Dreamweaver/Flash; add pages

vermonster

Hi.

I'm trying to help a friend customize his smugmug site and I wonder:

Can I create my (his) own page(s) in Dreamweaver and just upload them? If so, where? If not, how do we create additional pages? We want a simple homepage w/ movie/slideshow (can I use Flash?) and nav bar up top to take the user where he/she wants to go (bio page, galleries home page, services, pricing). We'll also put an e-mail sign-up and guestbook somewhere...

Thanks in advance!

Mike Lane

vermonster wrote:

Hi.

I'm trying to help a friend customize his smugmug site and I wonder:

Can I create my (his) own page(s) in Dreamweaver and just upload them?

No. Create in DW if you must (I don't personally recommend but that's just me) and then copy and paste only the pertinent parts into your SM site. GOTCHA! Make sure you are using the same doctype that smugmug uses (xhtml 1.0 transitional) when you're building it and previewing it.

If so, where? If not, how do we create additional pages?

Use a blank gallery and add html to the albumdescription or build it in as a part of your overall site header. We can help you in the smugmug customization forum.

We want a simple homepage w/ movie/slideshow (can I use Flash?)

Yes you can use flash but you must store it somewhere else since smugmug doesn't store flash files.

and nav bar up top to take the user where he/she wants to go (bio page, galleries home page, services, pricing).

Crazy easy to do with plain old xhtml and CSS, we'll get you worked out in the customization forum.

We'll also put an e-mail sign-up and guestbook somewhere...

Thanks in advance!

Email sign-up and guestbooks are topics that have been thoroughly covered in the customization forum. Try a search before you post.

vermonster

Previewing question
Thanks for the info; one more question for anyone out there:

If I am working remotely with someone on customization of their site, what would be the best way for me to make changes that only he can see/preview remotely (i.e. if I log in as him, and make changes, can I save the preview some way so he can see it when he logs in at a later time but it's not really "live" yet for others to see?).

Thanks in advance!

Mike Lane

vermonster wrote:

Thanks for the info; one more question for anyone out there:

If I am working remotely with someone on customization of their site, what would be the best way for me to make changes that only he can see/preview remotely (i.e. if I log in as him, and make changes, can I save the preview some way so he can see it when he logs in at a later time but it's not really "live" yet for others to see?).

Thanks in advance!

I don't suppose there is a really great answer to this. You and your client could use firefox 2 and the webdev plugin v1.1 beta to input (you) and view (them) all the xhtml and css that you come up with. It wouldn't exactly be intuitive depending on the skill level of your client, but it would certainly work.

IMHO, the very best way to do a smugmug site (or any site for that matter, particularly for a client) is to do a mock up in your graphic editor of choice (photoshop for me) and get the client's approval on that and then start coding. That way you and your client know what to expect, you've got some direction to go in which will lead to a better design anyhow, and your graphic work is already done (or at least off to a good start).