I've been learning how to use Contribute and am starting to use it with my
clients as an easy way for them to update copy on their sites. But I was under
the impression (for some odd reason) that Contribute could edit template pages
(.dwt files) and then save those changes to all pages that use the template
automatically (the way Dreamweaver does) right on the server.

Apparently this is not the case? Whenever I browse to a template file through
Contribute, I get a message that says: "This file cannot be displayed in the
Contribute web browser." Huh? If templates can be used by Dreamweaver to make
new pages they surely should be editable.

This makes no sense to me. If a client wants to change something site-wide in
a locked area of a template, they should be able to if the administrator sets
it up that way. I mean, if you have, say, the footer copy of a site as part of
a locked template area that is used on all site pages, the client shouldn't
have to call the developer every time they need to change the date or phone
number on their site.

I bought Contribute so I wouldn't have to mess with server side includes or a
database but since templates can't be edited, it seems like this may be the
only option.

Does anybody else find this to be a problem or is it just me?