You can use DW to create your own Joomla template. I covered this in my Lynda.com video, "Joomla! Creating and Editing Custom Templates", http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=666

I am using DW CS4 in that title.

Jen

I recorded two videos on using Dreamweaver CS5 with Joomla in my lynda.com title "Joomla 1.6: Creating and Editing Custom Templates."

While it's possible to use DW in the context you describe, I strongly advise against it. It takes roughly 150 files to display a Joomla page, all of which are in the DW interface. You can use filtering to get to just the CSS, for example, and those files are OK to edit. However, you should never edit any of Joomla's core files -- the ones ending in .php. The only exception is your template's index.php file.

If you do edit Joomla's core files, you are asking for your edits to be overwritten when the next Joomla update comes out.

If you need to edit a core file, there are ways to do this via the process of template override. This is also covered in my lynda.com title.

My sense is that, for Joomla, the DW/Joomla integration is fairly limited in purpose. If you don't know CSS well and want to use DW's CSS editing capabilities to work on your Joomla site, the integration works great. Otherwise, it doesn't offer any particular advantage, and it could put you into trouble if you edit core files mistakenly.

Jen

Gerry --

Joomla's template index.php file pulls in information from all over Joomla to display it. That includes modules, components, plugins, and information from the template itself. That's why there's usually 150 files that contribute to a single page.

Having said that, your method for identifying where to make the change in Dreamweaver may or may not work out -- it's definitely worth a try, but my concern is that DW won't accurately show where the change needs to be made due to the number of files involved. In any case, you will definitely want to read up on the template/layout override process, so you can change the interface without it being overwritten in the next Joomla or extension release. That's described in the Joomla documentation here: http://docs.joomla.org/Layout_Overrides_in_Joomla_1.6

Note that most documentation is written for Joomla 1.6, but you will find it works fine with Joomla 1.7. Joomla 2.5 will be released in January, so be aware that's coming as well (and another reason to be sure you future-proof your site by overriding files correctly).

My videos will help show you how to configure DW/Joomla to work together, and it will walk you through the process of doing a template override and a layout override. However, you may find you'll want to hire an engineer to move the layout around, after which you could tweak it with CSS to make it look pretty. The code is pretty complex, and depending on your background and skills, you could find it intimidating.

Before you ever start this type of work on your site, be very, very sure you have a backup -- it's likely you will needed. A better approach is to make a copy of the site and work on the copy. When you have finished, you can transfer the relevant files you've changed. Remember to back up the files that make up the site as well as the database -- many old DW designers remember to back up files, but all of the site's data is in the database. Akeeba Backup is an excellent, free extension, and it will allow you to make this backup quickly and easily: www.akeebabackup.com

My lynda.com tutorials (there are 7 now) are located here -- http://www.lynda.com/Jen-Kramer/203-1.html

Jen