FP Newbie - question on layers & compatibility with DW

[Wayne]

Hi group, first time here although there are alot of familiar names in here.

I have been asked to redevelop a FP site for a client. They currently have
an FP site and want to continue maintaining the new site. I use DW and the
last time I used FP was FP 97.

My question is how easy is it to convert a site designed in DW into FP 2002
or 2003 and what are the obvious pitfalls. I noticed that only 2003 has
layer support, 2002 does not. So what does this mean? Can you still import a
site with DIVs in 2002? or is it all table based?

On the FP 2003 feature list it says:
Dynamic Web Templates
Attach a Dynamic Web Template to a set of pages that you want to share the
same layout. Protect that layout by specifying which page regions are
available to coauthors to make modifications. Dynamic Web Templates are
syntax compatible with templates from Macromedia Dreamweaver 4, so you can
easily move your Dreamweaver site to FrontPage 2003 or work on a site with
Dreamweaver users.

Has any had any experience with this? Are there any compatibility issues btw
DW & FP templates? For example if my client remains responsible for the
content and I just do the template, can I continue to update the layout in
DW or would the layout need to be maintained only in FP?

 

[Guest]

Hi Wayne,
I work in both FP & DW depending on the needs of my clients. All I have
found is that some templates designed in DW will not display correctly in
design view in FP which would be a problem for a client - I have not
published those templates through FP to see if the problem would expand on
publication.
However, the majority of web templates will switch between the two without a
problem - you may have to do a few minor tweaks to the code.