Reworking site, use Dreamweaver template vs. other PHP or dynamic way?

[kenfused]

Hello,

I'm thinking about reworking my site look/feel...
Currently I use a dreamweaver template, and a few homegrown PHP scripts for a few affiliate ads, etc...

I don't really know much CSS, so I am using some tables for layout, but was wondering, should I do my site using Dreamweaver templates again, or maybe go to a way that uses things like a header.php, footer.php, menu.php that puts the elements on a page, so that if I want to change ALL the footers, I can just update one thing and make all the changes.

Any pros/cons for these ideas? or other suggestions on making my site easier to manage?

Thanks

[mack]

Using php for your site can certainly be very beneficial if your site is large. As you said it can be very easy to alter the layout by editing your header,footer etc. If you know enough php then this may well be the way to go. If you are still learning php then I suggest you get to really know the language before you try to push out a production site written in it.

Another option might be to use a content management system. There are many such applications, many are free. They allow you to control every aspect of your site using nothing more than a web browser.

Mack.

[txbakers]

I gave up using static sites years ago. Everything is dynamic. I use ASP as my technology of choice, but they all work the same way.

I like being able to use includes and scripts to automate many tasks.

I haven't used a GUI tool in years either. I code everything by hand - copy/paste/change. Sometimes tricky nested table layouts are a pain without a GUI, but I manage.

[John Carpenter]

I haven't used a GUI tool in years either. I code everything by hand - copy/paste/change.

The beauty and power of Dreamweaver (or similar tools) lies in the fact that you can edit your pages in WYSIWYG mode and also in the raw code editor, or even both at the same time (split mode). I also used to do everything in plain text editor, but now I can't imagine going back. (BTW, all my pages contain blocks of php code.)