Microsoft's new open-source CMS Orchard comes with a small number of Themes (page layout templates).
I would like to have a tool a designer could use (such as Artisteer) to generate new themes.
Has anyone used Artisteer, or another designer friendly tool, to generate themes for Orchard?
There is no such a tool for the moment, but you can simplify your life by using code-generator that comes with orchard. You can read about it here.
Also following liks might be helpfull:
Anatomy of the Theme
Template File Syntax Guide
UI Guidelines for Theme Authors
Artisteer doesn't work with Orchard.
Take a loot at http://orchard.tuning.bind.pt
Related
I am using Kentico portal to make an E-commerce site.If I wish to change the design of available sample E-commerce site.Would it be a tidious task ?
Example : If I download e-commerce design templates (i.e html and css files) and I wish to change design of each page of sample kentico site (home page,product detail page etc.)then, what is the most suitable and quick way to achieve this ?
How should I update the html/css of each page of available site with downloaded templates? OR Should I create entirely a new e-commerce site in the portal ?
The out of the box sites are meant to be used as examples and references not to build a production site off of. The markup used on the Ecommerce site will also be different, considerably different than your purchased template. I've found it much easier and faster to start from scratch with a blank site and implement all of the design that way. Make sure you take advantage of shared layouts and templates, this will help make development and re-skins in the future easier.
I'm quite new in liferay and this must have been a very basic question.
Can we make site templates deployable as standalone component like themes? If yes how can we do this? Any help or content explains how to do this will be great.
Thanks
You can export and import site templates - they'll not be deployed like themes, but you can carry them from one portal to another. Check the cogs-icon in the top-right of the Site Template configuration screen in Control-Panel and you'll find the Export/Import Actions. The individual SiteTemplate's Action button also has an Export option available.
Another option is to get familiar with Liferay's API (learn ServiceBuilder for understanding the concepts) and examine the sourcecode. A good starting point is the ancient 7cogs sample code (not all will compile as-is, this article is for an older version, but the principles will help you to understand). Also note that the article links a second follow-up article. Everything in Liferay is done through the API and you can literally automate everything - you'll "just" have to find the proper API and use it.
Site templates can be deployed in a plugin via the use of Liferay's Resources Importer.
See: https://dev.liferay.com/develop/learning-paths/themes/-/knowledge_base/6-2/importing-resources-for-your-theme for more information.
You can probably find some some examples here: https://www.liferay.com/marketplace/-/mp/category/15828894
I have HTML/CSS complete - conventional stuff.
I now need a CMS for this site. To use Orchard for this do I need to create a Custom Theme? (eg as in this article
http://www.deepcode.co.uk/2011/05/real-world-orchard-cms-part-2-creating.html
Or are custom themes for people that want to make something re-usable?
If there is an easier way to put Orchard CMS in a totally custom design - what is it?
Thx
You definitely need to create your own theme. You could start with an existing theme and modify it, but if you've already got a static HTML/CSS design then you're probably best off starting from scratch.
For more information on theming you can check out:
Writing a new theme - Orchard Documentation
Theming Orchard - A blog post I wrote a while ago
Studying the code of some existing themes can be a nice way to see how a theme is made up.
You should not directly modify the base template files inside Orchard modules. These are made to be overridden in your theme and modifying them directly will make updating Orchard very tricky.
Is it possible to create a wizard in Orchard CMS, perhaps by creating a "Wizard" content type which may have optional content parts depending on rules which may assess previous data entered. This may be asking too much. I am just looking into Orchard as a CMS and I can see how it can be some much more ie an application framework.
Many thanks,
Ed
Orchard is just an Mvc application so you may use any tecnique that works on it.
Look at this blog to see a step by step tutorial:
http://afana.me/post/create-wizard-in-aspnet-mvc-3.aspx
You may find useful also this article on how integrate mvc in orchard:
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/434484/Welding-on-Orchard-CMS
Have fun...
Basically need to use SharePoint (because we promote MS yay!) as a content management system for an internet facing site.
How do I get rid of the default SharePoint look and feel and make it look like however I want it to?
I know the process involves creating a new masterpage with SharePoint Designer. However I prefer to code webpages rather than use a visual editor. Is this possible? Do I need knowledge of .NET?
Just check out ferrari.com for a very well made redesign of a SharePoint site.
Heather Solomon's Branding SharePoint series would be a good place to start. There's a lot you can do just with CSS, JS and HTML, but the most complete solutions (like Ferrari) require some pretty extensive customization with .NET and other SharePoint development techniques (features and delegate controls, in particular).
Your branding effort will be a lot easier if you only need to heavily brand the public-facing "publishing pages", from which you can remove most of the SharePoint-specific elements that make branding difficult.
Also, SharePoint Designer has a source view if you don't like the visual editor.
Yes it is possible to make it look like however you want it to (as you've seen from the Ferrari site). However to create that sort of site takes a lot of work.
Microsoft recommend the use of SharePoint Designer for 'designing' pages and layouts. However changing their behaviour almost always needs Visual Studio and development in .NET. You can largely avoid SharePoint Designer (which may worth considering as it can be a PITA) with an open source tool such as SPVisualDev. Use this with WSPBuilder for packaging your solutions (and avoid VSeWSS where possible).
Considering it sounds like you're just getting started, be aware this is a big topic with a reasonable learning curve. Read a good book on the topic such as Professional SharePoint 2007 Web Content Management Development: Building Publishing Sites with Office SharePoint Server 2007 by Andrew Connell. It takes you through most things you will encounter from the ground up.
I'm working my way through Real World Branding by Andrew Connell at the moment. It seems like a good demonstration, with code.
Plus the Heather Solomon articles as suggested by dahlbyk are always informative.
Just changing the theme, or creating a custom theme for the site, can go a long way towards making SharePoint look a lot better. It's also a lot less intensive then changing the master pages.
How to create a theme
How to deploy a theme
Example customization you can do with just CSS
Does the EULA allow you to disguise the fact that it's MS software?
Remember, you didn't buy the software, you're just paying for the privilege of using it.