I am trying to help out an organization that hired some developers to create their website back in 2016, and the developers haven't touched the site since 2016.
I don't know enough about Sage to know if the developers really screwed things up, or if what they have done is the way things need to be done in Sage. One example of something that has me scratching my head (in between banging it on my keyboard): some page content - content that needs to be updated on at least a yearly basis - is hard-coded into template files, so that in order to update the information, you have to go in past the warnings about using the Theme Editor, figure out which included template contains the content, and update it there.
NOT something your typical office employee is likely to be able to do, yes?
My question is: is it even worth trying to keep this site running under Sage, or should I rebuild the site using a more user-friendly template? The site currently has fewer than 2 dozen pages plus a dozen or so posts and I would say is unlikely to get a whole lot larger, given the available resources.
Thanks for any advice you can offer.
The problem to me doesn't seem to be so much about the Roots Sage theme framework, but that the developers didn't follow the most basic rules regarding WordPress theme development--separating the content from presentation. Hardcoding content into a template is just bad practice, and this would make any site difficult to edit no matter what framework it was built on.
If it's as simple as printing the content into a template so that page editor content changes can be reflected on the frontend, it may be a simple as adding the_content() to the corresponding page template overrides and removing the hardcoded content.
FWIW: Sage 8 templates are not that different from your standard WP templates, it's not using a templating engine like Blade, so you should be able to customize the templates if you're already familiar with standard WP templates.
So probably no need to burn it all down.
Related
I recently taught myself the ins and outs of Drupal, became very familiar with Views and Display Suite, and am considering hiring a small development team to build a Guitar Lessons paid membership site for me in Laravel.
I will be creating the content for the site, and don't want to spend much time messing with the site. I need to focus on guitar playing. So the site needs to let me control my content in an efficient way. I need to be able to create views and choose fields and formatting (e.g. recent lessons, similar lessons, etc), as well as have flexibility in where I place views (on a sidebar, etc).
So, that said, are there plugins for Laravel that will enable me to do this or something similar? I mean I can code PHP and write MySQL queries, but I can't imagine creating/editing views at the PHP/MySQL level every time I want to tweak something.
Thanks!
In that case you do not need Laravel (why you think of using it?). Stay with Drupal.
If you really need Laravel for some reason, try to use OctoberCMS, which is based on Laravel. Or ask team hired by you to build custon CMS for you.
In Laravel you must code to add or modify views.
i'm trying out joomla! CMS, and in my job we're very fond of one-page sites. Is there any way of making a fully functional website with it? The main reason we need the CMS is because of the way the client wants to update they're webpage.
Ok before you do anything, have a real think to yourself, is Joomla really the best option? Your client requires a 1 page website, therefore what would be the point in loading a full blown CMS just for that. Joomla, when zipped up, is more or less 8MB. Out of all honestly, I would even find the likes of Wordpress still too big for a project of this size.
What I would really recommend is having a look round on the web for a very small CMS that simply includes a small backend with the ability to create, update and delete articles.
Have a look at this for example:
http://www.elated.com/articles/cms-in-an-afternoon-php-mysql/
This would be a brilliant way to start. It has a small backend for you to manage articles, and you can start building up a completely custom template, exactly to your client's liking. I'm not too sure on the programming skills but if you're fairly new to it, then this would be a good place to start and gain knowledge.
Given that the above is what I would personally recommend, you may not want to do that or may not have the time, therefore if you really want to stick with Joomla, you should find a template that fits your needs in regards to module positions. Else you can add your own custom positions to the template. Have a read through the documentation as it will give you the necessary information
Hope this helps
I was looking for a solution myself for quite a while. I came up with the following two soutions:
Like #mattosmat said for a joomla one page site the simplest solution actually is it to declare one section as the main componenent and create the other section with cusom-made joomla modules.
Use wordpress with the advanced field plugin to create a single-page website.
Actually if a clients wish is it to create a single page website with cck and cms features i create these projects in wordpress and not in joomla anymore in my opinion its the wrong plattform.
I Have One Word!!!
BOOTSTRAP!!!! IS the way to go.. simple,succinct,beginner friendly. Doesnt matter if you really make it in Joomla! or anything else.
And for head start, look up "Scrollspy" in Bootstrap.
Okay. This is the main functionality of my site. Here goes:
People register. They upload a list of whatever ebooks, movies, tv shows they have. Other people who want them will just have to 'search' for an item and they will be provided with a contact form to contact a person that has what they want. Very much like pianofiles.com but this is for a local community.
Added features could be
*forming social groups by interest
*creating events
etc..
Is all this possible using Typo3?
If yes, then how should I use Typo3 for it? (Just a basic idea)
If not, what should i use to create something like this?
Check out the TER, a quick search revealed http://typo3.org/extensions/repository/view/community
You could realize your project with any well known CMS or PHP framework.
TYPO3 CMS, as I see it, has a strong emphasis on the editor backend. If you don't need that at all and don't have any prior experience, I'm not sure if it's the right tool for you - unless you want to get into TYPO3 anyway!
PS: For TYPO3 web apps, there will be the upcoming Framework http://flow.typo3.org, wich is in beta
A good number of the tutorials I've found on Magento theme development recommend starting off with using blank as a guideline for making your own custom theme. A lot of these articles are pretty old, as of the current version (1.7), is this still the case?
P.S. - If there are any good/relevant theme development articles out there, aside from Magento's official design guide, please feel free to link them.
In my opinion you should never 'carve out' your own theme from a base theme. You aren't learning theme development in its entirety. You will potentially run into unforeseen consequences. You will likely have excess code and templates by the time you are done.
I wrote a Magento 1.6.1 tutorial on creating a theme that should hold up for 1.7:
http://zaclee.net/magento/make-magento-1-6-theme-from-scratch
If you run into any problems with 1.7 let me know and I'll be glad to take a gander.
I would agree with the above answer in the sense that converting an existing theme (ie a commercial theme you've purchased) to fit a design you've been given or done yourself can be more consuming. You end up doing more deleting than adding, and inevitably end up with a tonne of code that isn't being used (because taking it out might cause problems, the deadline is approaching....sod it, it's only a few Kb, you just leave it in).
However I disagree with the statement that the Magento blank theme will result in excess code and templates. For a start you only pull in the templates you need and the theme is about as bare bones as it gets. I always use the blank theme as a basis. It may well be the case that I am not then learning theme development in it's entirety but the work has to go out, bills have to be paid - and I'm not about to sit and build everything from scratch every time.
To further this discussion, for some time I have really been bugged by the default CSS that Magento ships with. It is a pain to work on, and when you start developing in an environment where multiple people are working on the CSS, you inevitably run into CSS Kudzu.
It's been on my plate for awhile to completely rewrite the default CSS to something more maintainable and trimmed down, but like rabmcnab mentioned, there are deadlines, bills to pay, etc.
I am new to open source Content Management System tools. I got a website using Joomla for content management. Now, I am just thinking to Umbraco or Dotnetnuke (any Asp.net based) frameworks to use. Will it be a complex to do this migration. Can you suggest pros and cons for this idea.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks !
For Umbraco ...
Most of your client-side code like HTML, CSS and JavaScript can just be copied straight over, but as expected it may require some fiddling.
As for the data, it might be worth looking into the CMSImport module for Umbraco. As long as you can convert the source data into one of the formats recognised by the module, you should be able to upload your content with ease. I've had no personal experience with this module, but should be worth a shot.
It really depends on the size of the site and the functionality requirements. For smaller sites, it may be as easy as implementing the skin based on the original design (or, if a custom design isn't needed, selecting a free or 3rd party skin) and then manually migrating the content. For really large sites, you should be able to write scripts to migrate the content. I'm not aware of any products that do this. You'll also probably need to select some modules to use for things like forms.