One of the reasons the code could be grayed out in "Design" mode is that the source code is referencing an outside source, such as a style sheet.

Look at the source and see if you can find a reference to another document such as a style sheet or javascript.

If you can get the other document and make sure the doc you are working on can reference it, you should be able to make changes to your project.

Ok I looked and yes, the style sheet was removed too along with the original template. Yet the website still looks OK so the style sheet must have been for formatting text only, not for the layout.

The layout is intact. All I need to really do is go in and edit the BG colors and enter some keywords for the site.

But I cannot even rebuild a CSS sheet and attach it, unless I can unlock the grayed out code.

Are the style sheet and the document relative to each other as they are on the server? The doc must be able to know where the css is.

Also, are you saying that you can not alter the css?

Actually, you can get into the DW code itself to either alter/modify a template or create a whole additional page template. You can even modify what appears in the drop down menus for sites.

I did that in DW2 with instructions from the DW2 Bible (got a used copy from Amazon) and then did it when I updated to DW4. I changed the default template that comes with the program, and created an additional one as well.

For the CSS, have you looked at the CSS using the Web Developer Toolbar in Firefox?

Are the style sheet and the document relative to each other as they are on the server? The doc must be able to know where the css is.
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I wish I knew how! I can't find it!
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Also, are you saying that you can not alter the css?
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Yes - the only thing I can edit is the center of the page; the editable region of the template.

For the CSS, have you looked at the CSS using the Web Developer Toolbar in Firefox?
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Marcia, I'm not familiar with that at all. Guess a google search is in order.

Paul, here's Firefox:

[mozilla.com...]

Web Developer add-on:

[addons.mozilla.org...]

You can see both the CSS (imbedded and external) and the page source, and then reconstruct the template yourself from there. Using PHP includes for repeated page sections is better though, since you don't have to re-upload all the pages when updating a section (like navigation).

Thanks for that. I'm not PHP literate though I can see that it will be something I'll need to pick up.

It won't be right away though; I'm in the middle of three website projects right now and that's not typically the best time for me to take on new web languages!

I appreciate your help.

Paul, you don't need to know PHP to use includes. It's simply one easy line of code that calls a simple text file when the pages load. And one entry in .htaccess if you're using them on .html pages. That's it: one line altogether of PHP.

Do a site search here and you'll find plenty of examples in the PHP forum.

1) View the source code of an existing page in a browser.
2) Save that HTML file onto your hard drive.
3) Open that file in Dreamweaver.
4) Save that page as a new Dreamweaver template.

That way you can easily work with editable and non-editable regions.