Newb needs style guidance.

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Hi, folks.

I'm a technical writer working on developing a system for handling a library of process documents that will be added to and updated on a constant basis by members of our team. c5 looks like it can be a pretty sweet resource for handling this.

I've started up a demo site to play around with creating a "template" page, but I've got some questions. Bear in mind that I don't know jack about code, but I do know enough to create CSS styles.

I've created a main content block that contains the fields my team will be populating with content (mostly text), and that wasn't really any problem. My primary question, though, deals with using the rich text editor. I figure this editor will the main avenue through which my team will add/edit content. I saw a "Styles" drop-down box in the editor, but I couldn't get it to function (I think perhaps there are no options from which to choose).

I'd love to be able to define some styles to make the creation/editing process as easy as possible for my team, but I don't know where to go to create these styles. Is there a CSS file that controls what the rich text editor can display in that drop-down field, or something?

I've got the Simple Blue theme installed, and when I viewed the page source, I saw that there is a main.css file and a typography.css file that are called - but I have no idea if these are what I need to edit (or even how to get to them).

Anyone have some pointers for a sort-of lost tech writer?

Thanks,
John

campbell
 
adamjohnson replied on at Permalink Best Answer Reply
adamjohnson
All of that is handled by typography.css. Here's a great tutorial on it:

http://www.codeblog.ch/2009/05/concrete5-css-features/...

Basically, it sounds like you downloaded and installed that theme from the marketplace. If you want to customize it, you need to move the theme from the (root)/packages folder to (root)/themes, then edit the typography.css file.

So, it would be something like this:

Find:

(root)\packages\theme_simple_blue\themes\simple_blue

Copy that folder, simple_blue (or whatever it's called) to (root)\themes and paste it in the \themes folder.

After that, you can install the new version in the dashboard and add styles for the "Styles" drop down via typography.css.

You may want to edit description.txt as well so you know the difference between the two themes (you'll have two simple blue themes, you can describe your customized one in description.txt). Hope this helps. Enjoy.

ps-Document sharing/collaboration, checked out Google Docs?
campbell replied on at Permalink Reply
campbell
Thanks for the quick response.

First off, I did consider Google Docs, but the powers that be are wanting process documents that will display in a browser and link to each other, with the ability to build applications within the pages (sort of like a runbook). I'm not sure that Google Docs is what I'm looking for there.

And now for the embarrassing part of my response... I think I can handle the editing of the typography.css file. But I don't know how to get to where you're saying I need to go to find the folders. *shame*

Where can I find the file structure? I checked in the sitemap in the dashboard, but didn't see anything that fit what you're describing.
Stiny replied on at Permalink Reply 1 Attachment
Stiny
Hey!

You want to go in the backend for the files, you won't find it inside the Concrete shell. What you want to do is go to your server in Windows Explorer, or another program like unto it if you are not using the Windows OS. Go to the /concrete folder, and inside are all the files updated by Concrete. You then go to /themes, and inside there should be the folder that holds your theme. Copy that folder to the same root directory that holds the /concrete folder, under /themes. Make sense? You won't be able to access the .css via browser.

Check the picture, that may help you know what to look for.
campbell replied on at Permalink Reply
campbell
Thanks, Stiny.

I get the concept, but the demo site I'm playing around with is one that's hosted on c5host, so I'm pretty sure that all those backend files are located elsewhere (i.e., not on any server I've got access to).

But if I were to download c5 and use it to manage a site hosted on my company's server, I could find those files on that server, I imagine.

But in the end, it sounds like it is possible to define styles that will get picked up by the rich text editor. That's good news for my techs (and for me).

Thanks!