Graduating from Dreamweaver templates

I've recently graduated from using Dreamweaver to using XHtml and CSS and writing all code in notepad.
Is php the way to go to replicate Dreamweaver templates, for including menu bars and headers/footers etc.?
Are there any issues with accessibility and browser compatibility?
Is it straightforward for a newbie Dreamweaver graduate??

If you have components that recur on all your pages - headers, footers etc. - PHP include is indeed an easy method:

http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_includes.asp

The browser will just "see" normal html - the inclusion bit is done by the server - so compatibility isn't an issue. Also your include will be written in html, so just apply the same standard of accessibility etc. as you would elsewhere.

Oh... and you'd need PHP installed on both the machine your using to develop your site, and the server that you'll eventually upload to, of course :-)

As your moving to hand coding I strongly recommend you have a look at HTML-Kit.

I use it for all my page coding. With its high level of customization and the huge range of plug-ins available, you can have it working the way that suits you. It comes in a free version as well as a Pro version which allows access to certain plug-ins. The Pro version is not the least bit expensive and well worth the cost.

With regard to getting used to using templates, in the sticky at the top of the css forum is a link to a templates download. This will explain what goes where and why and will give you a good basis from which to develop your own template system.

Everyone should have a Mac and skEdit!

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There is simply nothing in this world like a fellow Mac and skEdit worshiper.

Off Topic:

What can I say, the mac software is just better imo. Looks better, feels better, functions better.... Don't get me wrong though. I like many things about windows too. but from my experience (Since Win 3.1) it has a serious lack of uniform and the UI changes so much from app to app its just a big ol cluster f.

On Topic:

As many have stated take it slow. Learn XHTML and CSS and embrace the beauty that is the seperation of design and content. We are here to help in any way we can so no worries about that. We got your back!

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Congratulations on your graduation.

It's easier to use a simple editor than to use Notepad. I use 1st Page (free edition) which is okay, nothing special. There are some others. These are not "WYSIWYG" editors. They are more like extended Notepad, allowing tabbed files, colored tags, line numbering, file tree windows for opening files, etc. A lot of little things to make life easier.

PHP simply does not have any "compatibility issues" at the level you are talking about. Once you learn a little about it you will see what I mean.

If you are going to learn it, you really need to learn a database language, generally MySQL: First, because it is so easy to learn the basics of any SQL brand and secondly because the combination is just so darn powerful. Really, if you just spend four hours on MySQL (with a graphic interface such as phpMyadmin) you will enormously increase what you can accomplish.

PHP is reasonably hard to learn, but it's not like learning a programming language. Again, you can do a lot with just a basic understanding; however, a basic understanding takes some time and effort.

You don't have to install anything on your computer to learn and use php. It's better to have a full Apache/PHP/SQL install on your hard drive, at least eventually, since you can use a php editor if you do that. But you can do fine, especially at first, just uploading your files on ftp to a web host that has it installed (which is almost all of them).

One word - pick a host with PHP 5+ and preferably mysql 5+.

http://phpfreaks.com/ is an awesome forum for any troubles you may run into. They've got a lot of tutorials and an extremely active forum. I've been a member there for a couple of years and I usually get an answer to a problem in minutes.

Im kind of on the cusp of moving to PHP... well I was there for a while but had to backtrack to HTML and CSS cos there was lots of stuff I didnt know.. but yes PHP is what i call the lazy mans dynamic HTML.. great for boxes and includes! you can use configs for important stuff that appears again and again.. store data using MYSQL and tables... its awesome.. shame I can only do a little in PHP and not as much as I'd like Congratts on your advancement through the multicultural languges of the internet

Thanks for everyone's comments. It sure is daunting being a 'creative not techie' and realising just how much I don't know! I'm gonna keep on learning my HTML and CSS skills, but just know this 'template' thing is gonna to become useful very soon.

To sum up...can someone confirm that I have understood correctly so far?

• PHP is the best (and easiest) way to include, and be able to adjust sitewide, recurring items (navigation, header etc.) as in the tutorial Geoff mentions
• I would need PHP installed on my mac and to be available on my server
• I may also need to learn the basics of MySQL (is this necessary for utilising PHP as a way of making sitewide changes to a nav. bar for example?)
• HTML-kit and skEdit are html editors superior to TextEdit which I currently use on a mac.

Question: what is a 'config'? Will this become clear when I start looking at PHP?
Many thanks

If you are on a Mac HTML-Kit won't work unless you have an intel mac and run windows. Or Virtual PC on a G4/G5 mac. skEdit would be your best bet for OS X. Although there are free ones too such as Taco HTML etc.. And of course if you run X11 on your Mac you can install unix packages such as CSSed, eMacs, Quanta etc... And I strongly suggest you buy Parallels Desktop if you do have an intel Mac. Very handy and unlike BootCamp you don't have to reboot to get into Windows although BootCamp will run Windows 100% natively but for browser testing, normal use Parallels is very very fast.

PHP/MySQL are awesome. SQL is fairly simple but if you want a real easy way to manage MySQL Databases locally and on your server you should get CocoaMySQL which is free. You could also install something like PHPmyAdmin as well.

A config file is usually used to store the information to connect to your database from what I know. i.e. config-inc.php etc..

Here is a nice article on installing PHP on your Mac. It is geared for Wordpress but the installation worked flawlessly for me on Tiger (10.4.8) and I use textpattern myself. Ignore the wordpress stuff and just follow the PHP/MySQL stuff. Both of which are downloadable installers for OS X.

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You DO NOT need to know/have MySQL to use PHP for creating things like include files. In fact you hardly need any php knowledge. You are just making use of a basic function.

You will need to start getting to grips with MySQL when you start doing anything that requires the use of an online database. There are alternatives but this is the most widely available and offered by all decent hosting services.

Not sure if it's available for the Mac, but I use SQLyog for all my MySQL work. It's available in free and paid for versions and is absolutely brilliant.