Sharing Nav Bars

[por2ge]

Two of us work on one web site at different locations. When wither of us create a nav bar using WS4 and post it to the server everything is fine.

When we try to modify each others nav bars we have trouble. We have tried sending the "Project" files -- Do we need to send other files as well ?

[TulsaMusicTV]

There should be 3 files for every graphic. (i think) the graphic and a .xgt and .xws file.
You can verify the files created by starting a new test project and checking the contents of the project directory. The folder name ends in (Project) with parenthises.

I have written to Xara about this but they don't seem to have time to reply.

I am a consultant and re-seller. I will never agian set any of my clients up with Xara. Xara turns out to be strictly template based, once a web page layout has been modified in Any editor it becomes usless in Xara. If the page/template layout is NOT modified it's OK. Best bet is do not use the templates, only the individual elements, and do all your work from one computer. Do not expect answers from Xara and you won't be too disappointed.

[TulsaMusicTV]

This is not complete, but all I had time for at the moment.
This message is written with the intent of helping all Xara users. If you can Add to, correct, or clarify, this message, the rest of us sincerly appreciate your time.

In an effort to find an answer to this issue of sharing the work load, my reseach indicates the following observations.

Xara saves an html file using a call to microsoft code that handles the saving of web pages. That code creates a folder with the name of FILENAME_files, where FILENAME= the filename of the html file. In other words, " _files " is appended to the html filename (sans extention) to create the folder name. There are other aspects of using this code to consider. The html file and the folder are associated (ask microsoft for details). This means when the folder is copied, moved deleted, it's associated folder is also, copied, moved, deleted. Be careful when handleing these files and folders, the relevant html code is not corrected when filenames are changed. When editing your pages in a html editor, you may find that a good "Find & Replace" tool to be very handy when trying to share your files with co-workers. IMHO Xara would do better by writting thier own routine for the saving of html. I think that is the only way they will be able to allow use to use a Images directory of our choice.

The information used to edit the XARA item in question is saved in 2 files in the Project folder. Project folders are identified by the (Project) ending of the folder name.
If you create a folder in Xara WSTemplates directory with the (Project) ending and then open Xara and click the Projects button, you will see the folder you just created.
Xara uses these folders to save information about the objects it creates. 2 files will be created for every object. .xws and .xgt are the extentions used for these 2 files.
In addition, 1 .wst is created for the project. Create an object in Xara, save it, then look in the project folder for the filenames. Changing these names to a naming scheme more suited to anyones particular style of naming is not recommended, as these files are associated with the the filenames used in the html page and it's related folder.


Additional Information about file names:

The .xws file can be opened with notepad. A line similar to the following is contained in the file

ExportPathNameExt : C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\My Web Pages\harmantemp\SciFi_page3_files\SciFi_page3_hea ding2.gif



A line at the end of the .xws file points to itself

XWSFile : C:\Program Files\Xara\Webstyle 4\WSTemplates\harmantemp (Project)\SciFi_page3_heading2.xws


I have not finished my research yet but now believe I have enough information to try to set up a "shared" project. If this information helps, I'd like to hear about your results.

Thank You.

[TulsaMusicTV]

My apologies to Xara.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled everything including Dreamweaver. I have now found the button that lets one select the graphics folder.

The button is on the right side of the Save dialog,after the Save Graphic button is selected. It is on the Left in MenuMaker 1.1

[TulsaMusicTV]

The above post does not apply to saved webpages, only individual elements

[TulsaMusicTV]

I took a copy of the (Project) folder with the work I had done to my clients office this morning. I copied the folder into her WSTemplate folder, opened a web page in Dreamweaver, selected the menu, clicked edit, and it opened up in WS4 just like it did on mine, everything intact. I also took a copy of the graphics folder and placed it in the root directory (where I created it on my machine)

It Works !!!!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif