Is this a valid working method...?

Hi all/Sledger!

Example: I'm trying out different menu designs for a website (say, one version red-themed, the other blue). For the version not being shown, I set all of its elements to 'Invisible' on the Page & Layer gallery.

Now - is there some sort of negative consequence of doing so? E.g. are invisible objects uploaded to the server (no problem as such)? Are they loaded upon website opening - definite problem, as this will affect loading times.

Else, it seems like an extremely powerful way of demonstrating different themes within a website, while keeping them all essentially intact in the background - much like how one would use Visibility if layers in Photoshop.

All help highly appreciated as ever,

Arif

Hello Arif

Making a layer invisible does not prevent it from uploading to your server. And if you have linked to anything on the invisible layer (such as a pop up layer) the layer will be visible as soon as it is linked to.

For example, if you have a button on your home page that links to a layer named popup 1, or layer 2, or whatever, when the button is pressed, the invisible layer will be displayed.

A better solution if you are trying to demonstrate different button styles and themes is to use different buttons and themes on each page.

Even if you use the Navigation Bar Tool to create your nav bar, you do not need to have the button bar appear the same on each page.

Thanks for the quick reply Gary,

Thanks to my defacto XDP6 mentor Sledger's patient efforts with me - I fully get the mouse-over scenario, etc.

Using different pages for different button themes is of course one solution, but the thing here is I want to fully present one single theme - not for the client to 'pick a preference'. Then if they ask for a revision, I create one - now we have two versions of the whole site almost.

The key here is being able easily to revert to the old theme if wished. And without creating 'dummy/storage' website pages.

Any thoughts? And still really the quesry is: is there any material issue with hiding alternative themes and objects using the Invisibility feature?

You've covered the upload-to-server point - but this isn't 'material' if it doesn't then get served to the website itself (assuming no mouse-over call-up of said layers)


Arif!

I think you are over thinking this. :)

If you don't want to confuse your client, don't give her or him a choice. Just present the site the way you think it should be designed. If they have retained you to design the site then you are the designer.

If you want to include her or him in the design process (I always do) then create separate pages as I suggested. If you present three options and they select option 2, delete pages 1 and 3. This way you do not have a lot of detritus left on hidden layers that could at some point accidentally reveal itself.

What I have discovered in my many years as a designer is never present a design to a client that you would not want associated with yourself. Because 99% of the time it will be the one the client falls in love with.

Re-themeing of the same HTML page is possible via CSS - but not with Web Designer or Designer Pro and not via layers.

I think, as Gary said, that you are over-complicating things. However, if I have understood you correctly, it is perfectly possible to re-theme the same page in Web Designer or Designer Pro and then export this as a website for your customer's approval (see attached XAR file).

In a nutshell

1. I created one page in DP6 using two named colours. The colours were chosen using the standard colour wheel, using the opposites, or two across, method (the colour wheel is included on the home page of the attached).
2. I copied the page (basically Ctrl + A and Ctrl + C) to a new, blank document (the size of which is unimportant).
3. I edited the named colours that were carried across from the copy/paste to create a new colour theme. I then copied the resulting page (Ctrl + A and Ctrl + C) , created a new blank page in the original document and pasted my new theme into the new page. The two new named colours are copiued over into the page.
4. I repeated this another two times until I had the four pages you can view in the attached.

Assuming this resolves your query, if you have any questions, just holler. :thx