VSD directory and excessive # of...

User 176129 Photo


Trial User
2 posts

I manage a domain for an Organization that has a new webmaster each year for the one major event we organize. This year the webmaster is using VSD and while it has created a nice design it is presenting us with a couple of problems. I hope the members of this forum can help us resolve them.

She has created her own template and 21-25 pages were created. However; when the website was loaded recently two things were discovered that are perplexing and I have been unable to help her resolve them.

1. The only documents, out of 25, that are loading to the base directory are the four default/index documents. ALL other pages, including images, are loading to a secondary directory called My_Homepage_Files. For an organization this gives a less then professional look to our URL.

2. With 21-25 pages created and no images but those required for the button navigation for each of those pages the image count is a whopping 450 images at 10-13 KB per image.

What steps does she need to perform to get all the pages to load to the base directory?

How does she get the program to reuse each of the button images on all pages rather then creating the exact same images over and over again as new images for each and every page?

Any insight into resolving either of the above problems would be gratefully accepted.

Even tho she has offered to try another editor I want her to continue to use VSD as that is the program she has become familiar with and since she, not me, will be updating this website repeatedly over the next 11-12 mos being familiar with the editor she uses will be very important to her.

Prairiewolf
User 171605 Photo


Ambassador
8 posts

This is one of the problems I have also noticed with the program. It seems to be more for the use of a very small personal website. I would like to see this program expanded and allow for more control over the html and file directories, for professional use.
You can rename the file My_Homepage_Files with your FTP program; then you have to open all the HTML files and do a quick EDIT >REPLACE> to rename all the references to the file names. It won't be too hard to do, but it will need to be done on every page, and every future page.
This will be easier than trying to put them all on the main directory - but you could move (via FTP) just the HTML pages to the main directory and keep the images in a new file renamed to IMAGES (or whatever you like). However, you will need to be very careful in editing the HTML code so all of the images / links work.
User 132952 Photo


Ambassador
3,120 posts

I did pretty much what windycitykitty said. It's a lot of manual work, but here's the bigger catch. Since these changes are made outside of VSD, you will most likely want to continue working on this site with another editor (like CC's HTML Editor). If you make any changes in VSD and save it again, everything goes back to My_Homepage_Files & 450 images. So, what I'd recommend is to get everything laid out as you like, and then move on to another editor to get things touched up (and for future updates/edits).

We've heard the rumors of a new VSD in the works and I gotta say, it's probably the most exciting update yet. Not that I've seen it, but because I know so many people love VSD and would keep using it if it weren't for some major limitations like your current situation. Let's all hope it does the job and that it gets released a.s.a.p. ;)
User 51909 Photo


Registered User
3,694 posts

Adam Richesin wrote:
I did pretty much what windycitykitty said. It's a lot of manual work, but here's the bigger catch. Since these changes are made outside of VSD, you will most likely want to continue working on this site with another editor (like CC's HTML Editor). If you make any changes in VSD and save it again, everything goes back to My_Homepage_Files & 450 images. So, what I'd recommend is to get everything laid out as you like, and then move on to another editor to get things touched up (and for future updates/edits).

We've heard the rumors of a new VSD in the works and I gotta say, it's probably the most exciting update yet. Not that I've seen it, but because I know so many people love VSD and would keep using it if it weren't for some major limitations like your current situation. Let's all hope it does the job and that it gets released a.s.a.p. ;)

Adam and all. Very exciting changes indeed. The Beta programme is well into its testing and is looking good. I would suggest that many of the issues that people have raised about VSD 3 in the past will be answered.

Mark

P.S. Should be out V soon I think.
Mark Loves CoffeeCup
User 6573 Photo


Ambassador
2,649 posts

prairiewolf wrote:
I manage a domain for an Organization that has a new webmaster each year for the one major event we organize. This year the webmaster is using VSD and while it has created a nice design it is presenting us with a couple of problems. I hope the members of this forum can help us resolve them.

She has created her own template and 21-25 pages were created. However; when the website was loaded recently two things were discovered that are perplexing and I have been unable to help her resolve them.

1. The only documents, out of 25, that are loading to the base directory are the four default/index documents. ALL other pages, including images, are loading to a secondary directory called My_Homepage_Files. For an organization this gives a less then professional look to our URL.

2. With 21-25 pages created and no images but those required for the button navigation for each of those pages the image count is a whopping 450 images at 10-13 KB per image.

What steps does she need to perform to get all the pages to load to the base directory?

How does she get the program to reuse each of the button images on all pages rather then creating the exact same images over and over again as new images for each and every page?

Any insight into resolving either of the above problems would be gratefully accepted.

Even tho she has offered to try another editor I want her to continue to use VSD as that is the program she has become familiar with and since she, not me, will be updating this website repeatedly over the next 11-12 mos being familiar with the editor she uses will be very important to her.

Prairiewolf

Might I suggest that you create the menu with images in the "html tool" . Basically you be putting in code for your nav menu with images and such. This would eliminate the program having to save images for each page. PLUS what is great after you finish you could just copy and paste the html object box to each page. You would need to upload all your images for your menu to the server and then reference the image like h t t p : //www.yourwebsite.com/navpicture.jpg - so that it knows what to place in that spot. I hope that helps - if you need help figuring this out please feel free to contact me. I can hopefully point you in the right direction. But using this method I am pretty sure it would eliminate all those whopping 450 images .

You know you might want to encourage each new designer that comes your way to look at the cc html editor instead - it has a visual design mode that most people can grasp. Just an idea.

Have a great day,

Kim

User 132952 Photo


Ambassador
3,120 posts

Wow, good idea. Never thought of putting the images in the html code (box) instead. Not so easy to see what it's going during the creation process, but makes things a lot easier when exporting/publishing.
User 6573 Photo


Ambassador
2,649 posts

Adam Richesin wrote:
Wow, good idea. Never thought of putting the images in the html code (box) instead. Not so easy to see what it's going during the creation process, but makes things a lot easier when exporting/publishing.

Actually you can see what is going on as you create - just upload all your images you plan on using first. Then as you create the files - you can use the preview icon to see how it will look as you go along. It works good.

Kim :)

User 6573 Photo


Ambassador
2,649 posts

Actually I have not been a VSD person - I do all my site development in the html editor - I am a code person and visually it works better for me. However I forced myself to sit down and really go thru the VSD program and I felt like I was a fish on land - it was such a different way of creating webpages. There are many suggestions I have given to CC and I hope they are incorporating into the new version soon to be released. I have come to appreciate the VSD program and plan on promoting it to my non code hosting customers - I think it will be a great way for those who have mid size sites and who want an easy way to add their items. The one feature that Scott told me was on the list for a much later version is that there be a html to VNU file conversion so you can pull in your existing site if you want to switch over to using the VSD program - which will be great feature for those who want to leave Front Page and use this instead.

Kim :)

I am a big coffeecup fan! The coffeecup html editor in my opinion is the best on the market and low price with free upgrades makes it OUTSTANDING product. Specially with their last couple of upgrades adding the visual design mode tab and the color schemer feature. I just hope that they can eventually fine tune the visual design mode tab to include vsd features like tilting of photos and layering features. That would widen their market even more!

User 51909 Photo


Registered User
3,694 posts

Perhaps they could just couple the two programmes togather and make a super programme from it. That would appeal to everyone then and wuld have the added bonus of allowing people to go over to HTML when they are good and ready without having to splash out on extra software.

Mark
Mark Loves CoffeeCup
User 176129 Photo


Trial User
2 posts

Kim Rickman wrote:
Might I suggest that you create the menu with images in the "html tool" . Basically you be putting in code for your nav menu with images and such. This would eliminate the program having to save images for each page. PLUS what is great after you finish you could just copy and paste the html object box to each page. You would need to upload all your images for your menu to the server and then reference the image like h t t p : //www.yourwebsite.com/navpicture.jpg - so that it knows what to place in that spot. I hope that helps - if you need help figuring this out please feel free to contact me. I can hopefully point you in the right direction. But using this method I am pretty sure it would eliminate all those whopping 450 images .

You know you might want to encourage each new designer that comes your way to look at the cc html editor instead - it has a visual design mode that most people can grasp. Just an idea.

Have a great day,

Kim

Regretfully because of time constraints by the time your response appeared we had already moved on to another WYSIWYG editor from SourceForge which allowed us to completely re-do the website in a very short period of time. We had everything redone and uploaded fairly early last evening, tweaked a few things this morning and announced that it was available.

Thank you everyone for trying to help. Because the webmaster was unaware of the manner that VSD handled her images time was short by the time it was discovered. Since I hand-code everything and she had no knowledge of html coding we were very lucky to find a free editor that both of us found pleasant to use.

PrairieWolf

Have something to add? We’d love to hear it!
You must have an account to participate. Please Sign In Here, then join the conversation.