Dizkus

Ok, I just read the first noobie guide to Xanthia and honestly it doesn't make much sense to me because of all the notes referring to "This is outdated" or "don't do this anymore"...etc...

If someone would kindly either point me in the right direction where I can find more information about the following or if someone would just explain what each of these links do, I would be forever endebted to you. :)

50,000 ft View:(or what does it do)

Block Position Tags - You use this to create tags that are placed in the theme template
for positioning blocks in the location of the tag

Content Wrappers - Content wrappers are used to wrap either blocks or modules

Theme templates - The core templates needed for Xanthia to render the theme properly

Theme colors - This is where you can set the colors of your theme.

Theme settings - Text size, page witdh, etc.

Block control - Used to control the layout of blocks within a module



More Detailed View I

Block Position Tags
-Tag ID:
-Tag description:
-Tag to use in theme:

Content Wrappers (Shouldn't this be Content Zones?)
-Zone name:
-Zone label:
-Zone type:
-Active?:
-Template:
-Actions:


Theme templates
-Theme templates:
-Module templates:
-Block templates:

Theme colors:
-Background: Sets the Background Color of your Theme
-Separator: Set the color of the Separtor Lines
-Text1:
-Text2:
-Link: Sets your Link Colors
-Vlink: Sets the color of a link that has already been visited.
-Hover: Sets the mouse over color of the link
-Color 1:
-Color 2:
-Color 3:
-Color 4:
-Color 5:
-Color 6:
-Color 7:
-Color 8:

Theme settings
-pagewidth: Overall Page Width
-lcolwidth: Left Column Width
-rcolwidth: Right Column Width
-indexcol: Number of News Columns
-righton: Show right blocks in news module (only for .7x)

Block control
-Module:
-Block:

More detailed view with examples

Block Position Tags
-Adding a new Block Zone:
To add a new block Zone just enter the name of the zone in the Tag Description and

Content Wrappers
-How to add a new Zone:
To add a new Zone click "Add new zone", Enter the Name and Descripiton....

Theme templates
1.How do I create a New Theme,Module or Block Template?
2.When do you need to reload the template?

Theme colors
1. Why would I need a new Theme Color Pallet?

Theme settings
N/A

Block control
1. When/Why would I remove a module?


Themes are my least favorite part of PostNuke, I gladly pay where I have to get things done there. But I am willing to learn. If anyone does post I will update this post.

Thanks for anyone who can shed some light.

Just found this:
http://docs.postnuke…ew&f=xte/index.html Answers a lot of of my questions. Thanks Mark for the great guide.

--
-=Rixride=-
PbxInfo.com
Postnuke Directory
PbxJobs.com
http://www.allrowlett.com

Where did you get this guide?

--
Im Back

rixride,

I am short on time right now, but will fill in the blanks in your post later tonight or tomorrow. I sent a link to this forum to myself so I will remember to come back

--
Larry E. Masters

Thanks PHPNut, I really need help understanding Block Control and Theme Templates, I haven't got my head around those yet.

oh and mgp7419, I created it myself with what was on the Xanthia pages. I just laid it out here in a way that I can understand, hoping that someone would understand what I was looking for and reply.


Cheers

--
-=Rixride=-
PbxInfo.com
Postnuke Directory
PbxJobs.com
http://www.allrowlett.com

rixride - thank you thank you thank you for asking these questions.

I do like 750 gold, and I like the idea behind the Xanthia theme engine, but my own experience with PHP coding has only stemmed from working within PostNuke 726 - which is to say, hardly any experience at all. A few tweaks within the HTML files in 726, and I had cosmetically changed the look of my site. I use PostNuke because I would like to learn more about PHP coding and content management systems. I use it because I like the idea of providing an organization the ability to manage their own site's content with little to no knowledge of how to publish the content themselves.

I had issues with preventing the administration messages block from appearing on every page. I posted my issue before and was told about setting zones properly. I would very much like to see a guide about the 50,000 ft view. perhaps once i understand zones, wrappers, and block positions the other stuff will click into place.

rixride and others.

This is just a quick answer to the post. I have my kids this weekend and they keep me pretty busy. Will answer in more detail if needed. Some things I did not answer because I did not have time to look over the code for them. I wish I could remember everything off the top of my head but I am not that good ;)

50,000 ft View:(or what does it do)

Block Position Tags - You use this to create tags that are placed in the theme template
for positioning blocks in the location of the tag

Content Wrappers - Content wrappers are used to wrap either blocks or modules

Theme templates - The core templates needed for Xanthia to render the theme properly

Theme colors - This is where you can set the colors of your theme.

Theme settings - Text size, page witdh, etc.

Block control - Used to control the layout of blocks within a module



More Detailed View I

Block Position Tags
-Tag ID: The name of your tag Example (RightTopHeader)
-Tag description: Short decription for your new tag
-Tag to use in theme: This is created automatically when you add a position

Content Wrappers (Shouldn't this be Content Zones?)
No, The names below are being changed. I did not complete the work on this before .75 was released
-Zone name:
-Zone label:
-Zone type:
-Active?:
-Template: custom template. (Block or module depending on what type of content wrapper you choose to create from the Add Zone link)
-Actions:


Theme templates
-Theme templates: Core templates needed for Xanthia to work
-Module templates: Custom templates used to wrap a specific modules content (does not customize block look but you can have different position tags in each module template if you like)
-Block templates: custom templates used to wrap an individual blocks content. These can be overridden on a per module/block combination

Theme colors:
-Background: Sets the Background Color of your Theme
-Separator: Set the color of the Separtor Lines
-Text1:
-Text2:
-Link: Sets your Link Colors
-Vlink: Sets the color of a link that has already been visited.
-Hover: Sets the mouse over color of the link
-Color 1:
-Color 2:
-Color 3:
-Color 4:
-Color 5:
-Color 6:
-Color 7:
-Color 8:

Theme settings
-pagewidth: Overall Page Width
-lcolwidth: Left Column Width
-rcolwidth: Right Column Width
-indexcol: Number of News Columns
-righton: Show right blocks in news module (only for .7x)

Block control
-Module: Module you are configuring for block control
-Block: Block you are adding to block control. NOTE!! You must select Block Control from this select box also to activate block control

More detailed view with examples

Block Position Tags
-Adding a new Block Zone:
To add a new block Zone just enter the name of the zone in the Tag Description and

Content Wrappers
-How to add a new Zone:
To add a new Zone click "Add new zone", Enter the Name and Descripiton....

Theme templates
1.How do I create a New Theme,Module or Block Template?
2.When do you need to reload the template?

Theme colors
1. Why would I need a new Theme Color Pallet?
To change the color scheme of your site with a click of a button. Could be useful around holidays or things like that. Just added it cause I thought it was a good idea.

Theme settings
N/A

Block control
1. When/Why would I remove a module?

--
Larry E. Masters

Well, I guess I'm relieved to see that I'm not the only one not understanding any of this. So far I have read three different guides, and probably know less now than I did when I started. It seems that every single guide is assuming that somehow beginniers to this XTE will magically know what all of the terms mean and I am finding that most of us have no clue what they mean.

I mean, what the heck is a block zone? Or a block control? Or any zone? If somehow the terms could be explained, then it might be easier for beginners to start to grasp what the guides for beginners are talking about.

I can sit down and design a very decent table-less site using valid XHTML and CSS with no problem, but trying to figure out this system has been a nightmare. I just wish there was some kind of guide that would explain the basics....assume we know NOTHING, because, at least in my case, that is exactly the case.

Is there any such help out there anywhere? (Google hasn't been able to find it for me yet)

Sincere thanks to anyone who can offer some help and shed some light.

Peace,
Paul

I see the definition, but it just doesn't register. OK, you place a block zone tag where I want content to appear - is that a paragraph, is it a div or a span?

Then I'm supposed to put it - whatever it is - in the template where I want content - BUT - it has no direct relationship to that template. The look is defined by the template assigned to the block. So does this mean that we have to have a template for the template? It just does not make sense to me, I'm missing something major here. And then multiple blocks can be assigned to one block zone - I honestly can't even guess what that means.

So now you can see how dumb I am, and how frustrated I am by all of this.

I know this is not really an answer to what you are looking for but I think it helps to have an understanding of Smarty templating. XTE is based on Smarty and it may make more sense if you learn the basics of Smarty first.

Smarty

I am still trying to figure out XTE myself so I can't really help with that at the moment.

--zbert

Ok, after re-reading this a few times, it does help. I was wondering if someone who is a Xanthia Zend would help me out.

I installed xanthia on my main site, which has a ton of blocks, my orginal theme is all messed up because blocks are appearing where they shouldn't I have a layout of what I would like to do and I just need a little guidance on how to get there.

I tried to go in block control and delete the offending blocks but they all seem to still be there...

Can anyone lend me a hand?, I would be forever grateful.

--
-=Rixride=-
PbxInfo.com
Postnuke Directory
PbxJobs.com
http://www.allrowlett.com

All,

I got Kevin Hatch's new book PostNuke Content Management and it has two chapters to theme cutomization. It does a bit better job of explaining Xanthia.

Just started going through it, but finding it really useful.

John

--
Charles John Pedersen
Sr. Systems Engineer
SRI International
Menlo Park, CA
(650) 859-5913

John, Where did you get the book from?

Thanks for the kind words John :)

Jonasy,
Here's an easy link to Amazon for it: http://www.amazon.co…detail/-/0672326868

I've had many people ask where to get it. I know it is in a few physical book stores, but most stores don't carry it. The Barnes and Noble website is terrible for finding it, and still has the old working title/cover displayed from months ago, but Amazon's been great about updates.

I hope it helps,
--Kevin

Nice work Kevin. I purchased mine from Amazon and got it just before Christmas. Perfect timing. :?

The only thing missing is a section on developing modules. Hint. Hint. :wink:

In fact, I'd love to see an entire book devoted to developing PostNuke modules. That's the one area of PN that has eluded me and it's probably the most important for customization. Any plans for module development on the horizon?

--zbert

zbert,
Thanks for the kudos. Actually there was a chapter on the basics of module development in the original proposal for the book, but the overall length of the book was a problem, and a number of sections and chapters ended up being cut. The galleries chapter is noticeably absent too.

But if the book continues to sell well and people are generally happy with it, I had considered doing a companion book just on module and block development. Nothing's been discussed at all about it, I don't have an outline typed up or anything, but it's been brainstormed. So we'll see how it goes. The second printing is happening in a couple months, and it sounds like the German translation is going to happen. So far so good :)
Thanks,
--Kevin