Dreamweaver: How The Templates Work
A template is nothing but a common tool or a structure which is used I designing a web site or for many other computer applications.
A template is a tool most commonly being used in Microsoft word, AutoCAD, web construction and other automation and designing related products. It is a standard document that occasionally allows you to make the required changes. It allows automatic updating and website customization as per the requirements.
Using Dreamweaver templates is quite easy. It does not require extensive training or information though. However, having some basic information on the use of such template can always be handy and can help you run faster through a program.
When are these Dreamweaver Templates used?
Dreamweaver templates are used for most of the times only while designing. They help you construct a web page within minutes and save a lot of time for you. They are different from a HTML document.
Following are the key differentiating factor between a Dreamweaver template and HTML document:
- Dreamweaver template documents generally have files with a “.dwt” extension
- Secondly, the Dreamweaver templates have specific and particular comments in HTML format which define the areas that can be edited and modified versus those that can not be edited in the template.
Dreamweaver can be used to create an “instance” document and can be stored on a web server. Under such situations, the web server would stay completely unaware of the existence of such a document built up on a Dreamweaver template.
This situation does not change the nature of the template or document though. It carries the same properties as any HTML document. It ignores the comments in the document.
Not only can the web server stay unaware of such a template but a web browser would also be equally unaware about a document based upon a Dreamweaver template. They would also do away with any comments on the template in a way similar to what they would do with the any in the HTML document.
Tag Syntax
Dreamweaver template contains two different sets of tags:
- Template Tags are the tags that are used in files having suffix .dwt with them
- Instance Tags are the tags that used in the “instance” documents which are based upon the Dreamweaver template
Many of these templates have paired tags for them which have beginning and ending tags.
Dreamweaver’s use of Template Tags
It uses the instance tags in the documents and lets them stay there even when you are finished with editing the document. It allows the server to ignore any comments on these documents. It helps you to update a template in Dreamweaver automatically along with the other documents based on the template.
