A real mess "backing up" to create master

I built out several pages w/o doing a master (Did not think I would have enough common elements to warrant a master page, plus I was learning).

I am wrestling now with whether to have a master page or just keep copying working pages and creating new ones from that.

I have followed the manual exactly on how to copy elements from working pages to create a a new master and it does not work. Nothing looks right. Items are missing and misplaced.

Help?


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Maybe the better way to frame all this is…

Should I create a master at this point or just keep copying working pages? Will the core navigation bar work the same on each page I create or is that what the master is for?

If I do create a master, am i better off trying to paste the standard page elements onto the master on the same file, or create a whole new file?

If I do any of the above, why are the elements I am copying not showing up in the right place on the master?

Why is the whole roll-over grouoping not copying?

Sorry for asking such basics, but I have lost about 15 hours of work as a newbie and am trying to recover a bit…


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I have just come in so I could be missing the point - I use a core
navigation bar on a master - no probs.
But once you make any change to any element on a child page item that is
based on a master page item you partially or completely (depending … )
make it an independent item. You can rest the link in the Inspector pallet.

Anything on a Master will show on the child pages - so make sure the child
pages are free of those elements before assigning or applying Master or you
get duplicates - and problems!

Copy and paste should position correctly as long as the receiving page is of
an equal or greater size.

Are you selecting all of the rollover elements - and not just the top?

hope this helps

regards
Brian

SkipII said recently:

Maybe the better way to frame all this is…

Should I create a master at this point or just keep copying working pages?
Will the core navigation bar work the same on each page I create or is that
what the master is for?

If I do create a master, am i better off trying to paste the standard page
elements onto the master on the same file, or create a whole new file?

If I do any of the above, why are the elements I am copying not showing up in
the right place on the master?

Why is the whole roll-over grouoping not copying?

Sorry for asking such basics, but I have lost about 15 hours of work as a
newbie and am trying to recover a bit…


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Sometime around 10/1/09 (at 08:20 -0500) SkipII said:

Should I create a master at this point or just keep copying working
pages? Will the core navigation bar work the same on each page I
create or is that what the master is for?

It is generally better to use a master page for this sort of thing
because it means you won’t have to go to every single page to make a
site-wide modification to the navigation bar.

The pages you have now are based on the default master page, which
will have no items on it at all. You can simply remove the navigation
bar from every page but one, then CUT it from the last page. Then go
to the Master1 page (which every ‘real’ page you have is based on)
and paste the navigation bar in place. This will make it appear on
every regular page.

The important thing to note is that putting something onto a master
page ADDS it to each page that’s based on that master. If you don’t
remove the nav bar from the regular pages first, then you’ll have two
copies of the navigation bar. (This may be what caused the confusion
when you experimented.) One item would be the original page-based
one, the other would be created through the master page.

An item that is on a master page will appear on each page based on
that master. Each instance is linked to the master page item in two
ways: content and settings. The settings refer to dimensions,
location, and object-level things such as actions. Content refers to
what the item might contain - basically text or image.

Changing an item’s position, size, etc. breaks the link to the master
age item - so changes made to the master page no longer affect it.
But this link can be reinstated by selecting the item on the page and
clicking the Use Master Settings checkbox in the Inspector palette.
The same thing goes for changing an item’s contents.

If I do create a master, am i better off trying to paste the
standard page elements onto the master on the same file, or create a
whole new file?

Try this:

Make a new master page by dragging one of your regular pages to the
master page section of the Site panel. (Nifty trick, huh?)

Go through the new master page, removing any items and/or item
contents that are not relevant to all pages. For example, you would
keep the main text box for a layout but you’d probably delete the
text inside, or replace it with a snippet of placeholder text to show
the desired formatting.

Once you have genericised the new master page contents you can make
brand new pages from it. And once you’ve done this and given each new
page the right content you can delete the old pages.

Make sure your links are all correct (remember to do this on the
master page!) you should have a Freeway site document that uses
master pages far more efficiently than before.

Why is the whole roll-over grouoping not copying?

Are you selecting the actual group container or are you clicking
‘into’ the group and copying one of those items? This would explain
why things aren’t pasting where you expect them to. Freeway pastes
items so that they arrive in the same X,Y location on the page that
they came from… but items within a group container are positioned
relative to the container, not the page. So something in a group
could have a location of 0 pixels from the left and 0 pixels from the
top even though the group itself is placed 300 pixels across and 500
pixels down on the page.

Don’t despair! There is a thorough logic to how things work in
Freeway. You’re in the process of understanding it now, so things
will soon go much more smoothly.

k


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Sounds like my answers are in these great responses. Let me digest for a bit and try some of it, then get back with results.

For now wanted to say “Thanks!”


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How do I select the whole group?

Also, I thought when you did a Shift-Click, it would add to your selection. It doesn’t do it for me.

Why is the whole roll-over grouoping not copying?

Are you selecting the actual group container or are you clicking
‘into’ the group and copying one of those items? This would explain
why things aren’t pasting where you expect them to. Freeway pastes
items so that they arrive in the same X,Y location on the page that
they came from… but items within a group container are positioned
relative to the container, not the page. So something in a group
could have a location of 0 pixels from the left and 0 pixels from the
top even though the group itself is placed 300 pixels across and 500
pixels down on the page.

Don’t despair! There is a thorough logic to how things work in
Freeway. You’re in the process of understanding it now, so things
will soon go much more smoothly.

k


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Sometime around 10/1/09 (at 14:01 -0500) SkipII said:

How do I select the whole group?

Think of the container object as a corral around the grouped items.
No matter how much you click inside the corral you’ll never select
the fence.

You may be able to select it by pointing precisely at the endge. Or
you can drag-select across it; this selects the container rather than
the contents. Or you can show items in the Site panel and select it
from the long list of items that are in your page.

I thought when you did a Shift-Click, it would add to your
selection. It doesn’t do it for me.

It does, it does! Try this with two separate items, not grouped.
Click on one. Hold down the Shift key. Click on the other. HOWEVER,
you’re probably trying to shift-select items that are in different
groups. This can’t be done; you can’t select items within different
groups at the same time. But selecting the group itself is really
what you want, right? You can select multiple group container items
at once, no trouble.

Oh, here’s a trick that might come in useful from time to time. If
you want to select multiple items that are in a stack you need the
magic key combo that lets you ‘drill down’ the stack as you click.

Try this with a stack of objects:

Click - you select the top item.
Hold down command and option (Apple and Alt) and click again - you
select the next item down.
Repeat - you select the third item down… and so on.

If you want to hold onto the selection as you select further down the
stack then ad the shift key to the set you hold down.

(Note: this is a feature that first appeared in QuarkXPress - but it
works more flexibly in Freeway. In QuarkXPress you must hold down
command-option-shift to drill down, and there’s no option for
retaining the existing selection as you go.)

k


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