How to Create a Dynamic Web Template

To create a Dynamic Web Template, you start with an empty HTML page and save it as a .dwt file. Then you add editable regions so that you can change the content in pages attached to this Dynamic Web Template. You can create as many or as few editable regions as you want. Presumably you'll want at least one so that each page using the template can present its own unique content. At the same time, there's usually no advantage in creating lots of small editable regions that touch each other. A single, larger editable area would work just as well.

When you save a Dynamic Web Template with attached files, Microsoft® Expression® Web prompts you to update those files.

To create a Dynamic Web Template
  1. On the File menu, click New.
  2. In the New dialog box, on the Page tab, in the left column select General, in the center column select Dynamic Web Template, and then click OK.
To create a Dynamic Web Template from an HTML file
  1. Create or open an HTML file.
  2. On the File menu, click Save As.
  3. In the Save as type list, click Dynamic Web Template, and then click Save.
To add, rename, or remove an editable region on a Dynamic Web Template
  1. On the Dynamic Web Template toolbar, click the Manage Editable Regions button .
    — Or —
    In Design view, right-click the Dynamic Web Template, and then click Manage Editable Regions.
  2. In the Editable Regions dialog box, do one of the following:
    • To add an editable region, in the Region name box, type a name for the editable region and then click Add.
    • To rename an editable region, with the region selected under Other regions on this page, in the Region name box, type the new name, and then click Rename.
    • To remove an editable region, and then click Remove.