Template Design Techniques
How Do I?
Hello,
So after about a 8 year hiatus from using EE due to various life and career issues, I’ve decided to give it another go. I’m seeking some advice from anyone whether it be from veterans of EE to other novices such as myself there’s a question I have about the current version and what is the best approach to designing the look and feel of a site utilizing EE since the last version I worked with was during the v1.6.x days.
I’ve been told that in the Design menu in the Control Panel is somewhat of a misnomer. That shouldn’t really be the place where you code your CSS or HTML. So I’m looking to seek answers or advice on how others perform this. Do you perform the layouts in say another app such as Dreamweaver and copy and paste the code in EE? Or do you utilize flat files and sync it between the two? What are the pros and cons and how do you maintain the EE tags necessary among the different approaches?
I’m somewhat confused because the Control Panel is laid out quite differently, but I believe the concepts are still the same. My goal in utilizing EE is to stand up a personal and family blog, and I don’t want to go with other alternatives such as WordPress or Drupal, because I think EE is so much more flexible. I think the answer I’m really looking for is what are a tried and true technique from your experience when it comes to designing the look and feel of a site utilizing EE?
I’m no expert in CSS or HTML, but I possess the understanding of those aspects and have a strong desire to further my knowledge in order to accomplish my goal. Short of taking classes, I hope to gain some valuable insight from anybody willing to offer their advice or lessons. Thanks!
One thing I get tired of in the technical world is people who want to proselytize their particular design & coding workflow and tell you “if you aren’t doing it this way you are doing it wrong.” Ignore them. Start using the tool and see if you enjoy working in the Control Panel. If not, then look to save out your templates as text files. Find a process you enjoy because you enjoy it - not because someone else claims it’s the one true way.
The HTML design is really separate from EE. Design your site using any existing design tools/process that ends in static HTML. If that’s Dreamweaver for you…then use DW.
Then bring that code into EE and start making it dynamic using EE tags. At this point you would most likely be out of Dreamweaver and into either the CP or a text editor.
I just completed a series of free tutorials on Train-ee that take an existing design and bring it into EE - it might be a good resource for you:
http://www.train-ee.com/courseware/free-tutorials/category/building-a-portfolio-site
Yes, lots of different ways to get to the same point! For me, I use Coda for my HTML coding (keeping the templates as flat files) and Espresso for dealing with CSS. I don’t do any of the coding in EE, but that’s just me….
@Boyink! - Thanks for your candor and advice on the issue. It definitely makes more sense to me now in that there is more than one way to skin this cat. I guess it caught me off guard when another resource explained their viewpoint on the Design section within EE and I just wanted to start off on a more “correct” footing. I will definitely check out the Train-EE resources you recommended. Thanks!