change design of Website with Publisher 07?

[Kristine]

I develop computer-based curriculum for schools. I am currently updating a
web publishing unit to use the new Publisher 07. I have an existing website
that was created using a prior version of Publisher, and I want to change the
site's design but I'm unable to do so. Specifically, I click Apply a
Template, choose a website design, and then click Apply template to current
publication. Instead of applying the template/design to my existing site,
Publisher 07 closes my site and creates a new publication based on the
template/design I chose. Is there any way to apply a design to an existing
site? Thanks!

 

[DavidF]

When I open an existing web publication in Publisher 2007, go to Format >
Format Publication > Web Site Options > Change Template..., a Change
Template dialog opens and I can select a different design and optionally
Customize the Color scheme, Business information and under Options the
Navigation bar. If I only change the design, and click OK, then another
dialog pops up that asks whether I want to "Apply template to current
publication" or "Create a new publication using my text and graphics".
Choose the first option.

If that is not the specific work flow you are following, or you get
different results, then post back as to the steps you take.

DavidF

 

[Kristine]

Unfortunately, this doesn't work... likely because my existing website has no
template. Therefore, in the Format Publication task pane, I can only click
Apply a Template, not Change Template. After I choose a design, Pub 07 closes
my site and creates a new publication based on the template of the design I
chose. I'll rephrase my question - Is there any way to apply a design (not a
template) to an existing site that has no template? Thanks again!

 

[Kristine]

Yes, I have the original Publisher file for the website. I was not the
original creator, though, and so I don't know why the file was made without a
template. Since the file has no template, I have considered that I may need
to recreate it in Pub 07 using a template... which will then hopefully enable
me to have students experiment with changing its design (do you know if it
will?). The point of the exercise is to 1) teach students how to apply
different designs to a website (similar to how one can apply different themes
to a PowerPoint presentation) and 2) teach students to apply an appropriate
design based on objective, audience, and tone.

 

[DavidF]

Are you saying that you do not have the original Publisher file for the
website? Are you trying to recreate your Publisher file from the html files?
If that is what you are asking there is a manual method, but no automatic
method.

DavidF

 

[DavidF]

From my limited testing I can open any Publisher web publication in Pub 2007
and use the "apply template" formatting, and Publisher will do the best it
can. The text is imported into the new template as are most of the design
elements. However, in some cases there will be some design elements,
pictures etc. that Publisher will not know how to or where to put in the new
template....they do not fit into the new publication...the new design. Those
elements are shown in the Extra Content after you apply the new template,
and you have the option of reinserting them. You also have the option of
selecting any or all of them and saving them in the content library for
future use. I would guess that is the case with your Pub file. In that case
I could see the challenge for the student would be to reinsert the content
and design elements that can't automatically be imported into the new
template/design and thus create the new look...theme...tone etc.

So, I guess to answer your question and for your purposes, you could either
give them the existing Pub file and they can work with what they get when
they apply the new template, or you could rebuild your Pub web file by
copying and pasting design elements, text etc. into one of the templates,
and then giving that to the students to manipulate. It seems to me that
giving them the original Pub file of the original web, and having them
either apply a template, or copy and paste between the two files, and
rebuild the site would be the better project.

I don't know that I answered your question, but I would also suggest that
you point out to your students that Publisher is a DTP that has only limited
web building capability...there are much better programs for building
websites. I would also be trying to teach them that design principles for
print documents are entirely different than for web documents...they are two
different mediums, and for that matter you can't even convert all print
designs to html. Here is a reference source that you or your students may
find helpful:
http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/
and you might read this one too: Using Publisher for web sites :
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/articles/80566.aspx

Good luck

DavidF