Converting From MS Expression Web with DWTs to Dreamweaver

[Fred Brack]

I need to move from MS Expression Web to Dreamweaver to get updated security in publishing.  My #1 question is how to support the Expression Web "Dynamic Web Template" (.dwt) capability.  I understand that Dreamweaver has a similar capability ironically (perhaps) abbreviated DWT; but what specifically do I have to do to my HTML files to get the Dreamweaver DWT support to work so that I can have common headers and footers?  Thanks.

[Nancy OShea]

A MS DWT from Expression Web will probably not work the same way in Dreamweaver.  But to be honest, I've never tried it, nor would I want to.

Best advice, build a new site from scratch.  There's nothing worth salvaging because the web has changed too much.  Expression Web and Front Page before it used MS's proprietary code and extensions that only worked with those apps and specially equipped servers.  I'm fairly certain every reputable web host has decommissioned those servers by now.  It's time for a fresh start.

[Fred Brack]

Thanks, Nancy; but at least for me, Expression Web is not using any server-side functions.  I didn't know it had any (FrontPage certainly did though).  With Expression Web, the DWT capability is implemented at the client computer, and then you republish affected files.  I was hoping that I can somehow just put my DWT in the Dreamweaver Templates folder and perhaps do a global modification on the existing DWT headers (which are slightly different between the two products) in the HTML files and go from there.  While Dreamweaver's DTW function is clearly much richer than Expression Web's, the basics seem similar at first glance.  With 200 web pages in the site, I'm trying to find the simplest way possible to convert!

[Nancy OShea]

You would need to rebuild your Template to accommodate Dreamweaver's proprietary quirks and add Editable Regions for content that changes on every page.  Non-editable Template regions are for global content like sitewide headers, footers and navigation.  I'm sure Expression's templates are similar but my fear is that the differences are enough to cause compatibility problems in Dreamweaver.

 With 200 web pages in the site, I'm trying to find the simplest way possible to convert!

=========

YIKES!   A 200 page static website is a 10,000 ton gorilla.  Maybe you should be rebuilding your site with WordPress instead.  At least WordPress is dynamically driven which makes site management much simpler.

[B i r n o u · Accepted solution]

depending on your template page (the one from Expression) you could try to replace all the comment proper to Expression, stuff like

<!-- #BeginEditable "doctitle" -->
<title>Page Title Here</title>
<!-- #EndEditable --> 

by something proper to Dreamweaver template and son on...

Dreamweaver template use more or less the same type of comment, look, for example the one used for editable region is

<!-- TemplateBeginEditable name="page_contenu" -->


<!-- TemplateEndEditable -->

then create a brand new template in Dreamweaver and copy paste the result of all your changes...

the problem then will be to reapply the template (the dreamweaver one) to all the supposed childs pages... one by one, because as far as I know, there is no way to batch this process...

anyway, that would be just to give you time to build a brand new web site, but being able to modify and update your current web site in between

[Fred Brack]

My first pass at doing what you suggest has worked well!  I created a new template in Dreamweaver (which caused the Template directory to be created), pasted my Expression Web template over the Dreamweaver base one, changed the "#" in #BeginEditable and #EndEditable to "Template," added "name=" in front of the Begin names, and saved this new template under the same name I used in Expression Web.  Then I opened one of my HTML files and did a Tools/Templates/Apply Template to Page, pointing to my Dreamweaver template, and all worked as hoped for!  Fortunately, I only had a basic template structure, so there was nothing else to convert.  Too bad Dreamweaver doesn't have a "convert and apply" option to do this automatically, because now I have to Apply Template manually to all my pages!

You are the second person who suggested building "a brand new website."  I'm wondering why both of you suggested this?  I'm quite content with the format and operation of my existing site, so is there a specific reason beyond applying the new template that I should alter my site?  I do look forward to exploring web designer options with Dreamweaver, but I'm not inclined at this point to make alterations beyond this one change. 

Thank you for your help.

[B i r n o u]

it's good that it worked.

So were you able to finalize the DWT in Dreamweaver and apply it to a child page... does it work all the way through?

then if it did the job well, yes unfortunally, you'll have to do it for each page one by one.

the fact of mentioning a redesign of the site, depends on the state of the site to date.

the reaction I had, and certainly others on this forum, may be related to the fact that many sites based on client templates (not server-side templates) are old and have not been updated on the HTML, JS and RWD side. this explains that.
but if your site is built on a contemporary HTML5, if its responsive aspect allows a good distribution on various devices, if you have good results in terms of rendering, and responsive aspect, a good feedback from users and search engines ... no worries , do not panic, there is no need to redesign.

[Nancy OShea]

You are the second person who suggested building "a brand new website."  I'm wondering why?

==========

Expression Web was officially discontinued in 2015 but MS lost interest in it before that.  These days, web sites have a shelf-life of about 5 years beyond which they usually need upgrading to leverage modern web technologies and best practices.

• What's the URL to your current site?
  • Does your site please its users and load quickly?
  • Is the site mobile-friendly?
  • Is it accessible to screen readers, language translators and search engine crawlers?
  • Is it hosted on a secure HTTPS server?
  • Does it perform well on ALL devices -- sm mobile, lg mobile, sm tablets, lg tablets, laptops, hybrids, desktops, etc...?

[Fred Brack]

Fair enough, Nancy.  In answer to your questions:

1. I have no complaints about the website and a lot of compliments, so I guess it pleases users!

2. I believe it loads quickly but have not measured and compared.

3. Yes, it is mobile-friendly.

4. Yes, it is accessible to screen readers, as it is oriented toward the blindness community and I have been careful in that regard.

5. I don't know about language translators, but I have paid attention to search engine guidelines.

6. Yes, it is hosted on a secure server, and we are in the process of moving to Cloudflare for further security improvements.

7. Regarding all devices, I have not done extensive testing.  I know there are techniques available I do not use to adapt to all devices, so no doubt there is room for improvement - but no complaints!

Although it was not the purpose of my inquiry, I would be pleased to have feedback on how well you feel my website is meeting the requirements you mention.  https://acb.org/adp/.

Fred, the webmaster.

[Nancy OShea]

WAVE Accessibility Report:

https://wave.webaim.org/report#/https%3A%2F%2Facb.org%2Fadp%2F

Google Mobile Friendly Report: (Click on page loading VIEW DETAILS)

https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly?url=https%3A%2F%2Facb.org%2Fadp%2F

Why No Padlock Report: (Mixed-content errors)

https://www.whynopadlock.com/results/f46dc416-d225-4344-b0ed-0afe72c74802

Google PageSpeed Insights Report: (Mobile = 49/100, Desktop = 82/100)

https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?url=https%3A%2F%2Facb.org%2Fadp%2F

Hope that helps.  🙂

[Fred Brack]

Thanks Nancy.  I pass all my pages through the w3 nu validator (and clicking the icon on the bottom of each page invokes it).  I am familiar with the first two tests you listed, though I haven't run them in some time.  WAVE did pick up a minor error on my main page for which I have tested a correction.  It gets really picky about other stuff (Alerts), but at least I looked at them.  The page passes the Mobile Friendly test, and I get reports from MS occasionally if a problem is detected.  The Padlock report issued a warning I can't fix:  HTTP for some Amazon images instead of HTTPS.  Making that change causes a security alert whenever the page is loaded, so I can't make that "fix."  However, I have bookmarked this additional tool.  Page Speed is not something I worry about, but I will spend some time with what seems like a complicated report!

[Nancy OShea]

The Padlock report issued a warning I can't fix:  HTTP for some Amazon images instead of HTTPS. 

============

If you can live with the dreaded yellow padlock but I can't afford to.

Most browsers block mixed content for security reasons. This can adversely effect the site especially when essential scripts are prevented from loading.

The simplest cure is to invoke HTTPS on CDNs & AWS S3s where the external assets are stored.

https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/cloudfront-https-requests-s3/

https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/cloudfront-domain-https/

[B i r n o u]

These days, web sites have a shelf-life of about 5 years beyond which they usually need upgrading to leverage modern web technologies and best practices.

By Nancy OShea

although I agree with your global point of view, there are some points that remain debatable...

1 - visible by screen readers... uh... more than 10 years ago we were already working on accessibility... and today there are mass of modern sites that are still not accessible... so 'CQFD' accessibility is not linked to a modern technology

2 - in the same way having a site in HTTPS does not imply that the technology used to create the site itself is necessarily modern (well I mean in the case of the OP we are talking about a 5 years old site)

3 - in the same way a site can be 5 years old and load quickly and be ergonomic...

which is three points out of 5 😉

[BenPleysier]

Too bad Dreamweaver doesn't have a "convert and apply" option to do this automatically, because now I have to Apply Template manually to all my pages!

By Fred Brack

Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45T3UIzEfNM&t=36s

[B i r n o u]

Hello @BenPleysier I didn't know this componet, perhaps that I missed the point, butit didn't add the child page to the templates... that a process that have to be done manually, and that was the question. "how to batch process to adding selected pages as being child of a template?"

[BenPleysier]

This is a very powerful extension for the Dreamweaver Template system

http://www.webassist.com/dreamweaver-extensions/framework-builder

I used it in every project until I came across NodeJS/Express.

Edit: Similar to NodeJS, Framework Builder creates a faux single page app in that it pulls the content into the template. See http://www.webassist.com/tutorials/Getting-Started-with-Framework-Builder

[B i r n o u]

this looks very close, of the way that I use Templates... but without the extension... 😞 too bad that I discover it just now, I've made tools and I adapt them as time goes on... 😉

[BenPleysier]

Wouldn't it have been great if this was part of Dreamweaver, it would have made Dreamweaver stand out above VS. As it is, VS is by far the more productive IDE and free of charge to boot.

[B i r n o u]

I still can't understand Adobe's strategy on the follow-up and the perspectives brought to their tool

even on the ACP forum, where Nancy asked the question, there is still no answer... and this despite the internal reminder from two people at Adobe.

[Fred Brack]

Bookmarked.  This looks like something worth exploring after I get the basic transition to Dreamweaver under my belt.  Thanks.