[thelist] dreamweaver template issues (relative file path related)

[alfa]

Hey all
I'm looking for a solution to a dreamweaver issue that won't go away
if I don't find an answer I'm forgetting the templates and doing things
manually

I'm running dreamweaver 4.1 on macos9.1

the problem occurs when I access the pages on the  server where the site is
being tested
(ie)   www.example.com/testarea/
in any given template all links will work locally  and on the site itself
with the ../ path as they should.
However,  new pages created from the template only work locally because the
preceeding / is written by the template to the new page before every link
 ie "/image/example.gif" or /js  remains

my site hierarchy is
testarea/
                  index.html
                /images
                /files
                /templates
                /section1
                /section 2
                /section 3

I need the template to write new documents without the "/" ie
"images/example.gif"
I have played with the template and file paths for hours and am unable to
solve this problem without manually changing all the file paths to what
works

how to get the template to cooperate and stop putting the preceding slash
before every single link  so that I don't have to manually rewrite every
page is my question?

Thanks for hearing me out. . .
-- 
a m