beginer questions?

[anderson]

Hi all,

I'm a new to website building. Learned some CRASH course of js,jquery,php. Then I found CMS. Still learning around forum, youtube....

Anyway, please help me with some beginer questions:

1, About template - please correct me if I understand wrong : every page should be (or recommended) built on a template. So if in total I'll have 10 pages, 2 of them have same layout, I'll need 9 templates.  And, what fields a page includes, is not defined in page, but defined in the template that page uses. 

2,  Where to see what modules I've installed? is it in "Modules - Site"? 

3, I installed "PageTable Extended", then what?  As in a youtube tutorial, it should appear in Setup tab, but it doesn't.  What's in there: templates,fields,logs,comments. (I installed "Uikit 3 site_blog profile".)

4, I did a search in Processwire website for the famous "repeater matrix" module, and can not find it, there's a Repeater, as well as a Matrix. Is it not a module?

5, I watched this youtube tuts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHqnLQy9R1A

Anybody familiar with this tuts please help: 

After he analysed a target webpage layout he wanted to mimic, he created some fields, some template, then based on those he created a page and input some "content" in there, then clicked "view", it's just some text. So, here comes my question, he copied a folder "assets" (subfolders are: css,fonts,js,img) over, then the page have the appearance/layout he wanted to mimic. Where does that assets folder come from?

Appreciate any help.

[psy]

Hi @anderson and welcome to ProcessWire

In answer to your questions:

1. Short answer is yes, if you have 10 pages of which 2 have the same layout, then you will need 9 templates. HOWEVER, I recommend you read up on "Regions" and delayed output. You can have the _main.php template with all the common elements eg the header and footer, then you only need templates for the bits that are different, eg the page body. Alternatively, you can include  files such as header.php and footer.php into each page template file.

2. Yes, Modules - Site (or other tabs on that page)

3. "PageTableExtended" is an Inputfield module. Create a new field and assign it as type PageTableExtended then add it to your template(s)

4. There is a core fieldtype called "Repeater". This is not installed by default. You can install it from Modules - Core. 'Repeater' is a prerequisite of the commercial module, "ProFields" https://processwire.com/store/pro-fields/ which includes a number of fieldtypes including 'Repeater Matrix'.

5. The '/site/assets' folder is automatically created on the web server when you install ProcessWire. It's used by PW for all sorts of stuff and you can add your own files/folders if you wish. Typically you would access it with FTP or similar. It's not visible in admin area by design and a good place to store files you don't want to change

[anderson]

30 minutes ago, psy said:

Hi @anderson and welcome to ProcessWire

In answer to your questions:

1. Short answer is yes, if you have 10 pages of which 2 have the same layout, then you will need 9 templates. HOWEVER, I recommend you read up on "Regions" and delayed output. You can have the _main.php template with all the common elements eg the header and footer, then you only need templates for the bits that are different, eg the page body. Alternatively, you can include  files such as header.php and footer.php into each page template file.

2. Yes, Modules - Site (or other tabs on that page)

3. "PageTableExtended" is an Inputfield module. Create a new field and assign it as type PageTableExtended then add it to your template(s)

4. There is a core fieldtype called "Repeater". This is not installed by default. You can install it from Modules - Core. 'Repeater' is a prerequisite of the commercial module, "ProFields" https://processwire.com/store/pro-fields/ which includes a number of fieldtypes including 'Repeater Matrix'.

5. The 'assets' folder is automatically created on the web server when you install ProcessWire. It's used by PW for all sorts of stuff and you can add your own files/folders if you wish. Typically you would access it with FTP or similar. It's not visible in admin area by design and a good place to store files you don't want to change

WOW, thanks so much for your detailed help!

[flydev]

Hi @anderson 

I also started ProcessWire with this video. A must to do for a beginner.

 

About the asset folder containing images, css and js, this folder come from the free theme that you have to downloaded there : https://templatemag.com/demo/Spot/ (this is the theme the author is using to build the final website).

Once extracted, you can find the assets folder and it should be placed in the folder site/templates of your ProcessWire installation - along your templates - then you can continue to follow the tutorial. Do not mix this assets folder (which could be renamed of whatever you want, eg: mythemeassets) and the assets folder in site/assets which is a core "required" folder created by ProcessWire.

 

Good luck, you are on the good road ! ?

On the same road you can pick that : 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2019 by flydev
links

[anderson]

5 minutes ago, flydev said:

Hi @anderson 

I also started ProcessWire with this video. A must to do for a beginner.

 

About the asset folder containing images, css and js, this folder come from the free theme that you have to downloaded there : https://templatemag.com/demo/Spot/ (this is the theme the author is using to build the final website).

Once extracted, you can find the assets folder and it should be placed in the folder site/templates of your ProcessWire installation - along your templates - then you can continue to follow the tutorial. Do not mix this assets folder (which could be renamed of whatever you want, eg: mythemeassets) and the assets folder in site/assets which is a core "required" folder created by ProcessWire.

 

Good luck, you are on the good road ! ?

Thank you, sir.

[psy]

10 minutes ago, flydev said:

Once extracted, you can find the assets folder and it should be placed in the folder site/templates of your ProcessWire installation - along your templates - then you can continue to follow the tutorial. Do not mix this assets folder (which could be renamed of whatever you want, eg: mythemeassets) and the assets folder in site/assets which is a core "required" folder created by ProcessWire.

Gotta love ProcessWire... it's so flexible. You can put stuff where it works best for you. I prefer to create a folder for my original HTML theme in site/assets. That way I know it's always going to be clean, then any changes/overrides go in site/templates. Whatever works for you ?

[flydev]

true, I should must have specified that ?

I just wanted to be sure he do not mix the 'assets' of the video and the the created one by PW by placing the 'assets' in the 'assets' folder hihi 

[anderson]

56 minutes ago, flydev said:

On the same road you can pick that : 

 

 

You guys are so nice, first day I begin to love this place.

And exactly, this video tuts I was watching is from your post!

At the end of that thread, @Kiwi Chris talked about Bootstrap. I only heard about bootstrap, is it mainly about fitting PC,tablet and cellphone screen? If so, I am very interested, I could start my site base on that. Any bootstrap template/theme/profile recommendation? ---- my site will be a very simple one for a friend for his personal business, just like a business card.

[anderson]

55 minutes ago, psy said:

Gotta love ProcessWire... it's so flexible. You can put stuff where it works best for you. I prefer to create a folder for my original HTML theme in site/assets. That way I know it's always going to be clean, then any changes/overrides go in site/templates. Whatever works for you ?

I'll learn.

And thanks again, I appreciate it.  Though I know nothing about coding, I'm good at photography photoshop, if you guys need anything, just ask.

[psy]

Yes, Bootstrap https://getbootstrap.com/, Zurb Foundation https://foundation.zurb.com/ & UiKit https://getuikit.com/ are good places to start if you're unfamiliar with responsive websites. Actually, even if you are, they can save you a lot coding time.

ThemeForest is a good place to start.

I often buy a license for Canvas, https://themeforest.net/item/canvas-the-multipurpose-html5-template/9228123 which is based on Bootstrap, then place all the files in site/assets and as mentioned previously, use overrides/changes in site/templates.

ProcessWire uses UiKit3 as it's default responsive admin theme

 

[anderson]

2 minutes ago, psy said:

Yes, Bootstrap https://getbootstrap.com/, Zurb Foundation https://foundation.zurb.com/ & UiKit https://getuikit.com/ are good places to start if you're unfamiliar with responsive websites. Actually, even if you are, they can save you a lot coding time.

ThemeForest is a good place to start.

I often buy a license for Canvas, https://themeforest.net/item/canvas-the-multipurpose-html5-template/9228123 which is based on Bootstrap, then place all the files in site/assets and as mentioned previously, use overrides/changes in site/templates.

ProcessWire uses UiKit3 as it's default responsive admin theme

 

OK.

UiKit3? already on it. 

[bernhard]

Hi @anderson,

welcome to the forum! If you want to learn and improve this is a great place to be. ProcessWire is a little different to other CMSs, meaning it is a LOT more flexible, but it is also a little bit more "complicated". In other words: It is more tailored towards the needs of developers and not people who want a quick&dirty click-click-done website.

Did you already do (and I mean DO, not READ ? ) the hello world tutorial? https://processwire.com/docs/tutorials/hello-worlds/

If you are looking for a good dev environment I'd recommend https://laragon.org/ (you need apache for PW) and https://code.visualstudio.com/.

Have fun!

[psy]

@anderson

What the amazingly talented PW dev @bernhard said is true, especially the bit about it being different to point-n-click website builders.

Keep in mind that ProcessWire offers so much more on so many levels. Whether you want to get into module development or not is up to you. See the showcase for examples:

1. A landing page site of mine that used a number of custom & pro modules, including Repeater Matrix 

 

2. A landing page site from another PW dev that used nothing but core modules 

 

[anderson]

1 hour ago, bernhard said:

Hi @anderson,

welcome to the forum! If you want to learn and improve this is a great place to be. ProcessWire is a little different to other CMSs, meaning it is a LOT more flexible, but it is also a little bit more "complicated". In other words: It is more tailored towards the needs of developers and not people who want a quick&dirty click-click-done website.

Did you already do (and I mean DO, not READ ? ) the hello world tutorial? https://processwire.com/docs/tutorials/hello-worlds/

If you are looking for a good dev environment I'd recommend https://laragon.org/ (you need apache for PW) and https://code.visualstudio.com/.

Have fun!

Thank you,sir.

hello world tuts?  not yet, I'll do it.

dev environment?  Great! That's the next question I plan to ask.

I appreciate your help.

[anderson]

59 minutes ago, psy said:

@anderson

What the amazingly talented PW dev @bernhard said is true, especially the bit about it being different to point-n-click website builders.

Keep in mind that ProcessWire offers so much more on so many levels. Whether you want to get into module development or not is up to you. See the showcase for examples:

1. A landing page site of mine that used a number of custom & pro modules, including Repeater Matrix 

 

2. A landing page site from another PW dev that used nothing but core modules 

 

Beautiful! I'll try to learn.