Using Dreamweaver to edit a Joomla site

Report · Feb 24, 2010

Can someone explain how to set up a Joomla site in DW so that it will display in Design Mode.

I am using MAMP as a testing server and have opened a Joomla site in DW, but it will not display in Design mode. When I use Preview (selecting external browsers) the site works fine.

BTW, I have created another small (one page) php/mySQL site that works in DW using the same MAMP testing server setup, but it is one I started in DW from the start.

Also, is there any current information on how to use DW to create your own Joomla Template?

Thanks for any guidance. I am using DW CS4, Mac OSX 10.6, Current MAMP config, Joomla 1.5.15.

Report · Feb 27, 2010

N Scott wrote:
Can someone explain how to set up a Joomla site in DW so that it will display in Design Mode.

You can't. End of story. It's a feature that quite a few people have asked for, so it's possible that this ability might be added to a future version of Dreamweaver, but the only way to handle WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal in Dreamweaver at the moment is to make a static HTML version of a page, and work with that. But Dreamweaver is not currently capable of displaying the output of a CMS in Design view.

Report · Feb 27, 2010

Thanks, Dave, for your response.

Along the same line, I have two more questions for you.

1) I understand that I can use DW to design Joomla Templates. What is your advise here. Do you know of some good instructions on how to do this?

2) I own both of your books (Dreamweaver CS3 and CS4, with CSS, Ajax, and PHP). In the most recent book, you talk about CMS's only to the extent of recommending Contribute. If I want to use the capabilities of a CMS like Joomla, what would you recommend to help someone use Dreamweaver to extend Joomla so that I can create PHP/MySQL content not provided in the stock Joomla download?

For example, using your book I have put together a simple (not for me, without your book however) form to record a bike rider's time up a local mountain. Each user logs in and records his time and date of ride. A report (not yet developed) would then be available showing his times and his times compared to other riders. It is a little more complicated with some math on the times/distances etc.

Would I have to learn how to develop extensions for Joomla, or should/could I just redirect riders from the Joomla site to a separate site developed in entirely in DW?

Any guidance as to how to do this would be appreciated.

Thanks

Report · Feb 27, 2010

Sorry, I have never used Joomla, so I can't offer any advice. You would be better off in a Joomla forum.

Report · Dec 30, 2011

I too am looking for ways to edit my Joomla site. Dreamweaver CS5.5 seems to offer a new range of possibilities for Joomla users.

I have downloaded an evaluation copy of DW 5.5 and have setup a local MAMP testing server. I have successfully previewed my main index.php page using the new Live View feature (but no other content) and can display dynamically-related pages in the DW user interface.

I would like to see how else DW can help me to make changes to my site. A start would be how to preview other dynamically-generated content.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance, Gerry

Report · Dec 30, 2011

I recorded two videos on using Dreamweaver CS5 with Joomla in my lynda.com title "Joomla 1.6: Creating and Editing Custom Templates."

While it's possible to use DW in the context you describe, I strongly advise against it. It takes roughly 150 files to display a Joomla page, all of which are in the DW interface. You can use filtering to get to just the CSS, for example, and those files are OK to edit. However, you should never edit any of Joomla's core files -- the ones ending in .php. The only exception is your template's index.php file.

If you do edit Joomla's core files, you are asking for your edits to be overwritten when the next Joomla update comes out.

If you need to edit a core file, there are ways to do this via the process of template override. This is also covered in my lynda.com title.

My sense is that, for Joomla, the DW/Joomla integration is fairly limited in purpose. If you don't know CSS well and want to use DW's CSS editing capabilities to work on your Joomla site, the integration works great. Otherwise, it doesn't offer any particular advantage, and it could put you into trouble if you edit core files mistakenly.

Jen

Report · Dec 30, 2011

Hi Jen

Thanks so much for your comprehensive response.

The main thing I want to achieve is this:

I use a 3rd party Joomla extension to manage the display and booking of holiday accommodation venues. I am not happy with the user experience and want to make some design and functionality tweaks.

While I am quite fluent with html and css, I am only 'somewhat' familiar with php. Further, the third party extension I have had developed was prepared by a Frenchman and he has used much of his mother tongue in the coding - I do not speak or read French.

I hope to use Dreamweaver to render a 'page', see all the bits of code that make up the page, then identify what code snippets I need to work with. For example, to move a 'booking button' to the top of a page, or to move the display of property availability information to the top of the page.

I read that Dreamweaver's user interface will allow the display of 'page' contents however so far I can only seem to do this successfully with the template's main index.php page. Do you think that Dreamweaver will be able to help me with this project? Will your videos help me? If so please send me the URLs to the videos.

Thanks so much in advance, Gerry

Report · Dec 30, 2011

Gerry --

Joomla's template index.php file pulls in information from all over Joomla to display it. That includes modules, components, plugins, and information from the template itself. That's why there's usually 150 files that contribute to a single page.

Having said that, your method for identifying where to make the change in Dreamweaver may or may not work out -- it's definitely worth a try, but my concern is that DW won't accurately show where the change needs to be made due to the number of files involved. In any case, you will definitely want to read up on the template/layout override process, so you can change the interface without it being overwritten in the next Joomla or extension release. That's described in the Joomla documentation here: http://docs.joomla.org/Layout_Overrides_in_Joomla_1.6

Note that most documentation is written for Joomla 1.6, but you will find it works fine with Joomla 1.7. Joomla 2.5 will be released in January, so be aware that's coming as well (and another reason to be sure you future-proof your site by overriding files correctly).

My videos will help show you how to configure DW/Joomla to work together, and it will walk you through the process of doing a template override and a layout override. However, you may find you'll want to hire an engineer to move the layout around, after which you could tweak it with CSS to make it look pretty. The code is pretty complex, and depending on your background and skills, you could find it intimidating.

Before you ever start this type of work on your site, be very, very sure you have a backup -- it's likely you will needed. A better approach is to make a copy of the site and work on the copy. When you have finished, you can transfer the relevant files you've changed. Remember to back up the files that make up the site as well as the database -- many old DW designers remember to back up files, but all of the site's data is in the database. Akeeba Backup is an excellent, free extension, and it will allow you to make this backup quickly and easily: www.akeebabackup.com

My lynda.com tutorials (there are 7 now) are located here -- http://www.lynda.com/Jen-Kramer/203-1.html

Jen

Report · Dec 30, 2011

Thank you Jen. That's great advice.

Kind regards

Gerry Neustatl

Pets Playground

w: http://www.petsplayground.com.au

e: gerry@petsplayground.com.au

Report · Sep 01, 2010

You can use DW to create your own Joomla template. I covered this in my Lynda.com video, "Joomla! Creating and Editing Custom Templates", http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=666

I am using DW CS4 in that title.

Jen

Report · Oct 22, 2017

You can also copy a php file from Joomla files located on your localhost in htdocs or download a copy from your live server in public.html. Then drag copy into DW editor and edit the file in DW and click Save. (Keep the name of the file the same)

Then Save that file in a seperate location where you can store it for safe-keeping and upload it to live server or localhost to replace the same name php file.

Be sure to save a copy of the original php file in case you need it again.