Multiple Publisher Files

[Ryan Talamante]

I'm attempting to split my 40-page web site into 4 or 5
separate Publisher files (per David Bartosik's helpful
hint). I'm running into a problem with the nav bar. I
assum that I have to manually re-link the left column nav
bar buttons, but how do I re-link the horizontal nav bar
links at the bottom of the page?

 

[Renae]

Ryan:
When you re-link the navigation bar, Pub2K will automatically correct your
horizontal nav bar at the bottom. If you look at the links, they will be
correctly done.

One way of telling is that you can see the program briefly changing your
links and telling you so. If this is not happening, it's because you did
not link your navigation bar correctly, i.e. you messed up the links when
you went from separate file to separate files (not to confuse you, but if
you are creating a "different file" from an "old file" and "saving as" "new
file" your links can get messed up.

I hope this helps.
Renae

 

[Ryan Talamante]

Thanks Renae--I guess I did mess up the links, because the
links on the horz nav bar are not automatically updating
when I re-link the vert nav bar. Maybe I'm re-linking the
wrong thing in the vert nav bar. I know each button on the
vert nav bar is made up of several different objects/text
boxes. I thought the hyperlink was the blank/transparent
text box that seemed be "underneath" the rest of the
objects. Do you know if this is right?

BTW, I'm using Pub 2002, if that makes any difference.

 

[Renae]

Best way to make sure you are linking your nav bar correctly is to "group"
all your objects together by drawing a rectangle around them. Use your
cursor to do this. first, remove all your links, once your rectangle (or
square) is made close the link (not the web link but the group link) to
group the objects. Now you can move them around without losing them. Once
you do this, create a link for ALL the objects by selecting them.

BTW, I only use MSP2K so I'm not sure if this advice would work with 2002.
Good luck.

Renae

 

[David Bartosik - MS MVP]

If you find yourself with menu troubles the best thing is to replace them,
refer to http://www.davidbartosik.com/pub2002/pub2002_14.htm

 

[Ryan Talamante]

David--I read the referenced help article, but that seems
to only apply to re-building a corrupted nav bar within a
pub file. I am trying to replicate a nav bar (both the
vert buttons and the horz links at the bottom) in a
separate pub file, so I cannot go to the page that
corresponds with the corrupted button because it is
external to the pub file.

I know this is taking me a while to understand (sorry),
but my goal is to create multiple pub files that look and
act exactly like they were a single web site. Your help is
much appreacited.

 

[DavidF]

If I might make a suggestion, perhaps if you have one pub file that you want
to replicate, where both the horizontal and the vertical nav bars are
working, then do a Save As, to another name which you will use as a
template. Then delete the content of each page on this new pub file leaving
only the nav bars and perhaps that content or images that will stay the same
with each new file. Then save this as a template to use again later. Then
open another instance of publisher, and open the "corrupted" file, copy the
content, and paste it into the new, blank template file. You can select each
component while holding down the shift key, and then group them together
before you copy, and ungroup them after you paste them into the new pub doc
to save some time. Change the titles, text on the links, etc. and you have
your look alike file. Hope that is clear.

And with that said, I did basically the same thing you did, and after
creating one multipage file, decided to follow David's advice about breaking
it up into smaller files with less pages. Luckily I read his suggestion
before my site got as big as yours.

However I also had problems with the navigation bars and links especially
when the number of pages varied, so I ultimately took it one step further
and created my own separate buttons, and horizontal bar. Now it is
relatively easy to add as many buttons as I want, or extend the horizontal
bar as needed without worrying about trying to sync them. It took a while
longer to get the buttons and bar designed, but in the long run it has saved
me a lot of time and frustration as I add more content to my site. In fact
I keep a separate Pub file just for the different buttons and components I
use in building each new section/file. Then it is a simple matter of copy
and pasting between two instances of Publisher to build a new page and
achieve the uniformity you seem to want....Just a thought...DavidF

 

[Ryan Talamante]

DavidF--Thanks for the advice--I really appreciate it.
Although I was hoping to be able to retain the automatic
sync-ing of the vert and horz nav bars, I just can't seem
to make that work. So I think I will go ahead and do what
you did--"manually" create the nav bars. For the vert nav
buttons, did you use the transparent text box as the
hyperlink? For the horz nav bar, did you just use a text
box and type in text that correspondended to the buttons?

 

[DavidF]

Ryan, Don't necessarily give up on trying to sync things. David B. has some
help with that on his site. And if you do decide to experiment with creating
your own nav bars and buttons, I seem to remember some information about
that too, at David's site.

I don't remember the exact steps I took, but if you like the button designs
of one of the templates, I think I copied one whole group of them from the
site I was trying to fix, and pasted it into another incident of Publisher,
which I saved as a Buttons pub. Then I ungrouped them somehow and was able
to isolate just one button as an image that I could resize and recolor, and
then grouped that image with a text box. Then I was able to paste as many of
those as I needed into a site, change the text, insert a hyperlink, etc. I
also found I was able to move the buttons much closer together than the
default distance apart in the template, which was another thing I didn't
like.

One caveat, I am using Pub 2000, and if I remember correctly Pub 2002 has a
glitch with inserting a hyperlink into a filled text box...or image...once
again, check out David B's FAQ site. There is SO much good info there!

And yes, I just grouped together text boxes, and separated them with the
straight up slash...whatever that is called. You can tell, I am no expert,
eh? I also decided to live with the text being underlined, though David B.
once again has some suggestions about that.

I also Googled for alternative buttons and such, and experimented in a test
site quite a bit to make sure everything worked, before I started rebuilding
my main site. I also went back to David B's site to reread everything, so as
to avoid any new pitfalls. So if you are going to do this, be sure and back
up your main pub file in case you change your mind. And then just get
creative and experiment...there is no one right way...find your own way...if
you built a site as big as yours, then its obviously in you. Good luck, and
I hope it works out for you. DavidF

PS. David B., Please jump in here if I have offered some incorrect or bad
advice...or a better way of approaching this.

 

[David Bartosik - MS MVP]

PS. David B., Please jump in here if I have offered some incorrect or bad
advice...or a better way of approaching this.

you've been doing great.