Static Page Design, Categories, Subcategories

SirStan · 2007-08-13 21:20:25

I have been playing with Plone, and it seems to work great for my organizations website, except for the fact that its slow, no one will host it, python is annoying (ie, I don’t know it), etc, etc. I have been playing around with CMS systems and I really like TextPattern for some reason. I found this site that does EXACTLY what I want to do with my site (and am more or less doing with Plone):

http://www.mosman.nsw.gov.au/ (Runs on TXP)

How do I setup static pages like that? How do I setup the categories and subcategories to load like that?

Ie.. a static content page layout such as:

mysite.com/about/
mysite.com/about/history
mysite.com/about/firstsite/
mysite.com/about/firstsite/tour
mysite.com/goals/

I have roughly 100 pages of content that are category/page, or category/subcat/page format. It seems like I need to statically build pages for each of these, and then what is the advantage of a CMS?

Does anyone have a somewhat step-by-step conceptual implementation of a static page (ie, not blog style as TextPattern defaults to out of the box) system such as I would have with Plone? (opensourcecms.com will show you what Plone looks like).

Should I look at another CMS? (Movable Type?)

ruud · 2007-08-13 21:44:48

According to this, it’s a Textpattern install that was modified to support subsections, something that is not likely to become publicly available until the release of Textpattern 4.1

jakob · 2007-08-13 21:45:48

Welcome SirStan,

Yes, you can do that with txp. You don’t need to create static pages for each page. Each ‘end page’ with its own information is an article. Overview pages (e.g. section/category pages), such as those that list the individual pages (articles) are generated automatically. Likewise you can get menus to generate automatically from your articles.

The basic way to go about it is to break down your site into kinds of content, e.g. textual information pages, galleries, link list, contact page etc. and for each of these you make a page template.
You then structure the different parts of your site using sections and categories, e.g. about, goals etc. as sections … and then you allocate to each section a page template according to the kind of content it typically contains. If two sections are both essentially text-based with a similar page structure you can use the same page template for both.

Take a look at two articles written by Destry Wion:

Both are quite long but you’ll have a much better idea after reading them.

jakob · 2007-08-13 21:56:43

subsections…

true, a mysite.com/one/two/three tier structure is not possible at present but in most cases, unless it is a very complex site, you will probably be fine with a two tier structure. You can subdivide the section level into categories and so achieve a similar notional kind of organisation but the article itself won’t have a link mysite.com/section/category/article link. For example:

section = projects
categories = houses, schools, shopfitting …
articles = project a, project b, project c …

Tier 1: mysite.com/projects – you could show a list of all projects separated into categories here or alternatively a list of the categories

Tier 2: mysite.com/projects/schools – a list of all projects featuring schools

Projects: mysite.com/projects/project-name-a are themselves chosen from Tier 2 or Tier 1 (depending how you have it set up) so you can think of them notionally as the third tier. The link itself does not include the category.

Last edited by jakob (2007-08-13 21:59:48)

SirStan · 2007-08-13 22:10:25

Unfortunately I do need a three tier layout due to the current layout of information. I have something such as:

*About

*People

*Directors

*Locations

+ Location A + Location B + Location C

*Programs + Population Group A

+ Population Group B – Population Specific Service A – Population Specific Service B – Population Specific Service C + Population Group C – Population Specific Service D – Population Specific Service E

Last edited by SirStan (2007-08-13 22:38:28)

jakob · 2007-08-14 07:44:51

I still think this is possible to achieve the programs/population group b/population service a structure if you don’t mind the link appearing as programs/population service a – the site usage would appear three tier, the link to the program is only two-tier but still makes sense:

Make the section = programs
Use categories for the population groups
Use articles for the individual services and assign these to the relevant categories (population groups)

If you need descriptions for the categories or for the section overview page there are two ways you can achieve this:

hard-code them in: You can include the introductory descriptions for the program page or population groups as HTML code in the txp:if_article_list (=programs/) and if_category parts (=programs/category) of your page template, or
author-editable: You can write article(s) with the introductory descriptions that should appear on the programs/ or programs/category pages. As these articles should not be listed as a specific service, the trick here is to set the status of these articles to ‘hidden’ so that they won’t automatically appear. You can still ‘force display’ them in the txp:if_article_list (= programs) and if_category parts (=programs/category) of the page template as above. Instead of hard-coding as HTML, use txp:article_custom with the attributes id="article-ID#" and status="hidden" which effectively forces the display of a specific article that is otherwise hidden.

Finally, for each of the specific services (articles) under programs you display the categories (i.e. population groups) they apply to. In your article form (see Destry Wion’s articles) you include txp:category1 (and txp:category2 should some services apply to two different population groups) to display the population groups that service applies to.

pstoll · 2007-08-22 17:22:08

I nearly fell out of my chair finding this post.

I’m in the exact same situation. I’ve been exploring CMS options, am close to settling on TextPattern. The one nagging question was “subsections”. Then I found that featured site and said “i need that”. Then…i found this forum post. The proposed “work arounds” I’ve seen elsewhere are just too hacky.

My use is a non-profit site that is more “corporate site” and not so much blog. So subsections are on the list of must-haves.

1) let me my add my voice to the appeal of both that site (tempales) and the platform (crockery?) that runs it.

2) Is using Crockery/4.1 an option? that is, whatever is running that site is what i want. should i just checkout current crockery and give it a whirl?

fwiw, I’m capable with php/mysql/etc. and would be happy to hack.

Anyone have details on the mods and/or templates used by that team?

Regards. Perry

Last edited by pstoll (2007-08-23 13:06:57)

ruud · 2007-08-22 17:29:50

crockery/4.1 is not yet an option for a production site, IMHO

encry · 2008-04-22 22:16:28

So what solution can be presented by Textpattern in using subcategories?
Is it so difficult to include un unlimited number of categories for Textpattern?
I really need this option for a lot of my sites. I’m trying to find another CMS (instead of usage of Textpattern) that supports subcategories, but… but no one can be compared to Textpattern.

By subcategorizing I mean a multi level navigation through the site like this one:
www.sait.md/category/subcategory/subcategory/subcategory/subcategory/…/subcategory/

Wish someone can suggest an alternative.

zero · 2008-04-22 22:32:34

I can suggest an alternative but it’s probably not what you want to hear. Make your site a lot flatter!

All those subcategories must be murder to navigate, not user friendly at all. If you’re doing it for SEO, just create long filenames instead.

Just my opinion, as I don’t know why you should want such a multi level navigation.

pstoll · 2008-04-23 00:14:26

“Flatten your site?”

There are legitimate reasons to have more then 2 levels.

Sure maybe the example of 15 levels seems excessive. but 3? 4? Very reasonable. Why folks feel the need to “correct” or ignore this use case is strange to me.

encry · 2008-04-23 00:42:42

zero,

If Textpattern would be presented like a blog solution, it would be ok with 2 levels system. But most of itţs users affirm that it’s a CMS, I don’t just believe a 2 level system is ok.
Why?
1. Most of the CMS support multilevel navigation.
2. It’s logical for every site to have a logical navigation system. For example, on a site we sell fruits. The apples are a subcategory of the fruits. But the apples are different, for example “Botul iepurelui”. This kind of apples has 2 subdivions: green colour and red colour. Now, logically the site adress should look like this for red colour “Botul iepurelui” apples:

www.fruits.com/apples/botul-iepurelui/red/

not www.fruits.com/id6346 or I don’t know what else.

The user sometimes tries to guess the navigation of the site, often when he already has visited this site. Even the adress of a site must be made for humans, it must be readable.

If Textpattern is considered a CMS, then let it be a CMS!

I found an alternative these days. If you want a multilevel navigation on your site, install some more Textpatterns on it :D

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

#1 2007-08-13 21:20:25

Static Page Design, Categories, Subcategories

#2 2007-08-13 21:44:48

Re: Static Page Design, Categories, Subcategories

#3 2007-08-13 21:45:48

Re: Static Page Design, Categories, Subcategories

#4 2007-08-13 21:56:43

Re: Static Page Design, Categories, Subcategories

#5 2007-08-13 22:10:25

Re: Static Page Design, Categories, Subcategories

#6 2007-08-14 07:44:51

Re: Static Page Design, Categories, Subcategories

#7 2007-08-22 17:22:08

Re: Static Page Design, Categories, Subcategories

#8 2007-08-22 17:29:50

Re: Static Page Design, Categories, Subcategories

#9 2008-04-22 22:16:28

Re: Static Page Design, Categories, Subcategories

#10 2008-04-22 22:32:34

Re: Static Page Design, Categories, Subcategories

#11 2008-04-23 00:14:26

Re: Static Page Design, Categories, Subcategories

#12 2008-04-23 00:42:42

Re: Static Page Design, Categories, Subcategories

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