I think I Stink At CMS

[leegold]

I'm really having a hard time understanding ProcessWire.  I should say all CMS's I've tried I have a problem with, so it's mostly my lack. There's tutorials saying a template and a template file is different and then there's like the bootstrap template (?) It's scrambling my brains. So if I stink at design I can't use a template or is that a css framework I need , or? Then there's someone out there trying to make analogies between OOP and PW which made no sense to me. Also, I've yet to see any diagrams showing how all the components ("components" in the generic sense please) relate to each other. Just venting about my apparent lack of ability to comprehend, I'll shutup now.

[fbg13]

In PW you have pages, fields and templates.

Each page can have multiple fields (text, textarea, checkboxes etc.), these fields are not assigned directly to the page but rather to a template.

So you create the fields, create the template and assign the fields to the template.

When you create a page you can choose a template, this way you tell the page to use the fields assigned to that template.

The templates you create also need (need only if the template is used in front-end) a template file in /site/templates/ directory, so that when you access a page in the front-end PW uses that template file to display content.

Do read some of the tutorials, as they explain this better:

https://processwire.com/docs/tutorials/but-what-if-i-dont-know-how-to-code/

Don't know where you read about the bootstrap thing, but it can refer to two things bootstrap the css framework or this bootstrapping.

OOP means Object Oriented Programming and PW is written using this way of programming.

[pwired]

Quote

I'm really having a hard time understanding ProcessWire.  I should say all CMS's I've tried I have a problem with, so it's mostly my lack.

Hi leegold, I know exactly what you mean: Ive been there ! So from the same experience I can say with Processwire it is like coming home, and can promise you that your search for the perfect cms is over, processwire is simply it, stick with it and you will see for your self. The first thing you should do from here is to make your self familiar with that Processwire is a decoupled system and everything "is a page" ! The back end is really a page tree that can hold anything. Took me a while but once you get your hand on this and start to connect it with the api of processwire you will see that everything makes so much sense. Processwire is unique because with it you dont make websites "the cms way" but your way ! Just start making a couple of websites following processwire tutorials: https://processwire.com/docs/tutorials/

And here are some goodies to start with:

https://processwire.com/api/templates/ https://webdesign.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-install-and-setup-processwire-cms--cms-25509

http://processwire-recipes.com/

http://processwire.com/talk/topic/2296-confused-by-pages/

http://processwire.com/talk/topic/5667-help-a-noob-get-started/page-2#entry55820

https://processwire.com/talk/topic/4173-grouped-forum-posts-links-articles-tutorials-code-snippets/

Welcome to Processwire.

 

 

[leegold]

Yes, I've tried a lot of the tutorials. I know I've probably said this already, but I need tutorials that start with a blank page and show hand-ons from start to finish building a simple website. Tutorials that are just a discussion about features or how to do one specific thing will not do it for me.  From planning to finished live site, then I see the process.

[szabesz]

 

@leegold Have you seen this one?

http://blog.mauriziobonani.com/processwire-basic-website-workflow-part-1/

It is a four part series and fits the the step by step category.

[pwired]

You can find a to z beginners tutorials on many places, just google them:

https://processwire.com/docs/tutorials/hello-worlds/
https://processwire.com/docs/tutorials/simple-website-tutorials/

And then there is youtube with complete beginners tutorials, like this one starting with a blank profile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHqnLQy9R1A

 

[blynx]

Hej, hummmm - I'd add the advice not to let yourself drown in those buzzwords and stuff.

Every time I learn something completely new, I run against this wall of all those phrases and things and buzzwords maybe and blah and so many stuff I don't know and try to grasp it all at once but—of course that's not possible.

Instead, everything will come together after a while—almost automatically—if you just start to work with processwire (or whatever). As you said, grab the next best "starting at zero" tutorial and—again, ignore the confusion about all the unknown things!—just dig yourself through it. Sometimes you will be stuck - but then sometimes it will also make "click!" ... and the clicks will come more and more often  ... And also ask questions here!

Without knowing, you will have learnt the difference between a "template" and a "template file" ... 

I think https://processwire.com/docs/tutorials/hello-worlds/ pwired suggested is very good, because you will start from a simple HTML page which could also live without processwire - but you will integrate processwire into that page step by step. (Or maybe it's rather the other way around - as you see it ...)

 

Whats your general programming / website building experience btw?