Template Woes

Question

Hey all,I have what I hope is an easy question.  I've just started using dreamweaver for my website.  My old software just wasn't doing what I wanted, so I've redesigned from the ground up.  I've done some searching and can't seem to find an answer.  I've created my index page, and I want to use it as a template for other pages in the site.  I don't have any problems making the template, but when I create a new page from that template, I lose the background images for my page and containers.  The images I've got on the template are still there, but all of the backgrounds are gone.  The backgrounds show in the template preview, but aren't on the page.  Basically, I want the template so I can make changes to my navigation menu, which is on every page, and not have to do it one each page.Where I'm still designing the site, I haven't published it anywhere yet, it's still all local.  The paths all look like they're pointing to the right folders and images for the backgrounds, but they're not showing on the new pages.Thanks in advance for any assistance.John

Nancy OShea · Accepted Answer

Thanks for the fast replies Nancy, I'll give that a shot. I'm using CS5.5, I've had it a while. The spry menu still works, I had some issues changing background colors for the different sub menus, but I resolved those. Out of curiosity, will using spry menus cause any issues once the page is published? I've been debating upgrading to the CC version, but where I'm not a professional, I'm not sure it's worth the monthly sub.

Edit - I tried the New Page from Template, the backgrounds are on the preview thumbnail, but even after I renamed it to new_index, the backgrounds are still missing. The rest of the images are there. I'm not sure if this would make a difference or not, but I noticed the default background colors were still in the styles, I removed all of those, the backgrounds are now transparent, but don't have the background image.

If you're content with CS5.5, keep using it. It can't support modern code but if you rely on your browser instead of Design View, it won't matter much.

Spry menus have outlived their usefulness. And more importantly, Spry is not responsive or touch screen friendly. These days, that's a deal breaker because your website has to be mobile friendly. Spry menus can be replaced with jQuery or commercial extensions from Project Seven.

https://www.jqueryscript.net/tags.php?/responsive%20menu/

Responsive Web Design Extensions, Apps, Add-ons and Plugins for Dreamweaver

I can't explain why you can't see the background image in your child pages unless there is a code error somewhere. You can check your code with the following online tools.

The W3C CSS Validation Service

The W3C Markup Validation Service