[Pro] From WebYep to Joomla! Oh oh...

‘Bit of a shock’ is the phrase that springs to mind.

I’m used to constructing sites using the box model. I can sort of edit rudimentary CSS style sheets by hand, but for the life of me I can’t get how Freeway might be used to construct a template, despite having bought the Joomla Actions from Paul Dunning.

I understand the front and back end controls of Joomla up to a point, and can see how slots go inside modules, but am really struggling with getting my own template design ‘plumbed in’, despite having read just about every web site and pdf going, none of it makes sense to me specifically!

My web site would appear to require more than one template - I understand this is this allowed, but I’m not sure how to proceed. I’m also baffled as to how to treat divs that will act as containers for content. Am I limited to the Joomla supplied content area names such as ‘User 1’ etc? Can I make free-ranging designs like I can in WebYep, or am I at fault for trying to shoe-horn an existing design into restrictive template model? So many questions, so much frustration…

Mind you I struggled with WebYep at first, but with a bit of help (thanks again Max!), I soon got the hang of it. Yes, I work on the ‘just dive in and be damned’ principle!

Any advice for a baffled rabbit in the headlights?


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HI,
Joomla is very, very different to WebYep. It’s also quite a complex system to get used to to start with.

You should have an example template with the Joomla Actions which will give you an idea of how a template can be built. I suggest having a play with that to start off with.

You have to be aware that for Joomla to work at its best, you need to use the box model. This is because of the way that Joomla’s output behaves, and as Joomla develops, so it appears to be going down a box model or nothing route. You certainly get hints in their documentation to this effect.

I dare say you can build a template using normal Freeway techniques, but expect a drop off of functionality from Joomla as a result. For example, you won’t be able to have module slots hide and resize automatically depending on page content.

You have to do a fair amount of separation of content from template when working in Joomla. The template is where you design the overall look and feel of the site.

There is a different mind set with Joomla to normal Freeway working. You can do quite a lot in the template side of things, but to expect to produce “free-ranging’ Freeway-like websites would require working not just in Freeway, but I would guess a lot of experience with Joomla too. Joomla is very much in control of content, and when you start to use third party custom modules, you will find that you can achieve a lot. Expect to work very differently to how you work in Freeway and WebYep.

You can, I believe, use other content slot names, though I have not yet found a template that does this. If you look at exiting Joomla templates, you will see that they are fairly limited when it comes to the number of slots they offer - there are probably more than necessary already catered for.


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Thanks for the response Paul, you’ve nudged me a bit further along the path of my current thinking:
I’m beginning to think that the route to go may be to get someone else to design the templates to my specs - if this is technically possible, and go from there. I can really see where Joomla comes into its own if you use an existing template - it’s a great system - but at the moment I’m just not techie-minded enough to get the template creation and plumbing in bit, and the abstraction processes required. Yet.

I guess the same problems are going to arise with any of the heavyweight CMS systems, Drupal, Expression Engine and so on. Something between these and WebYep would be where I would feel more comfortable!


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HI,
the other CMSs you mentioned are going to be as equally tricky to set up. It is well worth plugging on with Joomla if you can.

I shall recommend a book which may help you along the way. It’s Building Websites with Joomla! 1.5 by Hagen Graf (Packt Publishing). It won’t have anything in it related to Freeway - but it’s well worth the purchase to read through and get a feel for the system.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-Websites-Joomla-Hagen-Graf/dp/184719530X/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256914494&sr=8-10

Drupal and ExpressionEngine require similar disciplines (though they are all very different in terms of usage and application) leaps. With both, you are handing the content over to the system, and building pages as containers.


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I shall recommend a book which may help you along the way. It’s Building Websites with Joomla! 1.5 by Hagen Graf (Packt Publishing).

I concur on this book choice. I have it and find it informative and simple to follow.


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Ian,

I offer this as a possible alternative to the ones mentioned below, <http://modxcms.com/

. It’s a full-featured product and overall it’s a nicely executed
piece of kit but not as heavyweight as the ones below and fairly
designer-friendly too, at least as much as these things can be. There
are no FW actions for it but it might be worth a look if and when
you’re up for it.

Todd

On Oct 30, 2009, at 4:52 AM, Ian Halstead wrote:

I guess the same problems are going to arise with any of the
heavyweight CMS systems, Drupal, Expression Engine and so on.
Something between these and WebYep would be where I would feel more
comfortable!


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On 30 Oct 2009, 7:57 am, Ian Halstead wrote:

‘Bit of a shock’ is the phrase that springs to mind.
Any advice for a baffled rabbit in the headlights?

Hi Ian,

before I rabbit on I just wanted to say… this is the first thing I have typed on my new aluminium keypad, brilliant !! best £28 I ever spent

anyway Ian I am just about to dive onto the Joomla learning curve, I have bought Pauls’ action suite and at first glance it did look a bit daunting, but I have been through the RTFM stage and I can feel the penny is about to drop.

I have installed mamp on my computer and installed joomla on that so I can run it locally, the setup was far easier than i expected.

I don’t like to be defeated so I will get there

however after the rabbit I will get to the point…I had a look on Youtube and there are quite a few vids of people demoing the basic setup etc, some good some average, I did discover this company http://www.joomlapackages.com/ they have predesigned joomla packages to install which should run straight out of the box.

If you feel you don’t want the hassle of making your own templates they offer a full design to your spec, install and support, their hourly rate doesn’t seem too bad so if it helps you get a project finished while you learn the FW method it could be useful

just a thought

Gary


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Well, a huge thanks to all for the thought-provoking answers. I’m now a lot closer to where I need to be than I was a few days ago! With any luck I’ll be able to get everything I need done without too much pain. Not necessarily with Joomla though. I’ll let you all know how it all pans out.

Thanks again - Ian


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