Design Extender Getting Started Guide

Dear Jason, I'm using the getting started guide to familiarise myself with Design Extender. I'm following the steps - (1) create a CSS based layout vis CSS Sculptor, (2) I've added horizontal menus to this via CSS Menu writer and I've saved it as a html file. I have save this as a template. But it's at the next step I become a cropper - building the site with Site Sculptor. My question is how do I select this design I've just created to be the basis/foundation of the site I wish to make. In the 'Site Sculptor Getting Started Guide' under the heading 'Using your own template - point number 1 says - 'use the Add Layout wizard prior...' - where is this Add Layout wizard located. In site sculptor I am presented with the Site Sculptor screen, but how do I select my file or design I've just created with the previous two extensions and built the site using my recently created html file/doc? Where do I find the presets that I saved in the previous two extensions to include in Site Sculptor. Note: I used 'Administration: All' template to build the menu.

you will first need to save the CSS Sculptor design as a Template.

See the "Creating a custom template for Site Sculptor" tutorial on the Site Sculptor Support page:
site-sculptor/


once you have created the template, and added the necessary editable regions to it, you can create a new site sculptor design from the template using the Preset Manger.

go to WebAssist -> Preset Manager. From the product list, select "Site Sculptor Site Design" then click the New button

Jason, this is more difficult that I thought it would be. This is what I've done (1) Using CSS Site Sculptor, I created a site and saved. (2) Using CSS Menu Writer, I added a horizontal Admin menu to the Top Navigation of the site created at 1. (3) I saved this as a .dwt into a Templates Folder in the site. (4) I then went to Preset Manager - selected Site Sculptor Site Designs - selected 'New', then selected 'Dreamweaver Template' and then selected the template I created at 3 above. (5) I got the attached message (see attached jpg).

Where do I go next?

follow the "Creating a custom template for Site Sculptor" tutorial on the Site Sculptor Support page" that i linked to previously:
site-sculptor/


when creating the template, you do not add a menu to it, you add an editable region to the template that will contain the menu.

the menu will get generated by the Site Sculptor wizard when it creates the site based on the site structure / pages you tell site sculptor to create.

you cant create the menu first because pages don't exist.

Jason, this is crazy and taking up alot of my time. I've followed all the instructions. I've 5 print-outs in front of me - (1) Design Extender Getting Started Guide (2) Getting Started with CSS Sculptor 3 (3) CSS Menu Writer v2 Getting Started Guide (4) Creating a custom Site Sculptor Design (5) Site Sculptor Getting Started Guide. It's very frustrating - for example, it's not clearly stated that you don't add the menus and that you have to create editable regions when creating a site with Design Extender. Is there any definative guide that will set-out the proper steps that need to be taken to create a complete site with Design Extender - the instructions are not clear in any of the above guides.

you are trying to create a custom template to use with site sculptor, right?

so the guide to follow is the "Creating a custom template for Site Sculptor" tutorial on the Site Sculptor Support page" that i linked to previously:
site-sculptor/

to start using that tutorial you have to first create a template.

you can use CSS Sculptor to create a site design, then save that as a template.

once you have a template created, the "Creating a custom template for Site Sculptor" tutorial walks through adding the editable regions, then creating a menu design preset to use, then creating the site design.

once you have created the site design, you can select it as the design to use when running the site sculptor wizard.

Okay, I've created my template using CSS Sculptor. Now I want to build an Administrative menu using CSS Menu Writer - so I'd like to use Administration (All) - this appears in the contents drop-down menu in the CSS Menu Writer. Funnily enough, these Administration Menus do not appear as a choice when you wish to design in Site Sculptor - am I correct. So can I use this Admin menu for my site?

The admin menu is a Content type, not a design

in site sculptor, you can only select a menu design, not menu contents.

Sorry Jason, but now I'm really confused. I suppose my question is can I build an admin type site with Site Sculptor and if not what is the nearest design. Referring back then to my last question on this issue, after creating a template with CSS Sculptor - is the next step to create the menu and if yes - how do I go about getting a menu into my CSS Sculptor template. If no, then where do I go next? I thought this was going to be easy with Design Extender!

Site sculptor generates the menu based on the pages you set it to create.

you can not generate the menu in the site design. the site design is used to setup the design elements that will be used for the site.

once you create the site design, you need to run the site assist wizard to create the site, and define the pages that will be created.

to create the site go to WebAssist -> Build Site -> New Site Sculptor Site.

From the site type list, select one of the site types, then click the define button to define the pages that will be created for your site. The tree under Main Pages -> Home pages section defines the items that will appear in your menu, and the pages that will be created.

from the Site Design list, you can select the Site Design You created.