Wordpress 21 and Dreamweaver

[David Santamaria]

I have a Wordpress website and want to import it into Dreamweaver so that my students can interact with the content. I have exported the content and have the xml file.

When I import the XML file into Dreamweaver 21 all I see is the XML code.

How do I convert the XML to HTML so my students can interact with the content & use the 'Live' view to see the changes?

[BenPleysier]

The only way to get your students to interact with Wordpress content is to install Wordpress on their local system(s). 

Have a look at this video for further explanations

https://youtu.be/T_y0Gmsfqro

[B i r n o u]

as I'm not sure I understand your question, please let me rephrase a context and if I'm wrong, forget this post

wordpress is an application that works with four main elements.

• the application core (WordPress itself) which can and is extended through plugins,
• the template that manages the structure and display of data
• the data itself which constitutes the content of the site
• and the back office which allows to interact with the general configuration and the management of the data and therefore of the content.

Which of these four elements do you want your students to interact with? what do you mean by content?

Whatever, DW allows you to work with the four elements, but first of all, as @BenPleysier says, you will need to install locally an Apache stack, PHP, MySQL/MariaDB, and install a local version of your WP site, on each local student computer.

Then you will have to define a site in DW, which points to this local WP as testing purpose

then,

if you want to work with the application core... well you can still set up a fork from https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress  same for plugins, open forks on the respective git hub of the plugins you want to modify... otherwise create your own plugins https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/ 

if you want to work on the template, set up a child-template https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/advanced-topics/child-themes/ and work on it

Now, to work on the data and edit the site, although it is preferable to do it from a browser pointing to the local back office, you can if you feel like it, open in live view mode the index.php page of the wp-admin folder ... but hey, it's a bit of pushing grandma into the nettles... simply do it from a browser

however, to help with manual coding of template and plugin elements, DW integrate from the menu Site > Site Options > Site-Specific Code Hints, then select Wordpress from the structure menu

if you need visual aid... don't hesitate to watch out those video

• How to Set Up WordPress in Dreamweaver https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_y0Gmsfqro
  
• How to edit wordpress theme using Dreamweaver ? (prtty old but interesting) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ismi86q9xWk
  

here you are... and if I was wrong... please, don't mind... or reformulate your question

[Nancy OShea]

This whole question seems ludicrous, no doubt due to ignorance about what WordPress is and how it works.

WordPress is a database driven website.  There is no content to interact with apart from what you see in browsers after the hosting server generates it from PHP programming and data stored inside the MySQL database. 

Open your browser, and go to the WordPress site to see content.  Use a feed reader to parse RSS feeds (the XML content to which you refer).

Dreamweaver is of no use to WordPress site owners.  Dreamweaver is merely a code editor for experienced developers to use BEFORE they deploy WordPress. 

After WordPress is deployed, all site editing is performed within WordPress's dashboard which you log into with your user ID and password.   If you wish to give your students editing access, create new low-level user accounts for them. But under no circumstances should you entrust students with admin level dashboard access for security reasons.  Mistakes could be catastrophic to your site.

[B i r n o u]

Open your browser, and go to the WordPress site to see content.  Use a feed reader to parse RSS feeds (the XML content to which you refer)

By @Nancy OShea

in fact the XML file the OP talks about, is a way to export then import content from web site to web site

[B i r n o u]

Dreamweaver is of no use to WordPress site owners.  Dreamweaver is merely a code editor for experienced developers to use BEFORE they deploy WordPress. 

By @Nancy OShea

in fact it depends on each of us, personally, I daily use among others DW to maintain all the WP sites on which I must intervene
well I can't say it enough, but since @BenPleysier made me discover VSC, I admit that I open more and more this IDE... especially since DW announced its withdrawal... well its own stagnation

[Nancy OShea]

...in fact it depends on each of us, personally, I daily use among others DW to maintain all the WP sites on which I must intervene...

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

Yes because you are a programmer and have a good working knowledge of how WordPress works.  But I doubt that the OP is a programmer based on the question that was asked.

[B i r n o u]

you're probably right, but we all started not necessarily by the right door, and nothing is impossible to whoever takes the trouble.
and then it often happens that the question is awkward, and I am a real example... you say white and I read green...

[David Santamaria · Accepted solution]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

I note that some have been rather scathing saying the idea was preposterous!

I'd like to state from the outset that I have only some experience in building websites. 

The situation I was working with is this:

• I have up to 150 students doing a Unit of Competency called Maintain Interactive Content in which they need to work in 5 different websites - fixng broken links, updating content based on a style guide, updating images, tags and metadata, along with entering details in a Content Managaement System.
• In Victoria, all students studying the Creative Digital Media program are required to use Dreamweaver to write and manage website content. They then do their exam in a digital environment.  DW, as part of the Adobe Creative Suite, is the common denominator so no student has any advantage over others.
• I have access to a number of Wordpress websites and thought it might be quite suitable to export these Wordpress sites and convert them into a format that Dreamweaver could use.  Alas, while it can be done, the process of setting up a database and server and all the other machinations required meant that this was not a feasible option.  I consequently built all the content in Dreamweaver, and can now distribute these .rte files across the multiple school sites.

Thanks to everyone, again, for your comments and links to supprt videos. 

[Nancy OShea]

FYI, Dreamweaver doesn't support .rte files.   Supported file types in Dreamweaver include:

.html,

.htm,

.php,

.xml,

.css,

.js,

.json

.less

.svg,

.dwt (Dreamweaver proprietary Templates)

[B i r n o u]

I hope this list i snot exhaustive ;)...

but I think that the OP thought of writing .ste

[Nancy OShea]

I hope this list i snot exhaustive ;)...

but I think that the OP thought of writing .ste

By @B i r n o u

==========

I defer to Dreamweaver's list of supported file types. 

I don't think so.  Exported .ste (site definition settings) are NOT recognized by DW's Code Editor.  Besides, they contain nothing relevant to the student tasks of editing HTML and CSS.

[B i r n o u]

@Nancy OShea in fact I was sad not to see my two core file types that I open and use all the time (and that are part of the list proposed by DW) that are SCSS and Sass... 🙂

Exported .ste (site definition settings) are NOT recognized by DW's Code Editor.  Besides, they contain nothing relevant to the student tasks of editing HTML and CSS.

By @Nancy OShea

but I don't think that the OP gives these files to the students to open... but rather that they import them into DW to automatically configure their working environment... and thus be ready to work on the spaces, files, and other exercises prepared by the OP...

*but maybe it was not STE, this was just a guess on a previous comment.

[Janusz Buss]

I would go in that direction I have been using Dreamweaver over the last 15 years. It hasn't improved much I have a feeling that soon it will be gone like Fireworks, Flash etc.  WordPress or Webflow are much easier and quicker to create responsive and dynamic websites. Slowly futures are disappearing from the Dreamweaver app.. It is the app that is slowly dying ..not worth investing your time to learn it or use it.