Thread

Hi there,

hmmm… I hardly dare to say (better: write) something and don’t really know where to begin. Fact is that I spent quite some time on the different resources alike Knowledge Base, Doc Center etc. to get a clearer picture of how EE works (and don’t feel that I really advanced).

The Video Tutorials is quite a nice source for the beginning, but it is really only touching the surface - really shallow (although useful, I repeat that).

So, where to go next? The documentation seems to be a listing of the different functionality in each of the tags (Edit, Templates, Admin…), and works probably well for a quick reference when working on something and reading through what it is for or about.

But when starting more or less by zero, than this kind of “dictionnary” (as it appears to me) doesn’t really work. And the more, if I have to read everything on the screen. (Is there no pdf file available for printing? I think research has proven that everything which is longer than half a page isn’t read on the screen but printed out.) I mean, I don’t want to read through the 100 functions and it’s purposes, if at the beginning I only need 15.

So, I strongly would suggest - or: I, personally, would like to see - more “case studies” and “intros”. I mean, what comes next after the “Weblog Template Relationship” Video? How do I design my site? How to have different “categories” such as About, Links section etc. What about CSS styling? Where to go for that? How to get different “articles” (templates?) into one page?

It seems to me that the “Beginner’s Corner” could really be improved. I hope, that nevertheless I don’t loose confidence and motivation to take the path from the Beginner to a EE-User.

Best wishes,

Stef

Stefan, I would suggest that your best way of learning about something is often to use the search function on the site, or Google outside it.

People often ask for clarification about what remains unclear, when they are solving a particular problem they are faced with.  Some of the knowledgeable ExpressionEngine people are also quite forthcoming in those discussions.

Good fortune on what you want to learn,
Clive

Stef, the light bulb moment will come, but you may have to give yourself some time and just dive in.  Look at the default templates, and make changes to them, and then see how your changes affect the rendered content and style.  You’ll get it, and then you’ll look back, see the bridge you just crossed, and realize that you had to make it on your own.

We can take you to the bridge (getting started, tutorial vids, etc.), and the whole community is rallied on the other side of the river cheering you on, but the actual bridge crossing you have to do on your own, or you’ll always find yourself coming back to it and wondering which side of the river you are on.

I’m not saying this to cast aside your request, or to claim that there isn’t merit for more tutorial-based resources.  But if you haven’t crossed the bridge, a site ‘case study’ would likely not be helpful.  Definitely, absolutely, start using these forums.  The more you post, ask questions, and interact with others, the quicker you will hit your “light bulb moment”.

Second what Derek says.
Install and then play, play, play. Don’t necessarily try to do “your” site with objectives, style, etc. Just change/play with the base install, use the docs as reference as you try different things. Observe what happens.
There will be an “ahhhh-haaaa” moment.

Hi there,

hmmm… I hardly dare to say (better: write) something and don’t really know where to begin. Fact is that I spent quite some time on the different resources alike Knowledge Base, Doc Center etc. to get a clearer picture of how EE works (and don’t feel that I really advanced).

The Video Tutorials is quite a nice source for the beginning, but it is really only touching the surface - really shallow (although useful, I repeat that).

So, where to go next? The documentation seems to be a listing of the different functionality in each of the tags (Edit, Templates, Admin…), and works probably well for a quick reference when working on something and reading through what it is for or about.

But when starting more or less by zero, than this kind of “dictionnary” (as it appears to me) doesn’t really work. And the more, if I have to read everything on the screen. (Is there no pdf file available for printing? I think research has proven that everything which is longer than half a page isn’t read on the screen but printed out.) I mean, I don’t want to read through the 100 functions and it’s purposes, if at the beginning I only need 15.

So, I strongly would suggest - or: I, personally, would like to see - more “case studies” and “intros”. I mean, what comes next after the “Weblog Template Relationship” Video? How do I design my site? How to have different “categories” such as About, Links section etc. What about CSS styling? Where to go for that? How to get different “articles” (templates?) into one page?

It seems to me that the “Beginner’s Corner” could really be improved. I hope, that nevertheless I don’t loose confidence and motivation to take the path from the Beginner to a EE-User.

Best wishes,

Stef

I agree. I just started using EE and consider myself a pretty seasoned web developer. It’s a bit confusing to begin from ground zero. Plus the documentation is a bit confusing at first and could be written better.

Thanks for the responses and the included encouragement…  😊

Nevertheless, let me say that the way to get some information about for example Templates from the Doc is rather complicated: I need to click on
  1) Templating System
  2) Introduction to Templates and Tags
  3) Template Introduction
to get a one pager. Then go Back, redescend another level, read another page. Go back two steps, redescend….

[Okok, I’ve just seen that I can jump to the next section at the bottom of each page. Fair enough and stupid of me of not thinking of this… .. But not in every part of the documentation. ]

Why is there no pdf file which one can download and just print. Would be so much easier to browse through that information. Would really be helpful.

I found that having a specific problem helped me to focus my searches and find solutions.

Go ahead and ask questions and you will get good answers.

There is more than one way to skin a cat with EE and I think this is why they don’t provide too much in the way of tutorials as they might be seen to force you into a set way of thinking whereas there might be another method of attack.

On the other hand I’d love to see a video of ‘Categories or Weblogs?’ and some of their key features.

luftikus143, there is a community managed PDF User Guide that you can use, just keep in mind that it is about six months old.

stinhambo, you know there’s a wiki article on categories or weblogs? I’m not sure how that would be improved in Video - or perhaps I am misunderstanding what you are after?

... I mean, what comes next after the “Weblog Template Relationship” Video? How do I design my site? How to have different “categories” such as About, Links section etc. What about CSS styling? Where to go for that? How to get different “articles” (templates?) into one page? ...

I wholeheartedly understand where Stef is coming with this, cause I too, agree.

Although, I DID cross the proverbial bridge that Derek talks about.
It’s so simple now to just keep going further and further into the woods on the other side of the river, experimenting, tinkering, and just plain having fun with my EE installation. 😊

In both defense of and reply to luftikus143:
The reason there is no specific directions/instructions regarding your questions (which I have quoted above) is because EVERYONE builds their site different.
There is no right way, or wrong way - just a different way.

As for HOW TO DESIGN YOUR SITE?
Well the best way is to use ANY method YOU prefer: Dreamweaver, Notepad, etc.
You are NOT limited to what you CAN do with EE.
Here, for a little bit of inspiration, check our the EE Showcase.
Sure, those are all professional looking sites, but have you noticed how almost ALL WordPress sites look alike?
With ExpressionEngine, YOU along are the cap to your limitations.

www.Jambor-ee.com is an amazing resoure with tons of new methods to getting things done.

And as everyone else stated above, if you need help, just post here.
😊

stinhambo, you know there’s a wiki article on categories or weblogs? I’m not sure how that would be improved in Video - or perhaps I am misunderstanding what you are after?

Thank you Lisa! It just seems that there are so many ways to skin a cat with EE that a better idea is buried sometimes…

Perhaps we should have a Smashing Magazine style of presentation with a problem and 5 or 6 ways to approach it!

Me? I’m looking forward to the next installment of Behind the Iron Curtain 😊 Now if you could video Podcast that…

A video-cast, with Derek as the star? Ooooh.

Just keep the cameras away from me, and I won’t object. But you have to convince Derek… *grins*

__

In all seriousness - yes.  There are usually many different ways to approach it.  And consider this: that category or weblog question? Was written before multiple category groups per weblog, before relationships and reverse relationships, before category custom fields, before Solspace’s Tag Module.

Someone should update that article. 😉

Some nice simple software like Screen-o-matic or even Profcast for narrated slides?

<sidenote>I am not here to criticise you guys. I really think you do a great job and I start really liking EE.</sidenote>

But, concerning the Doc…. Hmm, ok, learning by doing, as the other says - that’s partly ok for me. Having different approaches to the same thing - ok for me (although one can then still document those ones).

But now for example, I spent some ours to search, find and understand this category management. And I still haven’t really a clue what the purpose is. The doc does a good job in describing how to set up a new cat-group etc. But it doesn’t say why I should do it… What is the advantage of using categories? Does a “category” in EE is the same thing than categories in other software? Kind of a parent describer?

In one of the posts I found the link to the “Category or Weblog” article. It probably made matters worse, as now I am even more confused…

So anyway, I think there is room for documentation improvement… 😊

Thanks anyway for all the feedback and help.

We can take you to the bridge (getting started, tutorial vids, etc.), and the whole community is rallied on the other side of the river cheering you on, but the actual bridge crossing you have to do on your own, or you’ll always find yourself coming back to it and wondering which side of the river you are on.

Umm…...I’m all for crossing the bridge, problem is I cant even find the bridge…let alone working out how to cross it!