Creating a Library Item


For someone working alone, the restrictions imposed by using a template may be unnecessary or even annoying. For example, when you use templates, you have to set up the editable and locked regions, and then when you go to modify a page based on the template, you don't have access to page elements in the locked regions . These restrictions are great if you're a designer who is giving pages to co-workers to modify, but on sites where you want to exercise total control over editing every page, Library items offer some of the same timesaving abilities to update pages and maintain consistency as templates, but with far fewer restrictions.

Library items aren't full pages. They're small bits of text, images, or code that you insert when needed. Good material for a Library item might be a navigation bar, copyright notice, list of links, graphic masthead, or perhaps a search box. If you want to use something frequently, have it display consistently on any page, and update all instances of it at one time, a Library item fits the bill. And they're easy to create and use.

To create a Library item:

1.
Open a document.

2.
Select an element in the document <body> . It can be anything you want to reuse: text, tables, forms, navigation bars, images, or other elements.

3.
Do one of the following:

Choose Modify > Library > Add Object to Library.

or

In the Library category of the Assets panel, click the New Library item button .

or

Drag the selection into the Library category of the Assets panel.

4.
The item appears in the Library category of the Assets panel ( Figure 13.13 ). Type a name for the item.

Figure 13.13. Type a name for your new Library item here.


In the document window, the item will be highlighted with a color , indicating that it's a Library item.

Tips

  • The color used to highlight a Library item is yellow by default. If desired, this color can be changed in Dreamweaver's Preferences in the Highlighting category.

  • If it doesn't already exist, Dreamweaver creates a Library folder at the top level of your site. Library items are stored in this folder, with the file extension .lbi . The folder is for local use and doesn't need to be uploaded to the server.





Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 for Windows & Macintosh Visual QuickStart Guide
Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 for Windows & Macintosh
ISBN: 0321350278
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 239

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