1

Hi sweetmummy,

There are a few different types of template - these are listed in the Admin pages on the left-hand side.

Site Templates control the header, footer and stylesheet used across the whole site.
Area Templates go one level deeper, controlling how each area page looks - such as your home page.
Page Templates are what you see when you post content and then go to view that content, such as a blog entry.
Comment Templates are used to display a comment in the page template.

To get started, what I suggest is that you go to Site Templates and click Copy (there should only be one template there). Enter a name for the new template that will help you remember what it is (your username would be OK) and click Save.

Now go to Structure and click Modify next to the area you wish to change. You'll be able to select your templates here. In the first list, choose the template you just copied, and click Save.

Now go back to Site Templates and click Edit next to the template you copied. Try putting some text in the first box, save it, and go to your site to see how it looks. This will help you get a feel for how you add things to the templates.

As for pre-made templates, was there a particular layout you wanted for your site - e.g. one sidebar, two sidebars...? I can make a template for you and then you can import it. Just let me know what you want and I'll get it done for you. This should save you some time.

Hope this helps!

2

That helps, Ben. I can do that for each of the templates (area, page, comment...). And by doing that I save the default template so I can always go back to that, right?

Where do you suggest I look for some quick tutorial information on coding stuff? Is there a good resource you would recommend?

As far as the template goes... I've become partial to my 2 sidebar design. But that's because of the way the flowers work on my template. I could go with 2 sidebars, both on the right, or something different. Not really a clue as to what is 'better', though.

3

Yes, that's right. It's a good idea to keep the default templates there so you can refer to them if need be. However, if you go to Import, you'll find that you can recreate the default templates there.

There are some great tutorials at W3Schools. Start with HTML, then move on to CSS.

I'll create a basic site template for you and email the file to you so you can import it. You might like how easy it is to import templates that you didn't create yourself.

PS: I see you found out how to upload an avatar. Looks good!

4

Sweetmummy brings up a thought -- might be a nice idea to gradually build a small library of templates for import by users who aren't too comfortable with code -- show off the possibilities of Majestic at the same time as making it more accessible for new users?

5

RJ - that's kind of what I was thinking toward, too. My other system has VERY limited pre-made templates, but they are at least a place to start. The library could build over time, with the possibility of other users making some templates available.

6

Good idea. We'd like to include some better templates within the system that you can recreate at any time. We'll also put them in the Customer Area on the Injader website for people who already have Majestic installed. The two-column layout should be ready in the next day or two.

7

That's great news, Ben. The easier you can make it for people to get started, the better - and a big part of that is helping people to visualize how Majestic might be used for their site. It's always a bit of a leap to get from template code to visualizing the layout etc., much like looking at building plan elevations and trying to envision the finished house.

8

Hi Sweet Mummy,

I have completed the three column template, attached is a preview and the link to download. I've tried to make the code easy to follow so you can change the colours, sizes and insert all the sidebar info yourself. :)



DOWNLOAD: Majestic Template - Three Columns (Blog Style)

To upload them into Majestic 1.4 Beta:
- Go into Admin and select Import. Import the site, area and page files.
- In Structure, select Modify Templates for the areas you want to use it in and change them to the new templates.

At the moment, you cannot import comment templates. Open that file and copy the contents, then create a new Comment Template and paste. Importing should be added in the release version of 1.4.

9

Nice, Lauren - easy to see what's going on, and easy to modify. Having the three-column template to play with as well as the default is practically a tutorial for template tweaking. Thanks!