Chapter 5. Handling External Documents


What You Will Learn

In this lesson, you will:

  • Establish server locations to save documents

  • Set up roles to style imported Office documents correctly

  • Learn how to attach PDF and other types of documents

  • Create a Contribute-updatable navigation bar

  • Develop an in-page help system

Approximate Time

This lesson takes approximately one hour and 15 minutes to complete.

Lesson Files

Media Files:

None

Starting Files:

LessonFiles/Lesson_05/css/bg_nav.css

LessonFiles/Lesson_05/css/bg_ct.css

LessonFiles/Lesson_05/hr/policy/index.htm

LessonFiles/Lesson_05/hr/policy/content_frame.htm

LessonFiles/Lesson_05/hr/policy/nav_frame.htm

LessonFiles/Lesson_05/hr/policy/top_frame.htm

LessonFiles/Lesson_05/Library/Help_HR_Policy.lbi

LessonFiles/Lesson_05/media/pdfs/hr_compensation.pdf

LessonFiles/Lesson_05/media/pdfs/hr_contacts.pdf

LessonFiles/Lesson_05/media/pdfs/hr_pto.pdf

LessonFiles/Lesson_05/report/annual_report.htm

LessonFiles/Lesson_05/report/Annual Report.doc

Completed Files:

FinalFiles/Lesson_05/hr/policy/nav_frame.htm

FinalFiles/Lesson_05/report/annual_report.htm

One of Macromedia Contribute's mandates is to blur the line between the online and the offline office. Any organization that has been around for even a short time has accumulated a wide range of documentstypically in word processing or spreadsheet files. Much of the initial work on a Web site, particularly an intranet site, involves making the information contained in these types of documents available online. Contribute makes it easy to incorporate external documents into a Web site. Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the site designer is how to manage the ever-increasing deluge of nonHTML files in an HTML-based structure.

In Contribute 3, the Administrator can specify on a role-by-role basis where external documents should be stored. As you'll learn in this lesson, different types of filesWord documents, Excel spreadsheets, PDFs, and so oncan be assigned their own locations. You can even specify new file types and how they should be handled.

Microsoft Office is the de facto standard when it comes to organizational communication. In acknowledgement of this reality, Contribute offers several methods for smoothly bringing Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents online. In this lesson, you'll explore the various possibilities for both Windows and Macintosh.

With a properly designed page, Contribute users can add navigation buttons to open external documents.

Another hurdle facing the Macromedia Dreamweaver designer is facilitating the integration of linked documents into the site. Although the Contribute user has the power to link to any online content, such links often are not considered part of the site's overall design. In this lesson, you'll design a flexible system that handles external links well and provides a mechanism for Contribute users to add links as needed.



Design and Deploy Websites with Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 and Contribute 3(c) Training from the Source
Design and Deploy Websites with Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 and Contribute 3: Training from the Source
ISBN: 032128884X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 130
Authors: Joseph Lowery

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