Recent Topics
  1. b2evolution CMS Support Forums
  2. Archives
  3. Obsolete Forum Threads
  4. A few template questions...

A few template questions...

1 Aug 09, 2004 22:29    

I'm new to b2. I've used MT forever, then took a break from webdesign, and now MT costs money and since b2evolution is easy to install with Fantastico, I decided to try it before trying to dig up old MT files and documentation.

The problem is, I don't really understand the template. I'm having trouble with just the basic blog entries, as in finding out what's necessary and what's not. Essentially what I want is just a main blog that includes the title and date in the header (on the same line). Then the post. Then the comments. Comments open in a pop-up window. Then I want to add a thing for recent entries and a link to archives on the sidebar. How do I configure this? What is necessary to keep? It seems like on the _main.php or whatever thing there is too much coding. I don't need all that. But I don't know what I can delete and what I can't. I looked in the documentation and now I'm just more confused.

b2 seems more simple and better than MT, except as far as the templates go. I am extremely confused.

Any links or help would be great :) I can't seem to find documentation on the breakdown on how it's coded and everything.

Back to top

2 Aug 10, 2004 00:37

Suggestions:

Read through the topics here: http://b2evolution.net/man?catsel[]=97
In particular:
http://b2evolution.net/man/2004/06/04/template_functions
http://b2evolution.net/man/2004/06/16/template_functions_explained

(I know that you said that you checked the documentation already, but I'm thinking maybe you didn't find quite what you were looking for.)

In short:
A "skin" is a set of template files to be used when displaying your blog. A skin is accessed by the name of the skin. b2evo looks in .../blogs/skins/skin_name/ and loads _main.php first. (So, if you were using the "custom" skin, it would be .../blogs/skins/cusom/_main.php.) This file is the basic template. It then calls other files with "include" or "require" commands. See http://php.net/include and http://php.net/require for how they work.
([url=http://b2evolution.net/man/2004/06/16/main_template]This man page[/url] is quite a bit out of date, but the principles are still useful.)

The daunting thing about b2evolution (and WordPress, and many others) is that it uses PHP directly, instead of encapsulating everything in another layer like MT and Blogger do. On the one hand, it gives you much more control and power. On the other hand, it can be a bit intimidating.

I'd recommend starting out by modifying one of the existing skins, so that you have a starting point to work with. The "Custom" skin is pretty generic, but if you want even simpler, you could check out the "originalb2" or even "basic" skins, since they're both very simple. (OriginalB2 uses popup comments.)

If you need any help, just come here :)
Remember, the [url=http://forums.b2evolution.net/search.php]search[/url] is your friend, but if you can't find the solution, feel free to ask.

Back to top

3 Aug 10, 2004 02:41

Thanks!

I just want a basic blogging tool, but I want lots of customization over categories. I have a blog, a photo section and some other sections that I want to use with whatever blogging tool I end up going with. Does the original b2 offer that? It's also an easy install with Fantastico.

But I'll look over everything you posted and try to figure things out ;)

EDITED TO ADD - Installed b2 instead and I think it might work better for me. If I need more features someday, I'll upgrade.

Back to top


Form is loading...