Chapter 4: Contribute 2 and Other Macromedia Products
Posted: July 15th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Book VII Contribute 2 | Comments OffIn This Chapter
Introducing FlashPaper
Teaming Contribute 2 with Dreamweaver
Using the PayPal extension
C ontribute 2 isn’t really integrated into the Macromedia Studio MX 2004
Suite. It’s very much a standalone product created for people who need
To maintain Web sites but not build them. Contribute 2 for Windows comes
With its own standalone product: FlashPaper.
Introducing FlashPaper
FlashPaper converts any printable file (word processing document, spread -
Sheet, slide show) into an SWF file that can be viewed by anyone with the
Latest version of the standalone Macromedia Flash Player or a browser with
The latest version of the Flash plug-in.
Unless you specified otherwise, when you installed Contribute, you installed
FlashPaper also, and the FlashPaper icon was placed automatically on your
Desktop, as shown in Figure 4-1.
FlashPaper can be accessed from within Contribute (see the section on
Adding images, links, and more in Book VII, Chapter 2 for details). That
Means when you insert a document as FlashPaper into a draft, you might
Not even realize you’re using another application. But FlashPaper can run
Quite independently of Contribute.
Figure 4-1:
The
FlashPaper
Icon. Introducing FlashPaper 804
You can use FlashPaper as a standalone application to in two ways:
✦ By dragging a printable document onto the FlashPaper desktop icon.
✦ By selecting the FlashPaper printer when you print from within an appli -
Cation like Word or Excel. Figure 4-2 shows FlashPaper selected in two
Different applications; the Print dialog box on the top is from Word and
The Print dialog box on the bottom is from Internet Explorer.
Whichever method you choose, your printable document is cloned as an
SWF file.
Figure 4-2:
To “print”
To an SWF,
You can
Select the
FlashPaper
Printer
When you
Print from
Many
Applications,
Including
Word (top)
And IE
(bottom).Book VII
Chapter 4
Contribute 2 and
Other Macromedia
Products
Understanding Dreamweaver Templates 805
While you could theoretically “print” an image as an SWF, there’s no com -
Pelling reason to do so, because image formats like GIF and JPEG are nearly
Universally compatible with image display and editing programs as well as
Browsers.
There is one catch: SWF files generated by FlashPaper cannot be edited with
Macromedia Flash MX 2004. If you need to change a file you’ve converted
With FlashPaper, you have to change the original file, and then make a new
FlashPaper document from it.
As of this writing, FlashPaper is available only for Windows versions
After Windows 95; presumably Macromedia is at work on a Mac version.
(Contribute was originally available only for Windows, but with version 2,
It is now available for Mac users.)
Teaming Contribute with Dreamweaver
For Web developers who plan to hand off the maintenance of the sites
They’ve built to people who don’t know anything about HTML, FTP, or CSS,
Contribute represents a certain amount of peace of mind. Especially when
Combined with Dreamweaver templates, Contribute can make creating new
Pages with a consistent design faster and simpler for nontechnical people
Doing site maintenance.
Understanding Dreamweaver Templates
A Dreamweaver template is a special type of file (it uses the extension. dwt)
That may contain HTML, CFML, and other typical Web page code, and that
Also contains hidden instructions that tell Dreamweaver and Contribute to
“lock” certain portions of the code — basically making those chunks of code
Unavailable for editing.
Figure 4-3 shows a new page based on a simple Dreamweaver template. The
Template has three editable areas: the top navigation, the page header, and
The main text area. When the cursor is over any other area on the draft, it
Becomes a circle-slash, signifying that edits to the area are not permitted.
The page title, which you can see highlighted in the Pages panel as well as
Prominently displayed in the Contribute title bar in Figure 4-3, has been
Entered in the New Page dialog box that appears when a contributor creates
A new page. (See Book VII, Chapter 2 for details on creating a new page
Based on a Dreamweaver template.)Working with PayPal 806
For details about creating Dreamweaver templates, see Book II, Chapter 7.
For details about how to ensure that contributors use particular templates
To create new pages on your site, see the section on granting group permis -
Sions in Book VII, Chapter 3.
Working with PayPal
Contribute 2 includes an extension similar to the one available for
Dreamweaver that makes adding PayPal buttons to your page a snap.
(Note: You must have a PayPal Business or Premier account to insert the
PayPal buttons into your page, and your site must already have the code
For the shopping cart.) In order to use the extension, you have to select it
When you install Contribute, as shown in Figure 4-4.
If you have the PayPal extension installed, you see an extra button at the
Right side of the browser toolbar when you’re editing a page. When you click
And hold that button, you can select the following options from the pop-up
Menu:
✦ Buy Now Button
✦ Add to Cart Button
✦ View Cart Button
✦ Subscription Button
Figure 4-3:
Creating a
New page
From a
Dream -
Weaver
Template. Book VII
Chapter 4
Contribute 2 and
Other Macromedia
Products
Working with PayPal 807
Those same options are also available when you choose Insert➪PayPal.
A wizard guides you through the steps necessary to insert the buttons on
Your page — be sure to have your PayPal account information at hand.
Make sure that any contributor working on a page with PayPal buttons
Has the PayPal extension installed. Also, be aware that Contribute’s PayPal
Extension may have trouble with forms that use JavaScript validation, forms
Within <SPAN>tags in Dreamweaver templates, and more. See the Contribute
TechNote at www. macromedia. com/support/contribute/ts/documents/
Paypal. htmfor details on workarounds.
Figure 4-4:
Select the
PayPal
ECommerce
Toolkit when
You install
Contribute. Book VII: Contribute 2 808