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Thread: Visual site map diagram?

  1. #1
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    Default Visual site map diagram?

    Hi-

    I'm using Dreamweaver CS5.5. I know that the site diagram feature was dropped from Dreamweaver, and have been looking high and low for a good tool to use to replace it. I have a fairly large, complicated site and new folks coming on board. I want to make it easy for us all to see what touches what, how the pages are linked and especially where the various css styles are used in what pages. In other words I'd love to see a diagram of the styles.css sheet which shows the relationship of each to style to each page it's used on. Does anyone have a recommendation for how to accomplish this?

    I've tried:
    Powermapper > Mac version is SortSite (expensive at $49 and not clear it does what I want)
    SlickMaps
    WriteMaps
    Omnigraffe + Applescript

    But none of these really do what I want them to do.

    I settled on Doxygen (awesome free program) which shows you all your php functions, variables and globals, and all your php files and where each is used on what page...very cool. I'd like something similar to show me styles > which pages use a style, so if I want to change one, I can easily see where else it's being used and what the effect would be. I'd also like the more traditional "diagram" of the pages on the site.

    Does anyone use a good third party tool for this?

    Thanks in advance for your help.

  2. #2
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    Default

    I don't have a great answer for you, just a couple of thoughts:

    1. This is a complex task and I don't know of any software that attempts it except those that actually control the website as well. So although I'm not positive, I think something like Frontpage or Adobe Contribute might have this option, with of course the sacrifice of control over the website. Basically if the software is generating the website as well, it can easily figure out maps and so forth.

    2. If you want a lot of information about a website and have many people editing the content, then a great option would be to use a CMS (Content Management System) such as Joomla, Drupal, etc. There are many options (and many are free), and they allow varying levels of control or automation depending on what you need.
    The basic idea is that it uses advanced templating so that layout and content are completely separate. You store the content in a database and edit it through the online manager. Then you can separately edit the template/layout, and the system automatically puts all of this together.
    The disadvantage is that it's a lot of work to set up, but the advantage is that it's easy to manage and very easy to modify the site later (because most things, such as CSS styles) are managed automatically.
    Daniel - Freelance Web Design | <?php?> | <html>| español | Deutsch | italiano | português | català | un peu de français | some knowledge of several other languages: I can sometimes help translate here on DD | Linguistics Forum

  3. #3
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    Thanks. Yes I have a custom CMS and use DreamweaverCS5.5 and it is my own site. I just wanted a visual way to show which styles are being represented where and how the pages and code relate to each other for new developers joining the team.

    Thanks for the suggestions though.

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