Mobile Variant Template

[richvergo]

I just upgraded to WD-10 premium and noticed that one website template that has a mobile Variant (R) indicator is identical to the template I have been using in version-9. Does anyone know what is the best way to import the WD-9 template into WD-10 and take advantage of the newer mobile variant version? The templates are identical except for the (R) indicator on the newer version.

I was thinking about making a copy of the WD-9 version first, and then play with that in case things go wrong.

Thanks in advance to those who can answer.

[iannicholson]

I'm trying the same thing.

1) Load your WD9 site in WD10
2) Go to Utilities->Website Variants->Website Variants...
3) Click on Create
4) You'll probably have a dialogue box showing a new name 'Mobile' with a Page Width of 480px.
5) Click on Create
6) WD10 will then create and take you to a Mobile Variant of your site, and make your original site the Main Variant.

Now you will see new page width guides, and you can resize and reposition your website page elements onto your new Mobile template.

Warning - I am struggling with text blocks. Resizing those and making them bigger for my Mobile Variant also changes them on the Main Variant.

This is a major annoyance! I need to read up on how to fix this (although if someone else knows, that would be great if you would share what you know!).

I would suggest saving your site under another name, or keep a backup of your original WD9 site just in case!

[David Strover]

Hullo Ian,

Yes I too discovered this the hard way - all the main website text was tiny after after I had completed about an hours work.

To stop this you can right click on the element and/or text and select heading 'Website variants' in the fly-out box then in the next fly-out box select 'Stop sharing with variants' out of the three options.

Once this is selected the next time you navigate to this fly-out box 'Stop sharing with variants' and 'Delete from all variants' are greyed out and cannot be used until you click 'Share with all variants'.

A fix or help for this would be have warning box fly-out when you begin to alter text or an element that is shared among the variants that says something along the lines 'Warning any alterations on this element will affect all variants' and if you have it clicked off - 'Warning any alterations on this element will not affect other variants'.

You'd have to turn this off after a while but it would be a help.

All only my opinion of course.

David

[trnhockey]

So, if you didn't create a website in designer 9 with one of the templates in designer 10 listed with an "R", you can't take advantage of creating a mobile website variant is that correct?

[zaphodeist]

No You just use the template in WD10

Or create your own

[trnhockey]

No You just use the template in WD10

Or create your own

But the template (after I choose "Create a mobile website variant) I created is exactly the same size it appears. In fact, I can't even tell which one is the original and which one is the mobile template.

[zaphodeist]

The page size should be different on the variant, though it can be difficult to spot now the default page and background are the same colour. Then you rearrange the objects to suit on the mobile variant

[PhilM]

You can create variants of your own websites (whether created in WD10, WD9 or earlier) so that they have different sized text on each variant, while the /content/ of the text is still shared between them. (That is the main point of Variants, of course - to allow you edit your content once and have it laid out differently for various target devices.)

When you first make some text shared between two or more variants, using either the "Share with all variants" or "Copy page to all variants" commands, everything about it is shared, including font size changes. But you can ensure that text retains it's local appearance within a variant by defining a text style in that variant. You use the "Update style in this variant" command to do this, which you can find in the style dropdown of the Text tool.

So, here's what typically happens: You share some text between two variants and you make the font size of one of them larger. Because all aspects of the text are shared, the font size in the other variant also becomes larger. You then use "Update style in this variant" in the variant where you want the text to be larger to "put a wall around" that font size change. That stops it being from shared and the font size in the other variant goes back to normal. Now, when you type in either variant the text changes you make appear in both but one is normal size and the other is larger.

See also what BB2 said in this thread about resizing text blocks: http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...e-found-so-far

Phil

[restless]

Hullo Ian,

A fix or help for this would be have warning box fly-out when you begin to alter text or an element that is shared among the variants that says something along the lines 'Warning any alterations on this element will affect all variants' and if you have it clicked off - 'Warning any alterations on this element will not affect other variants'.

You'd have to turn this off after a while but it would be a help.

All only my opinion of course.

David

Please count me in on that - I vote Yes! Give us a warning. Actually, I had the same idea earlier to night. Let's submit requests to Xara that they do that.

I have also asked them to add a feature that gives us the option - if we desire - to stop all sharing with variants, for the entire site - all pages. Then we can Start Sharing any elements we choose to share.

Ed

[Merlin_AZ]

So, if you didn't create a website in designer 9 with one of the templates in designer 10 listed with an "R", you can't take advantage of creating a mobile website variant is that correct?

Not true.
You can take any version 9 site you've created and open it in version 10 and create a mobile site for it.