Working with html templates and Dreamweaver

[sitenoise]

I can't seem to make this work because of, I think, the way something tricky under the hood uses the directory Images/myNamedTemplateImages/ without mentioning it.

If I tell DW that my images are in Images/myNamedTemplateImages/, it will update the code to Images/myNamedTemplateImages/ and then the export won't work because it wants to parse (the REAL) Images/myNamedTemplateImages/ from just plain ol' Images/ that's in the Template code.

I could tell DW that the Images (css and js, as well) are in Images/myNamedTemplateImages/ and just say no to the updating of code, but then I might as well use a text editor because Dreamweaver can't parse the images, css, or js.

I tried moving the template into the Images/myNamedTemplateImages/ directory so DW could munch on the stuff by relative Images/ path but then dvdpedia doesn't see it in the Export Dialog Box.

Problem v2 with regards to this mission impossible rears its ugly head when I try to work single-handedly with two Templates. If I create a second "Site" for the second Template work, DW cries "BoZo-NoNo!" to having two sites with the same Site Root.

I tried the second Site business thinking I could get around things by fiat, but alas ....

Problem v3 here (and I could live with this one, I think, by gettin' and puttin' a lot) is that the Site Root for dvdpedia Templates must be in the ~Users/username/Application Support/DVDPedia/Templates/ Folder. I can use DVDPedia to upload via ftp instead of DW. That part is OK, I guess, but then when I look at my Web Site with DW it doesn't match my Local View (i.e., ~Users/username/Sites). That's where I'd be gettin' and puttin', and doin' without DW's Synchronize features.

Does anybody follow me here? I found this extremely difficult to explain.

Anybody using Dreamweaver with dvdpedia?

[Conor]

Here is the setup that I would use:

1. Separate the development of the template into its own site. You can then name the images folder "Images" and Dreamweaver should be able to follow the links, including those to your CSS and JavaScript.
2. Once you are done with development you copy the files over to the Templates folder as well as renaming the Images folder and placing it in Images. If you are doing this often create an Automator workflow that does this.
3. If you want to manage your online site with Dreamweaver, you can export from DVDpedia directly to inside your Dreamweaver sites folder and the files will go up when syncing with Dreamweaver. This allows you to make the DVD page a subsite of a larger site that you are managing with Dreamweaver.

[sitenoise]

you can export from DVDpedia directly to inside your Dreamweaver sites folder

I think that's the missing puzzle piece. I can deal with the rest of it. thanks ...

[sitenoise]

Here is the setup that I would use:

1. Separate the development of the template into its own site. You can then name the images folder "Images" and Dreamweaver should be able to follow the links, including those to your CSS and JavaScript.
2. Once you are done with development you copy the files over to the Templates folder as well as renaming the Images folder and placing it in Images. If you are doing this often create an Automator workflow that does this.
3. If you want to manage your online site with Dreamweaver, you can export from DVDpedia directly to inside your Dreamweaver sites folder and the files will go up when syncing with Dreamweaver. This allows you to make the DVD page a subsite of a larger site that you are managing with Dreamweaver.

If I use dvdpedia to ftp my files to a remote server there's a little note that says "type command-n to compare which images need to be updated" (I'm paraphrasing from memory). I'm not sure if that really works or not, ftp'ing this way takes a loooong time with any collection of moderate size. But I really like the IDEA.

Is that a function of ftp or of dvdpedia export? Because it would be super if that could apply to, as you noted above, exporting to my Dreamweaver folder so that when I use DW to ftp to my remote site it wouldn't see every image as new it wouldn't have to upload every image again.

[Conor]

In that setup don't use the images exported by DVDpedia; as you mentioned they were recently created and have a different date. Have your FTP program upload the images from the "Covers" folder in your data folder ~/Library/Application Support/DVDpedia were the modification date has not changed. This technique does not work for a few templates like the iPhone template were the images are reduced and made into thumbnails, but in those cases the images are smaller so it's not a problem.

[sitenoise]

In that setup don't use the images exported by DVDpedia; as you mentioned they were recently created and have a different date. Have your FTP program upload the images from the "Covers" folder in your data folder ~/Library/Application Support/DVDpedia were the modification date has not changed. This technique does not work for a few templates like the iPhone template were the images are reduced and made into thumbnails, but in those cases the images are smaller so it's not a problem.

I don't understand. Do the export to my DW sites solder and then ... ?

I can't use DW to sync the dvdpedia support folder to my remote site ... sync being the operative term.

If I use DW to just sync the html and then something like Fetch to ... that's the part I don't get. There's waaay more images in the support folder than would pertain to a given collection I might be uploading.

Here's an idea, (I think I might have mentioned before re: iPhoto integration) ... How about a "reveal in Finder" option?

My workflow story is this ... I'm uploading a collection called 5 star films, when I see and judge a new film worthy I want to add it to the exported web version. So I'd do the export and use DW to upload/sync just the html files. And then if there was an easy way to determine which image belonged to the one film I just added .. but they turn into numbers in the support folder.

btw ... is that feature, command-n, to determine which images need to be updated working? when I do it, everything just goes like it always does and it takes a really long time so I'm assuming it's not very helpful. No biggy ... there are bigger fish to fry.

[Conor]

is that feature, command-n, to determine which images need to be updated working?

Yes, but will test it under more conditions to find out why it might be detecting all the covers as new for you.

There's waaay more images in the support folder than would pertain to a given collection I might be uploading.

I was assuming that you upload most of your DVDs to the your web page. Keeping the support folder "Covers" folder synchronized means that all the covers for your movies are on the server and you only need to worry about the HTML files. If you add new movies the covers will then be uploaded, and if you edit a cover it will be uploaded as the modification date changes. You will have more covers online than you need if your only exporting a small subset of your collection but with todays storage capacity, mega bytes are almost free. Obviously this all depends on your usage, if the subset of DVDs uploaded is really small then it might not be worth having the entire covers folder online.

[sitenoise]

I was assuming that you upload most of your DVDs to the your web page. Keeping the support folder "Covers" folder synchronized means that all the covers for your movies are on the server and you only need to worry about the HTML files. If you add new movies the covers will then be uploaded, and if you edit a cover it will be uploaded as the modification date changes. You will have more covers online than you need if your only exporting a small subset of your collection but with todays storage capacity, mega bytes are almost free. Obviously this all depends on your usage, if the subset of DVDs uploaded is really small then it might not be worth having the entire covers folder online.

I like the idea in principle, but still don't how to actually make it work. For one thing the App Support Folder is where it is and my DW sites are in my Sites folder ... I don't know how I could "synchronize" given that scenario. I also have many exported 'sites'. I agree storage is cheap and I would dump the whole App Support Images Folder into each one of them if that would work.

ps - the reason I export many sites is because I post them for friends to use for recommendations. They will stare blankly at several hundred entries and then go to netflix or something, so I create different sites for different genres, countries, ratings, etc. I've found that people will browse a few dozen entries at most, never a few hundred. I use the tweaked versions of Metal (for the coolness presentation factor) and ProList (as a way to get all entries on one page for quick glancing) and really wish there were ways to find or sort the output once it's a web page, but ....

[Conor]

All your different templates would share one common images folder. For example if your server looked like this:

Code: Select all

   Movies
   Comedy
       index.html
   April
       index.html
   New Recommendations
       index.html
   Images
      1.jpg
      2.jpg

You would sync the Application Support/Covers with the Images folder online. This can be done by copying the Covers folder to a Dreamweaver site or setting up a dreamweaver profile to sync the Covers folder with the one online. Afterwards you would only upload HTML files. You would have to modify the metal template your using to link the Images folder one root level higher with "../[key:CoverImageURL]". The "../" pushes the relative path one level out so they can all share the same images. You can also tell the template not to export images by adding the following to the meta tags "<meta name="image-export" content="no" />". Making not only your uploads fast but your export from DVDpedia fast.

[sitenoise]

Wow!!

I can/will change this, but presently I have this structure:

Code: Select all

Movies
     metal
          documentaries
               index.html
               images 
          five_star_films
               index.html
               images [etc.]
          horror
     proList
          documentaries
          five_star_films
          horror

If I put the master images folder at the level of metal and proList can I just change the template to ../../[key:CoverImageURL]?

I'm still a little slow on understanding how to get DW to sync the Covers folder. I also understand that it is not in your domain to give Dreamweaver support here! If I create a 'dummy' DW site and use the Covers Folder as the root Images Folder, it's still named 'Covers' and I just don't see how to sync that to a folder called Images on the web site.

Maybe better to set up a Folder Action or Automator task (I've never done it, but assume it's possible) to keep the Covers Folder in Sync with this root level Images Folder? Then I can sync the Root Level Images folder whenever I want to with DW.

[UPDATE]
First let me say that I truly understand that this is not your obligation to support my ignorance of other programs!

Having said that I grabbed an Automator action that uses rsync to sync the Covers Folder to my uber-Images Folder. (I can't for the life of me figure out why it doesn't automatically run the Folder action when, for instance, I add a new item to dvdpedia which in turn modifies the Covers Folder, but that's beside the point. I run it manually if I have to.)[UPDATE v2] It does auto run when I add a new entry ... but not if I change an entry's cover image.

But a couple question about this procedure arise:

The images in the Covers Folder are Gigantic Poster sized images. When I compare that to the same image number that is created when doing an export, the image in the exported folder is much smaller. I guess that's to be expected. It's just that in, for instance the Metal View, the initial images are thumbnail sized and when I look at them on the web they take forever to load the Gigantor Sized Posters into that little thumbnail. I guess there is nothing that can be done about that.

Secondly, just out of curiosity, I have 923 entries in my library and 150 in my wish list.That's 1,083. But there are 1497 images in the Covers Folder, so can I assume that deleting an entry from dvdpedia doesn't delete the image from the Covers Folder? {update, I just tested that and it appears to be the case}

[Conor]

The images in the Covers Folder are Gigantic Poster sized images.

This is a disadvantage for exports that have thumbnail size images, as the export resizes images to the needed size. You could create a thumbnails folder to have those as well. But forget all that, I have changed the code so that the exported image files are given the original image's creation and modification dates. So you should have no trouble with the syncing of the images from the regular export with the beta.

Can I assume that deleting an entry from dvdpedia doesn't delete the image from the Covers Folder?

The removal of the cover happens when you quit DVDpedia. The cover stays in the folder until then in case you perform an undo action. There was an bug in an earlier version that when you deleted an excluded collection the covers would remain, that has been fixed and it's likely where the extra images came from. To remove the orphaned covers, using the beta click on the help menu on the main menu bar while holding down the option key, it will show a command to remove the orphaned covers.

[sitenoise]

You are a maniac, my friend. I haven't enjoyed owning a product as much as dvdpedia since OSC's DECK II. You've got old-school killer-app mentality. Bless you!

[sitenoise]

... I have changed the code so that the exported image files are given the original image's creation and modification dates. So you should have no trouble with the syncing of the images from the regular export with the beta.

Just thought I would drop by and say thanks again and let you know that this is working wonderfully.

[Conor]

is working wonderfully

Excellent, thank you for letting us know.