Forums / Setup & design / Redesigning The EZ Publish Site

Redesigning The EZ Publish Site

Author Message

Anaya P

Monday 09 August 2010 8:03:35 am

Hi All,

I am working on my first EZ Publish site. And I am so confused about the right way to redesign or skin the webiste.

I have gone through Website Interface Guide, articles such as 'How to skin an ez publish Now Site'. But still not sure about the right way to do it. I am not sure whether creating new extension is a good idea or not ( which could be copy of EZ Flow extension).

As you know now I have EZ Flow installed and an active extension.

I have home page layout which is different from rest of the pages. Also different layouts for few inner pages.

So can you please clarify few things for me - which will help me to understand which is better way to skin the site?

1. Can I directly edit EZ Flow stylesheets and for different layouts use override templates?

2. Creating new extension (copy of ez flow) and start from scratch, is a good idea?

3. I know how to create the package ( Website Interface Customization Guide). If I go for package option for site redesign, then where will be those stylesheets get stored in ez publish?

4. If I go for package option, and there is any css change which is page specific, then where can I do that? Do I need to add those changes in site and classes-colors.css file and reimport the package?

I know these are basic questions. I have searched forum for two days and then thought it is better just to post my questions.

Really in need of your advice!

Thanks in advance!

Greg McAvoy-Jensen

Monday 09 August 2010 9:17:38 am

Anaya,

The best way is to create your own extension (let's call it mysite). The directory structure, to get you started, would be:

extension

--mysite

----design

------override

--------templates

------templates

------mysite

----settings

----design.ini.append.php

Ignore packages for now. The package system is just a gui-based way for one to move a feature (like your design extension) or content from one eZ Publish installation to another.

Granite Horizon, Certified Developer of eZ Publish Web Solutions
Provider of the SaaS Solution Granite Horizon In The Cloud | http://granitehorizon.com/cloud
http://granitehorizon.com | +1 916 647 6350 | California USA | @granitegreg
Blog: http://granitehorizon.com/blog

Romeo Antony

Tuesday 10 August 2010 12:01:55 am

Anaya, before you go and design your ezsite , it would be better to read the contents in following link , reply given by Gautano.

http://share.ez.no/forums/developer/please-look-at-this-issue.-content-search-module-is-not-found

Anaya P

Tuesday 10 August 2010 3:44:17 am

Thanks Greg and Romeo for your advice.I have created, new extension, as Greg suggested, so will post the updates or more queries soon.Thanks once again!

Romeo Antony

Tuesday 10 August 2010 5:00:33 am

if you have custom extensions like that you created contian design folder then you should put

[ExtensionSettings]
DesignExtensions[]=myextension

in setting design.ini.append.php so that ez will know that your extension contain some design .

Regards Romeo

Anaya P

Tuesday 10 August 2010 5:45:00 am

Thanks Romeo

I have created design.ini.append.php file which is in settings folder in my extension, so path to the file is -extension/myextension/settings/design.ini.append.php

And also have below line in site.ini.append.php in settings/override/

ActiveExtensions[]=myextension

Just to check whether I have done correct settings or not, I have created core.css file in extension/myextension/design/myextension/stylesheets/core.css

But my site is not using css properties used in the extension/myextension/design/myextension/stylesheets/core.css

So am I missing anything? Do i need to do any more setting changes?

Regards

Romeo Antony

Wednesday 11 August 2010 12:15:24 am

Yes Anaya. You are correct . You have created settings folder in your custom extension in settings/design.ini.append.php

put

[ExtensionSettings]
DesignExtensions[]=myextension

In settings/override/site.ini.append.php , activated extension ActiveExtensions[]=myextension

Also whenevever you put custom javascript or css files , that should be defined in design.ini.append.php

So define this css file core.css siteaccess<user site access>/design.ini.append.php

like this CSSFileList[]
CSSFileList[]=core.css

if you are using some other custom css files , include it like this

CSSFileList[]
CSSFileList[]=core.css

CSSFileList[]=cstom_css file1.css

CSSFileList[]=cstom_css file2.css

Hope u get clear.

Regards Romeo.