Changes are not seen online after editing Dreamweaver DWT template file?
1) You didn't upload the modified files to your website after editing the .dwt template file:
After editing a .dwt file (template) file in Dreamweaver, you must save the .dwt file and then upload all the files that were modified (updated) by the template "update" process to your webhosting account or testing server.Dreamweaver DWT template files will automatically update all files in the site definition that are linked (assigned) to that .dwt file. However, Dreamweaver will not automatically upload the modified (updated) files from your local system to your live or testing server.
You must upload the website files that are associated with and updated by the Dreamweaver DWT file that you edited. Simply uploading the modified template (DWT) file will not update your website files.
You actually do not need to upload the modified DWT file to your hosting account because Dreamweaver template .dwt files are not directly linked to the site files such as include files. DWT files only "update" files that are assigned to them when edited inside of Dreamweaver.
2) You didn't set up a Dreamweaver "Site Definition" for your website before editing the .dwt template file:
You need to set up a Site Definition in Dreamweaver before editing .dwt (template) files or they will not work correctly. For information on how to set up a Site Definition in Dreamweaver, please consult your Dreamweaver help files.The Dreamweaver Site Definition includes the location on your local system of your website files, your webhosting acccount FTP login information and other configuration settings.
The Site Definition creates a cache of all your online store (website) files that allows the .dwt files to update all files that relate to the specific template.
When the Site Definition has been setup correctly and you edit a template file and click ‘Save’, Dreamweaver will prompt you to “UPDATE” all files in the site that match that template and you will see the progress as it updates the files in your Dreamweaver site definition.
If Dreamweaver does not prompt you to update the files in the site after you edit a DWT file in the "templates" folder then you have not correctly set up a site definition in Dreamweaver for the website before editing the file (i.e. you just clicked on the .dwt file while browsing your computer and started to edit it).
Dreamweaver DWT files must be edited inside of Dreamweaver with a pre-setup Site Definition in order for them to properly update their associated files that are based on the DWT design and layout.
