Thread

I am currently in process of developing a site that will sell ready made EE websites. Not just templates but full on websites similar to what you would find for Joomla or Wordpress.

I love the idea Marcus and if I could make a suggestion… include some websites with placeholders for ad banners. It’s one of the things that has prevented me from buying ready-made templates and adapting them to EE: I could not find one designed to accept banner ads. And if I have to start changing the design to accomodate (rather large typically) ad placeholders, I may as well start from scratch.

I think it’s that nobody knows just exactly how to package a default site?

Well I’d have to disagree with that one as I could do it if I wanted but I don’t want to 😉

The reason being that tastes are different between people and there are a lot of people out there and I can’t be doing with anyone saying what you said about one of my designs as I would probably cry 😉

Seriously though I think you would need so many templates to make it a good thing or people will just take the one they like the best and then saturate the web with it. With the templates that you get with ExpressionEngine they are meant more for understanding how the system works and they do that admirably. I even find myself looking at the main site/index page every now and then as there are items, particularly at the bottom of the page which I always forget about so in that respect they are helpful 😉

Also for a beginner I doubt that they are going to get their site up and running within a few days due to needing to learn everything and the templates that are there do that quite well I think.

Just my two penneths worth though not having a dig honest as I totally value your opinion and see where you are coming from on this one but I do think there are a lot of variables involved 😉

Best wishes,

Mark

EE tends to live in the realm of one’s dream site, with total customization a template away.
But in the meantime going with another “blogging platform”.

I think you only really have to look at the Showcase and you can see some of the sites that have been created with ExpressionEngine and they truly are awe inspiring.

Take for example Veerle Pieters that is one pretty fantastic site and she is widely regarded as one of the best web-site designers and all round designers around today. Her site was created in ExpressionEngine and shows just what can be done with a bit of work and creative thinking.

Perhaps EllisLab should make more of showing people that side of things instead? I guess that most people come to the forums first when visiting this site but perhaps if there were more featured sites on the front page or somewhere then people could at least get a good idea of what is possible? Veerle even has some nice write ups of how to do certain items in ExpressionEngine, definitely worth a read if anyone is interested.

Best wishes,

Mark

Really. I have never found any XHTML template (free, commercial, stock ones, WP, whatever) that I could not convert to work with EE in under an hour.

I was stuck this week working on another CMS system site, which chooses a skinning engine as it’s “claim to fame” it took all of two seconds to skin the site, I kid you not. This really amounts to the inclusion of a mere style switcher, and built in placeholders. It’s another way of doing thing for sure, EE’s way is better, yeah… I get that! 😊

Thanks guys… no pressure 😉

Templates are one thing. Additional functionality is another. My free templates will basically be Open Source templates that were converted… (free? did he just say free?). The pro templates will have additional features already whipped up and ready to go. Drop Menus? Podcasting? Video Players? Flash Banners? Weblogs that make it easy for newbies or non developer/designer types to get up and running with an EE site? The idea is to bring more people into the community and spread the EE love. There are so many people that turn away from EE because of the learning curve. We hope to capture some of that audience.

Right now we are on schedule to have some free templates available for download in 7-10 days. Wish me luck…

M.

Really. I have never found any XHTML template (free, commercial, stock ones, WP, whatever) that I could not convert to work with EE in under an hour.

You’re dropping behind there a bit aren’t you Ingmar. I usually do it in under 30 minutes 😉
Obviously now some clever person (like I was) will come in and say they do it faster!!! 😉 )

Sorry just had to do it.

Best wishes,

Mark

That’s the point exactly: One-click theme switching requires serious concessions to the setup of the site. There is a reason all WP blogs look the same, give or take a few colors.

Right now we are on schedule to have some free templates available for download in 7-10 days. Wish me luck…

M.

You don’t need it - I can vouch for that. You are going to have a great resource there. Should be excellent. Wishing you all the best with your venture although I’m sure you will do really well on this one 😉

Best wishes,

Mark

30 minutes? Geesh… You must drink more coffee than I do…

Thanks Mark. Now back to work…

M.

Really. I have never found any XHTML template (free, commercial, stock ones, WP, whatever) that I could not convert to work with EE in under an hour.

A small writeup on that process of a “one-hour-conversion” could make a great mug-shot or tutorial.

Nope no coffee here. Totally against the stuff I am. I’m strictly a soft drinks kind of person. Hardly ever touch alcohol either apart from very very special occasions. Mainly because I think that beer and what not tastes like cats doings 😉 and also I have seen first hand the very bad effects of alcohol and never want to end up in that way.

Must admit that I’m not too sure how I stay awake to around 3 or 4 every morning coding and such and then going out to work at around 7:30. Can’t be doing myself any favours there now can I?

With the 30 minutes it can honestly be that quick as the way I code I get the design 100% perfect (well my 100% perfect that is) first and then I know exactly what tags I am going to need and can go in and add them very quickly. To get the actual design on its own without any tags and such in there is probably even quicker than that 😉

Will let you get on now though as I know that you have a great site coming on there and so will need to get back to it. All the best.

Best wishes,

Mark

There is a reason all WP blogs look the same, give or take a few colors.

That is not fair. There are third-party templates that introduces a serious difference. I saw one recently that made a blog look like a news site.

Two things come to mind:

- really EE is more than a blog platform. It’s the combination of the modules that gives it it’s power… and you know the discussion we had recently on my (lame) attempt at irony? “Publish your universe.”
The more I think about it, the more I think EE goes beyond its baseline which smells like “blog” whereas EE has more potential. I would sell it on the strenght of being one of the few integrated platform if I were you guys

- on the templates, for the market you appear to be after, it’s perfectly ok. The only concern I have is that that out of the box, EE appears dated and more like a kid’s projet than a serious, well-maintained product. Offering a few modern examples as part of the default installation would adress that

That’s the point exactly: One-click theme switching requires serious concessions to the setup of the site. There is a reason all WP blogs look the same, give or take a few colors.

Actually, I was speaking to the horrors of DNN, validation? ...forget that!