I've been using WordPress for a couple of years now but we need to move to an ASP .Net system so I can have more support from my developers (all .Net guys). We are also looking at a couple of other CMS options but from what I've seen, I do favour the methology of the Ubraco system.
As a designer, my basic aim is to be able to quickly convert html templates into editable Umbraco sites. I'm struggling to find any related tutorials/videos on this topic though.
There are some free videos available on umbraco.tv - the one about templates it's worthwhile watching for you and actually I would recommend to buy access to all of the vidoes, since there is a lot of good stuff in there.
Another thing I think you should do is to make a local installation of Umbraco on your own machine, if you have not done so already and then install the "Creative Website Starter" package, since I think you'll get a much better notion on how the different concepts of Umbraco works. I think you'll get a revalation or two if you decide to do this :-)
And now to a more specific explanation...
In Umbraco there is a section called "Settings". In here you create and control you templates defining Master templates and decide, which templates should be allowed to inherit from one another etc.
Typically in the master template you'll place stuff like the doctype, <html><head><body> opening and closing elements. And then you'll use some placeholders, to where content from the child templates will be rendered for instance.
To generate something dynamically with a macro you should create an XSLT macro. For instance you can create a navigation macro from the developer section by right clicking on the xslt folder and create a new xslt file. In the window that appears there is a dropdown providing you with the option to create a file based on some predefined XSLT. Try choosing the one named "Navigation Prototype" and insert it on your master template to have a 1. level navigation appears on your site.
I think this should give you an idea on how to go about using Umbraco.
Usually I make templates in a static version before implementing them in Umbraco. So usually I start out by just copy/pasting the static templates over and then define the template hierachy and decide what needs to be rendered using for instance an XSLT based macro. With the release of Umbraco 4.6 Razor is of course also a great candidate for this. And some places it's enough to just use the umbraco:item's that can be inserted into the templates.
Tutorials for converting html templates to Umbraco
Hi all, I'm new here so bear with me!
I've been using WordPress for a couple of years now but we need to move to an ASP .Net system so I can have more support from my developers (all .Net guys). We are also looking at a couple of other CMS options but from what I've seen, I do favour the methology of the Ubraco system.
As a designer, my basic aim is to be able to quickly convert html templates into editable Umbraco sites. I'm struggling to find any related tutorials/videos on this topic though.
Any pointers much appreciated!
Hi David
There are some free videos available on umbraco.tv - the one about templates it's worthwhile watching for you and actually I would recommend to buy access to all of the vidoes, since there is a lot of good stuff in there.
Another thing I think you should do is to make a local installation of Umbraco on your own machine, if you have not done so already and then install the "Creative Website Starter" package, since I think you'll get a much better notion on how the different concepts of Umbraco works. I think you'll get a revalation or two if you decide to do this :-)
And now to a more specific explanation...
In Umbraco there is a section called "Settings". In here you create and control you templates defining Master templates and decide, which templates should be allowed to inherit from one another etc.
Typically in the master template you'll place stuff like the doctype, <html><head><body> opening and closing elements. And then you'll use some placeholders, to where content from the child templates will be rendered for instance.
To generate something dynamically with a macro you should create an XSLT macro. For instance you can create a navigation macro from the developer section by right clicking on the xslt folder and create a new xslt file. In the window that appears there is a dropdown providing you with the option to create a file based on some predefined XSLT. Try choosing the one named "Navigation Prototype" and insert it on your master template to have a 1. level navigation appears on your site.
I think this should give you an idea on how to go about using Umbraco.
Usually I make templates in a static version before implementing them in Umbraco. So usually I start out by just copy/pasting the static templates over and then define the template hierachy and decide what needs to be rendered using for instance an XSLT based macro. With the release of Umbraco 4.6 Razor is of course also a great candidate for this. And some places it's enough to just use the umbraco:item's that can be inserted into the templates.
I hope this makes sense and is usefull to you.
/Jan
Thanks Jan,
That's excellent and will certainly help. Looking forward to getting my head aorund it! ;-)
David.
Hi David
You're welcome.
If there is anything you have any doubts about please don't hesistate to ask in the world's most friendly community :-)
/Jan
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