Using Adobe GoLive CS, Part 1

GoLive's Library palette is a repository for various reuseable items, each of which can be made accessible on an application-wide level or on a per-site level. Access the Library palette from the Window menu and look at the buttons across its top. Hovering your mouse pointer over a button for a second will produce a ToolTip with the button's label on it. (On a Mac, making the Library palette wider causes the buttons to expand and actually display the label names on the buttons, though this didn't appear to work on the Windows version.)

As with the Objects palette, each button in the Library reveals a different set of library objects. From left to right the buttons represent Snippets, Smart Objects, Components, Stationery, and Templates (see Figure 9.12). A definition of each of these items can be found in the preceding section.

Figure 9.12 Use the buttons in the Library palette to access the various sets of library items.

Click the Snippets button and notice the folders listed there. The Application-wide folder will always be in the list, and any item inside that folder can be accessed at any time, no matter which site you are working on. The Library items from individual sites are available only when that site is opened (see Figure 9.13). You can drag an item from a site folder to the Application-wide folder to make it available application-wide. Likewise, you can add an item from the Application-wide folder to a particular site by dragging the file into the site folder.

Figure 9.13 Opened site's library items as well as the application-wide library items can be found in these folders.

To create a snippet, select anything on your page and drag it into one of the folders in the Snippets set of the Library palette. To use a snippet, drag it out of the folder and drop it onto a page. Snippets can contain any portion of a page including, but not limited to, tables, text, images, or links. You can also store source code in the snippets area.

Any file stored in the SmartObject folder of your site window will be listed in the Smart Objects portion of the Library palette. Add additional Smart Objects by dragging them into a folder. Use one by dragging it onto a page.

Components, like snippets, can be created from any part of a page. They are especially useful for elements that may change at times, such as a copyright notice. You use a regular blank page to set up the component as you'd like it; choose Save As, Save as Component from the page's flyout menu at the upper-right corner of the page; and then save it into the site's component folder. (For more information on how to modify a page, refer to the section " Using Basic Objects," later in this chapter.) The component will appear in the Components folder of the Extras tab and in the Components section of the Library palette. To use the Component, drag and drop it onto another page. To modify the component, double-click it. When you close or save the file, GoLive will prompt you to update any other files dependent on the component.

You can usestationery pages instead of opening a page and choosing Save As from the File menu. A page created from a stationery file looks exactly like the original; however, if the original is changed, that does not affect the look of the pages that have been created from it. To create a page based on the stationery, double-click it. In the dialog that appears, choose whether to create a new page or modify the existing stationery (see Figure 9.14).

Figure 9.14 Clicking Modify allows you to edit the Stationery page, whereas clicking Create creates a new page based on the Stationery page.

Create a template page by setting up the page and then opening the Template Regions palette from the Window menu. (You can find information on how to build pages later in this chapter, in the " Using Basic Objects" section.) For the page to be defined as a template, it needs to have at least one editable region. Regions that are not specified as editable cannot be modified in the pages made from the template. To define an editable region, select an area on the page and click the Create New Editable Region button in the lower right of the Template Regions palette (see Figure 9.15). You can rename the region if you'd like. When you are done assigning editable regions, choose Save As, Save as Template from the page's flyout menu. To create a page based on the template, double-click the template's name in the Library palette's Templates tab. In the dialog that appears, choose whether to create a new page or modify the existing template.

Figure 9.15 Only the designated editable regions in a template page can be altered in the pages subsequently created from the template.