How to work with a theme?
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Hi guys,
So I have the concrete5 installed and all the settings ready. Now I only have the design left. I don't know anything about design so I am wondering, if I take a design from the themes on the website (free or payed):
1) How do I install it?
2) How can I know if there is a homepage design and a regular inner page design (I want 2 different layouts with the same design).
3) How can I add logo, make changes to the design etc? is it even possible or the designs come as a close design that you can't change?
4) If I want to have a graphic designer designing a theme for me, what should he know about concrete5? any guidelines for designs in this CMS?
Thank you for your answers guys,
YoYo
So I have the concrete5 installed and all the settings ready. Now I only have the design left. I don't know anything about design so I am wondering, if I take a design from the themes on the website (free or payed):
1) How do I install it?
2) How can I know if there is a homepage design and a regular inner page design (I want 2 different layouts with the same design).
3) How can I add logo, make changes to the design etc? is it even possible or the designs come as a close design that you can't change?
4) If I want to have a graphic designer designing a theme for me, what should he know about concrete5? any guidelines for designs in this CMS?
Thank you for your answers guys,
YoYo
Well YoYO, you got a lot of questions and hopefully you will be a bit wiser after this. I will supply you with some links for further reading at the end.
Q. How do I install it?
A. There are several ways to install a theme from the marketplace and it depends on how you downloaded it. If you browse through the Dashboard and find a theme you only need to click 'Download and Install'. The theme will then be installed and can be activated from 'Dashboard > Pages & Themes > Themes'.
If you go through concrete5.org/marketplace/themes using the cart you assign the theme to your project. Then go to 'dashboard > Extend > Install' to add funtionality. At the bottom you will see the theme you assigned to your project and you can Download and Install it. Once installed you activate your theme from 'Dashboard > Pages & Themes > Themes'.
I will not cover manual installations here, but after reading up on the links below you can probably figure it out pretty easily.
Q. How can I know if there is a homepage design and a regular inner page design (I want 2 different layouts with the same design).
A. Read up on the information on the theme page in the Marketplace. At the bottom of each theme page you have information about version, supported browsers, styles and included page types. The included page types gives you a hint of what is included. You should also check out screen shots and demo sites (if they exist). You could also browser to sites using the theme to get a feel for how it can be used.
Q. How can I add logo, make changes to the design etc? is it even possible or the designs come as a close design that you can't change?
A. I would say about all the themes available are pretty easy to modify through the CMS. That is you can change logo, name etc. by putting the page in edit mode and click on the block. Things like logos are probably considered global content and might be changed in stacks. Some have hardcoded blocks in them to have a consistent flow throught the site. If you know some php, css and html (you don't even need to know much) it's pretty easy to modify the source code as well. Downloaded themes can be found in 'siteroot/packages/theme_name'. If you want to modigy a theme I would suggest you make a backup copy of it first. While modifying and testing a theme you should have in mind the chaching of both the site and your browser. If a change doesn't show then clear your cache. Clearing site cache can easily be found by typing 'Clear cache' in the intelligent search box.
Q. If I want to have a graphic designer designing a theme for me, what should he know about concrete5? any guidelines for designs in this CMS?
A. A web designer doesn't really need to know anything about concrete5 to create a theme. Once you get the html and css from the designer you can easily add the required code yourself, but if you want to have the designer create a fully functional theme I would suggest you point the designer to the documentation section here at concrete5.org.
Below are some useful links:
Making a theme from start to finish: http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/how-tos/designers/making-a-t...
How to add a custom font to your theme: http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/how-tos/designers/how-to-add...
Absolute basic web stuff: http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/how-tos/designers/absolute-b...
Override functionality without making any damages to the system: http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/how-tos/developers/change-th...
Understand the concept of single pages: http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/developers/pages/single-page...
How to theme single pages: http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/how-tos/designers/themimg-sy...
What is Stacks? (nevermind the scrapbook part): http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/how-tos/developers/concrete5...
The how-to section and forums are excellent when it comes to finding information. Use the search functionality and if you still can't find what you are looking for, then post a question in the forums.
Good luck!
Q. How do I install it?
A. There are several ways to install a theme from the marketplace and it depends on how you downloaded it. If you browse through the Dashboard and find a theme you only need to click 'Download and Install'. The theme will then be installed and can be activated from 'Dashboard > Pages & Themes > Themes'.
If you go through concrete5.org/marketplace/themes using the cart you assign the theme to your project. Then go to 'dashboard > Extend > Install' to add funtionality. At the bottom you will see the theme you assigned to your project and you can Download and Install it. Once installed you activate your theme from 'Dashboard > Pages & Themes > Themes'.
I will not cover manual installations here, but after reading up on the links below you can probably figure it out pretty easily.
Q. How can I know if there is a homepage design and a regular inner page design (I want 2 different layouts with the same design).
A. Read up on the information on the theme page in the Marketplace. At the bottom of each theme page you have information about version, supported browsers, styles and included page types. The included page types gives you a hint of what is included. You should also check out screen shots and demo sites (if they exist). You could also browser to sites using the theme to get a feel for how it can be used.
Q. How can I add logo, make changes to the design etc? is it even possible or the designs come as a close design that you can't change?
A. I would say about all the themes available are pretty easy to modify through the CMS. That is you can change logo, name etc. by putting the page in edit mode and click on the block. Things like logos are probably considered global content and might be changed in stacks. Some have hardcoded blocks in them to have a consistent flow throught the site. If you know some php, css and html (you don't even need to know much) it's pretty easy to modify the source code as well. Downloaded themes can be found in 'siteroot/packages/theme_name'. If you want to modigy a theme I would suggest you make a backup copy of it first. While modifying and testing a theme you should have in mind the chaching of both the site and your browser. If a change doesn't show then clear your cache. Clearing site cache can easily be found by typing 'Clear cache' in the intelligent search box.
Q. If I want to have a graphic designer designing a theme for me, what should he know about concrete5? any guidelines for designs in this CMS?
A. A web designer doesn't really need to know anything about concrete5 to create a theme. Once you get the html and css from the designer you can easily add the required code yourself, but if you want to have the designer create a fully functional theme I would suggest you point the designer to the documentation section here at concrete5.org.
Below are some useful links:
Making a theme from start to finish: http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/how-tos/designers/making-a-t...
How to add a custom font to your theme: http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/how-tos/designers/how-to-add...
Absolute basic web stuff: http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/how-tos/designers/absolute-b...
Override functionality without making any damages to the system: http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/how-tos/developers/change-th...
Understand the concept of single pages: http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/developers/pages/single-page...
How to theme single pages: http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/how-tos/designers/themimg-sy...
What is Stacks? (nevermind the scrapbook part): http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/how-tos/developers/concrete5...
The how-to section and forums are excellent when it comes to finding information. Use the search functionality and if you still can't find what you are looking for, then post a question in the forums.
Good luck!
I'd start here:
http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/getting-started/...
there are some useful videos that will explain the answers to your first 3 questions.
For number 4, a designer should be able to create you a theme without any knowledge of the underlying CMS. Concrete5 is very good for applying to pre-existing themes because of it's content blocks...