Web Designer change template possible

[pcguy]

Just came across Web Designer and have a couple of questions:

1) Having used other web site design packages that would allow one to change the style or template of a website after it has been designed, is there a similar process one can use in Web Designer that is not long and drawn out?

2) I notice that in order to insert additional pages in a website one can drag a page out of the templates folder. The pages in the templates folders have preset text fields on them. If one edits the header on one page and then tells Web Designer to duplicate that text onto the other pages, the duplicated text is overlaid on top of the unwanted preset text fields. Which means one has to go to each page and remove the unnecessary preset text. Is this the acceptable process?

[spudmachine]

Hi pcguy,
I'm very much a XWD newbie, but I can give you some advice based on (limited) experience:

• Changing templates is easy. Actually much easier than other applications because it's all WYSIWYG, and you do not need other tools to make the changes. Of course you can use Photoshop or something else if you want, but you're not forced to do so. I think there are a couple of things you might need Xara Extreme Pro to do (if you wanted to make your own stretchy buttons, for example). But most of the stuff can be done inside XWD.
  
• Choose the template that most closely matches your needs.
  
• Figure out what you need to change. The most obvious item is any logo elements. For example, my company logo needs to be on a white background. The template I was using had a patterned area under the logo. So I just deleted the patterned area - simple!
  
• It's worth spending some time to get your basic page layout right. Once you have the page you need, just add the content, copy the page to create a new page, and then fix the navigation.
  
• I didn't do this on my pages, but I suspect you can make it easier for yourself by using Layers. You could, for example, put all dynamic page content on a new layer. That way you can turn of editing on the background layer to avoid selecting background elements by mistake.
  
• Remember to use repeating items - very useful.
  
• Remember you can update all repeating items in one operation.
  
• Remember you can have any mixture of page styles in the same website.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Geoff

[Soquili]

Very well said Geoff.

Welcome to the forums PCGuy.

[spudmachine]

Sorry - I re-read your post and realised I neglected to directly cover this point...

2) I notice that in order to insert additional pages in a website one can drag a page out of the templates folder. The pages in the templates folders have preset text fields on them. If one edits the header on one page and then tells Web Designer to duplicate that text onto the other pages, the duplicated text is overlaid on top of the unwanted preset text fields. Which means one has to go to each page and remove the unnecessary preset text. Is this the acceptable process?

Yes, this can happen but it doesn't have to be that way.

For example, if your objective is to create a bunch of pages in which the title text is different, then of course you would not want those text elements to be linked as repeating objects.

If your objective is to create pages that have the same title text, then you make that text a repeating object on the first page you create, and it is then repeated on all other pages, AND it will be updated in one step any time you need to do so.

If you change your mind half way through the development process, and want repeating text, then of course XWD doesn't know that the text you already have on the pages is now redundant - so it will display both.

That's why it helps to plan your pages in advance.

By the way - I don't think Xara is any worse than other applications in this respect. I can't think of an application that would avoid the situation you describe.

Cheers,
Geoff

[pcguy]

Thanks for the nice reply. I am still a unclear on changing the template being used for an existing web site that was already designed by Web Designer. The way I read your first post in this thread, I read it as starting a new site as opposed to one that already existed and had content on it using template A and I wanted to instead use template B or did I misread it?

I do though follow the replacing of the text elments on multiple pages with repeating text and automatically updating this text by changing the first one.

[Boy]

If I understand your question correctly, you are asking if it is possible to have a site designed with XWD and then, at the push of a button, apply a new template and have a totally different look while retaining all your text and pictures. If that's your question, "no" is the answer, XWD is not an application that produces 'canned' websites.

XWD is a website design program that uses templates to help you get started (and even build complete websites with them), but really aims to assist you in creating your own unique website adapting those templates and/or creating your own.

In doing so, as spudmachine already explained, the program has various functions -- such as 'Repeating Objects' and 'Named Colors' -- that give objects a template-like character which allow you to change recurring design elements on the fly. This approach gives the user much more freedom and allows you to mix-and-match existing templates with your own designs (for which XWD offers you a pretty nice set of tools).

[spudmachine]

Hi pcguy,
Sorry for the slow reply. I'm suffering from PC problems at the moment

I think Boy is correct - I haven't tried starting with one template and swapping to another, but I can't think how that would work with XWD.

You can change all the colours at once in a theme of course.

Sounds like a very useful feature actually! And I believe it's something that CSS would be very good for. Also I think it's something that Frontpage can do.

How many pages are in your "Template A" website? If it's not too many then maybe it's easiest to just copy all the content from one to the other.

Alternatively a series of "paste attributes" might also work - I guess it depends on the specific page designs.

My solution sounds very low tech, but by the time you work out a fancier solution maybe it might be quicker

Cheers,
Geoff

[pcguy]

In the template A site there would be about 15-20 pages. Business sites grow stale after a while and need to be refreshed with new layout etc. Really would like to use XWD as it has some amazing features but I want to try to make sure I know the shortcomings of a product up front and that the clients needs are going to be satisfied. The last thing I want to do is to spend weeks on a site only to run head long in a brick wall. I have been down that road too many times.

[ss-kalm]

....Business sites grow stale after a while and need to be refreshed with new layout etc......

As far as I know there isn't a single product out there that can change your whole layout with the press of a button.

[pcguy]

Not exactly looking for a one button push operation but if the client does not like the design or layout of either a redesign or wants the site refreshed I do not want to have to start from square one and redo everything from the ground up. Rearranging some elements after changing to a different template can be expected.

Until one uses a clients data on a template it is hard to determine whether in fact the two are suitable for each other. It appears that with XWD that one uses the inital page as guide for the subsequent pages and if I do carefully layout this page that down the road I will have problems with changes to subsequent pages in the site.

I am also looking at alternatives like Wordpress, Squarespace or even Joomla and am trying to discover major pitfalls in each application to reduce surprises down the road.