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New Tutorial on the Wiki - help required

Joss

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Joss Hero Member

Joss

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I have just finished the first draft of a new tutorial on the wiki.

http://wiki.processwire.com/index.php/Basic_Website_Tutorial

I know it needs tightening a bit and possibly some more screenshots, but my main concern at this stage is whether it works technically; in other words, if someone follows it, will they actually end up with the finished site?

The aim of this tutorial is to go further than the Planets small project walk through.

It starts post installation by cleaning a few things out, adding a couple of modules and so on.

It then creates a site structure from scratch, creates a site settings system (site title, banner, meta keywords and so on) and populates the new site structure with the results.

Finally, it creates a new article template with new fields and adds the page.

The idea was that I could cover in basic detail:

  • How Template Files relate to Templates
  • Creating various field types (including images)
  • Getting information from the current page and another page (using $page and $pages)
  • Talking about a few other concepts like how information is stored
  • Demonstrating the power of not having a templating system by default

And lots of other bits and pieces.

This tutorial produces a demo site that is ready to accept other tutorials - slideshow, news system, etc - without having to start from scratch again.

The site design does not use a framework, and is simple and clean but familiar - could be the basis for many site types.

Anyway, initially I am just looking for comments on the technical side. So, if anyone has time, can they try it and see if they actually end up with a site, or have I forgotten anything?

Bearing in mind that I am very new to PW, I could easily have got things wrong somewhere.

Once I am happy that it actually works and that I haven't said anything in it that is technically wrong, then I will go through the writing with a fine tooth comb.

Thanks in advance to any guinea pigs out there!

Joss

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Joss Hero Member

Joss

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That was quick!

Thanks! I think the main thing is to actually download a fresh copy of PW and see if it actually works!

It should - I mean I actually did the site in sync with writing the tutorial, but there is always some trap somewhere. ....

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panictree Full Member

panictree

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Hi Joss,

First of all, I think your tutorial is fantastic. It really provides an excellent overview of ProcessWire and helps people unfamiliar with the system get acquainted with it very quickly. I also think it is well written, fun and easy to follow. So, answering your question, I've gone through the whole tutorial, following every step, and I successfully ended up with the website I was supposed to get. I didn't find any problems at any stage of the process.

I've also decided to upload the demo to my server so that you can see the result I got. Here's the demo:

edit: link removed

I hope that helps.

Claudio

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Joss Hero Member

Joss

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I've also decided to upload the demo to my server so that you can see the result I got. Here's the demo:

Claudio

Okay, that was just an excuse to get back at me about my dog!!

Claudio, thanks a million for doing that. I can now go through and fine tune.

Great stuff Joss. I just quickly looked at it - only thing that I noticed is that you mention word "content type" at few places - I think those should be templates instead.

Yeah, I hesitated using the term.

I have been struggling with the term "template" a bit - not that its the wrong term but it applies in so many ways in PW:

  1. It is the files that are responsible for the display
  2. It is the process of grouping fields
  3. It it the controller that dictates how the page creation system works (limiting what children/parents can do, for instance)
  4. And it is the more philosophical idea of a particular content idea.

When you chat, it is fine. But from the writing point of view, where the ideas need to be clear and well differentiated, it is a bit of a headache.

I will be going through the article again this morning, so I will be looking at those issues and try and clarify it.

Thanks to both of you!

Joss

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diogo Hero Member

diogo

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Joss, just think of the template as a single thing that groups all those. Then you just have to refer to them like "the template file", "the template fields", "the template settings".

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Joss Hero Member

Joss

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Joss, just think of the template as a single thing that groups all those. Then you just have to refer to them like "the template file", "the template fields", "the template settings",

Hi diogo, that is the way I have been going - though I am not sure if I have been very consistent!

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onjegolders Hero Member

onjegolders

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Great work Joss.

Was thinking of starting one today - may still do so and perhaps make a slightly different style or site.

My only slightly negative comment is nothing to do with your work but more that I find the wiki style to be a bit grey and text a bit small and a bit crammed in (I'm probably just getting old :))

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Joss Hero Member

Joss

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Was thinking of starting one today - may still do so and perhaps make a slightly different style or site.

My only slightly negative comment is nothing to do with your work but more that I find the wiki style to be a bit grey and text a bit small and a bit crammed in (I'm probably just getting old :))

What you could do is steal this as a starting point and take it a different direction. If you look at the discussions page for the article, I have put a short list of tutorials that could be added to this base tutorial - many more could be added, I am sure!

Each one needs to work within the framework of the base tutorial and not conflict with each other. A reader could eventually end up with a site that does all kinds of things - all from the single starting tutorial. That keeps the lessons consistent and makes more sense.

However, I don't know enough to write a lot of this!

I agree with the wiki layout. I am currently going through the article shoving in line breaks everywhere! However, the plan is to eventually do a proper docs site with PW (of course), but the wiki is a really good way of getting things written down and categorised in the mean time. A great staging area for articles.

Joss

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diogo Hero Member

diogo

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Change the name field from processwire to something of your choice - siteadmin, perhaps. Although hardly a great security technique, it is good practice. However DO REMEMBER WHAT YOU CHANGED IT TOO! Unlike other installations you cannot look at your file structure to check the name of the admin folder.

It's not that dangerous to forget this because you can always find the page in database with the ID 2. Maybe it's a good thing to refer.

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Joss Hero Member

Joss

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Okay, I have been playing with MediaWiki:Common.css - fun!

I have increased the font size from 0.8em to 0.85em

I have added a bit more line height to h2, h3, h4 and h5

I have added more bottom margin to P

I have indented UL a little more

I have added a drop shadow to the TOC, images and my side bar template. (you can override it on images by wrapping them in <span class="nostyle></span>)

I have put a dotted line round the code and added a bit more background colour.

So, hopefully it should be a bit more readable now!

Time for lunch.

Joss

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ryan Hero Member

ryan

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This is really great Joss! Thanks for all of your hard work here. What's the best way for me to send comments to you? Should I add inline comments directly in the wiki in some way, or post here, email or something else?

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Joss Hero Member

Joss

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Er not totally sure

With articles in progress, shove something in the Discussion on the wiki - but let me know or I will miss it.

For new stuff, put it in here or emails or something ....

Sorry, not wonderfully helpful!

Joss

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ryan Hero Member

ryan

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Joss, thanks for your outstanding work on the Wiki! I am making my way through it and posting comments on the "Discussion" tab of each as I go through them. Here's what I've got so far:

http://wiki.processwire.com/index.php/Talk:Basic_Website_Tutorial

And just one or two comments on these pages:

http://wiki.processwire.com/index.php/Talk:Pages_Overview

http://wiki.processwire.com/index.php/Talk:Page_Field

http://wiki.processwire.com/index.php/Talk:Article_Listing_Page

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ryan Hero Member

ryan

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Btw, I'm totally happy to go in and update these things if you'd prefer, but didn't want to go in and start changing stuff without running it through you first. You are way better at writing this stuff than me, so I didn't want to mess anything up.

I've still got another 2 days before I make it through all the forum posts, so if anyone is wanting a Wiki account, please send me a PM, which I should get much quicker and can get you setup asap.

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