how can i save a timeline?

[terran11355]

the problem is I can't save a timeline when I finished it?

i use timepanel to creat a moving layer, it look good in the preview, but i saved the file and reopen it , the path was lost , just a layer left, I don't know how to save this, so everythime I want to change or recreate easily?

thanks

[meow]

Dude, I don't know how to DO it. What's a timeline? :confused2

[Canuckkev]

HUH? I am lost too....this has to do with HTML?

[meow]

Now I see he says "preview". This must all happen in his editor.


Can you explain what you try to do terran11355? What layer, what path?

[skyerulz]

Well, I don't like using DW, but for my job, have had to have all my web designers learn it...so I happen to have it here. I have copied in the instructions here, from DW...keep in mind, if you are really having trouble getting it to save, there are a couple of things you MAY have to look at:
1) Don't try to save as a template, but only as a page, so if you are using templates, get out of the dwt
2) Make sure your layers are correct, and that all the show-hides are set up appropriately
3) If it simply won't save as you think it should...reload DW, there are bugs in that program, and reloading takes care of quite a few of them.


So onto the copied and thus pasted instructions:

1 To animate a layer, move the layer to where it should be when the animation begins.
2 Choose Window > Timelines.
3 Select the layer you want to animate.
Make sure you have selected the desired element. Click the layer marker, the layer selection handle, or use the Layers panel to select a layer. When a layer is selected, handles appear around it Clicking inside the layer places a blinking insertion point inside the layer, but it does not select the layer.
4 Choose Modify > Timeline > Add Object to Timeline or simply drag the selected object into the Timelines panel.
A bar appears in the first channel of the timeline. The name of the layer appears in the bar.
5 Click the keyframe marker at the end of the bar.
6 Move the layer on the page to where it should be at the end of the animation. A line appears showing the path of the animation in the Document window.
7 If you want the layer to move in a curve, select its animation bar and Control-click (Windows) or Command-click (Macintosh) a frame in the middle of the bar to add a keyframe at the frame you clicked, or click a frame in the middle of the animation bar and choose Add Keyframe from the context menu.
Repeat this step to define additional keyframes.
8 Hold down the Play button to preview the animation on the page.
Repeat the procedure to add additional layers and images to the timeline and to create a more complex animation.

After defining a timeline's basic components, you can make changes such as adding and removing frames, changing the start time of the animation, and so on.

To modify a timeline, do any of the following:

To make the animation play longer, drag the end frame marker to the right. All the keyframes in the animation shift so that their relative positions remain constant. To prevent the other keyframes from moving, press Alt (Windows) or Option (Macintosh) while dragging the end frame marker.
To make the layer reach the keyframe position earlier or later, move the keyframe marker left or right in the bar.
To change the start time of an animation, select one or all of the bars associated with the animation (press Shift to select more than one bar at a time) and drag left or right.
To shift the location of an entire animation path, select the entire bar and then drag the object on the page. Dreamweaver adjusts the position of all keyframes. Making any type of change with an entire bar selected changes all the keyframes.
To add or remove frames in the Timeline, choose Modify > Timeline > Add Frame or Modify > Timeline > Remove Frame.
To make the timeline play automatically when the page opens in a browser, click Autoplay. Autoplay attaches a behavior to the page that executes the Play Timeline action when the page loads.
To make the timeline loop continuously, click Loop. Loop inserts the Go To Timeline Frame action in the Behaviors channel after the last frame of the animation. You can edit the parameters for this behavior to define the number of loops.
Animation tips for timelines

The following suggestions can improve the performance of your animations and make creating animations easier:

Show and hide layers instead of changing the source file for multiple-image animations. Switching the source file of an image can slow down the animation, because the new image must be downloaded. There will be no noticeable pauses or missing images if all images are downloaded at once in hidden layers before the animation runs.
Extend animation bars to create smoother motion. If animation looks choppy and images jump between positions, drag the end frame of the layer's animation bar to extend the motion over more frames. Making the animation bar longer creates more data points between the start and end point of the movement and also makes the object move more slowly. Try increasing the number of frames per second (fps) to improve speed, but be aware that most browsers running on average systems cannot animate much faster than 15 fps. Test the animation on different systems with different browsers to find the best settings.
Don't animate large bitmaps. Animating large images results in slow animations. Instead, create composites and move small parts of the image. For example, show a car moving by animating only the wheels.
Create simple animations. Do not create animations that demand more than current browsers can provide. Browsers always play every frame in a timeline animation, even when system or Internet performance decreases.

[meow]

Holy cow! :whatthe:

I've never used DW, but I've noticed that DW code makes extensive use of layers (if a DW layer is what I think). z-index: 21 isn't unusual when none is needed in practice. Why is that? Bad program or lousy webmasters? :confused:

[skyerulz]

In all actuality, it is a bit of both, DW adds a lot of unnecessary code that is a pain in the...well, you get the point. Anyone with any sense will then go in and hand code out the crap that is added. Unfortunately, most people who use DW do NOT know how to code, or if they do, they just don't take the time to clean up the code that DW automatically puts in there.

I am NOT a fan of DW, HOWEVER, it does have it's uses - if you are doing DHTML, etc, it makes it hecka easier to work, (and in those instances of course the layers, or z-indexes are invaluable), but even then, if you are careful, and take your time, AND want clean code, you have the ability to take all the extraneous code out.

Word to the wise. If you do want to learn DW, for all the bells and whistles, go for it, but in my opinion, you will want to be a hand coder first, so you know what exactly you need to do to make the program DO what you want it to, and be able to clean it up once it is done. :rolleyes:

[meow]

Thanks. I've always wondered why some DreamWeavers seemes fixated with layers. "Just create a new layer" seems to be the universal solution.