access to the root folder or are restricted to a subfolder in the website, you need to copy the
Templates folder to the appropriate site subfolder to provide access to the templates.
Note:
If you create a folder containing Dreamweaver templates but don’t see your templates in
Contribute, you need to add the .dwt extension to the list of MIME types supported by the web server.
For information on configuring MIME types, see the documentation supplied with your web server.
Editable regions in templates
You cannot make only one area editable while locking others and yet also allow the user to change
a single attribute of a tag within an otherwise protected area. Additional abilities include optional
content and repeating regions.
The key to designing templates for Contribute is precision. If you designate an entire section of a
page as an editable region, you give the Contribute user too much power. A better solution is to
create multiple editable regions with precise uses.
To learn more about creating successful templates for use with Contribute, see the Contribute
product page at
www.macromedia.com/software/contribute
.
Shared assets
The shared assets feature lets you create a library of assets (such as images, Macromedia Flash
content, or Dreamweaver library items) that users can insert into web pages. You can restrict
access to shared assets to specific roles, or let any Contribute user accessing the website insert the
assets into their pages.
Examples of shared assets include corporate logos and other image files created by graphic
designers, Flash movies designed by web designers, and feedback forms (in the form of a
Dreamweaver library item) developed by web developers. You can add each of these items to a
shared assets library and specify which users (based on their assigned roles) can insert the items
into a page.
When creating shared asset libraries, give each asset a descriptive label that is different from its
filename. These labels can help users understand what they are about to insert into their web
page.
Note:
All items added to a shared asset library must reside on the server (local files cannot be added
unless the site is locally hosted).
Dreamweaver library items
are special Dreamweaver files that contains a collection of individual
assets
or copies of assets created for placement in your web pages. These assets in a library are
called library items. You can store all sorts of page elements, such as images, tables, sounds, and
Flash files in a library.
