Textpattern CMS support forum
You are not logged in. Register | Login | Help
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
#1 2008-11-11 08:52:26
- Violetxoxox
- New Member
- From: Oakland, CA
- Registered: 2008-11-01
- Posts: 5
Need help with Glass and Minima templates
I am tearing my hair out. See? See the fistfuls of hair?
I have two separate sites, one based on the Glass template, and one based on Minima.
The Glass-based site is installed here and I’ve mucked about with the design quite a bit. While many things are making me nuts and have me going in circles, the most frustrating is that there seems to be some problem with the rss_suparchive plugin. The archives currently look like this. Tons of errors. Not pretty. I have no idea what any of it means.
Additionally, the template included the rss_auto_excerpt plugin, which I do NOT WANT. I tried simply turning it off, but since there was code in various files of the template pointing to it, that just made the posts disappear altogether. In desperation, I cheated: I replaced article code on the default page with the following:
<txp:if_individual_article>
<p>
<txp:link_to_prev><txp:prev_title /></txp:link_to_prev>
<txp:link_to_next><txp:next_title /></txp:link_to_next>
</p>
</txp:if_individual_article>
<txp:if_article_list>
<p>
<txp:older>Previous</txp:older>
<txp:newer>Next</txp:newer>
</p>
</txp:if_article_list>
And then set the rss_auto_excerpt-specific code to show 20 paragraphs rather than 2. But I know this isn’t a proper fix. I’d like to get rid of the plugin altogether, but I’m not really sure how to do that (i.e., what I’d need to put in the code once it’s gone).
Then there’s the site based on the Minima template. I’m having an rss_suparchive problem there, too, but it’s somewhat different. Minima didn’t come with an archive (not one that I saw, anyway), so I attempted to duplicate the one from the Glass template. I went through the code line by line, adding code in one line at a time, and everything was going fine UNTIL I finally added the lines [relating to the plugin] that control the content in the “By Category” and “By Date” columns. That’s when the page went all wonky (the body lost the white background and everything shifted over to the right). I’m not sure why this is happening.
I’m not real great with TXP or CSS, so I’ve been cramming like crazy for the past week and not getting anywhere fast. It’s a steep learning curve.
Any help would be very appreciated.
Last edited by Violetxoxox (2008-11-11 08:55:23)
Offline
Re: Need help with Glass and Minima templates
Hi,
For the plugin errors you can safely ignore them. Recent changes (more recent than the last revision of that plugin at least) to Textpattern mean that plugin writers must declare everything they use before they use it. In this case the plugin does not do that so it throws a warning. When you switch your site to Live they’ll go away. If you really want to get rid of the warnings I can tell you what you need to add to the plugin to make them go away.
As far as using rss_suparchive goes, I seem to recall somewhere on Stuart’s site was a tutorial or three related to how to do archives without a plugin. Unfortunately I can’t find them right now as the search feature seems to return blank results at the moment :-( Stuart! But if you browse around you may find them lurking in a suitable category. Or there are similar links in the forum if you search/google for them.
Then there’s rss_auto_excerpt. As you know, it will just grab the excerpt if you have one or try and make one from the body text. So if you always have an excerpt on your articles, you can bin the call to rss_auto_excerpt and replace it with <txp:excerpt />. Then you should be able to disable the plugin and check everything still works before removing it. As a quick tip, temporarily go and install smd_where_used then use it to search for rss_auto_excerpt to make sure it’s not in use in other places in the site before deleting it for good.
If you don’t have an excerpt for all articles you’ll have to come up with some other way of excerpting them on list pages. There’s rvm_substr for cutting a string at a fixed number of characters?
With regards the Minima template I think you may have to wait for someone who know the template better than me to answer that one, sorry.
Last edited by Bloke (2008-11-11 09:41:11)
The smd plugin menagerie — for when you need one more gribble of power from Textpattern. Bleeding-edge code available on GitHub.
Txp Builders – finely-crafted code, design and Txp
Offline
Offline
Re: Need help with Glass and Minima templates
thebombsite wrote:
They were the ones I was trying to find! Excellent.
Do you mean my site search Stef?
Yes, it renders the article count and nav page numbers along the top, but no results for some reason. At least none I can see when I searched for archive.
EDIT: Of course, when you find out why and fix it, the above search link will work and I’ll look a right chump ;-)
Last edited by Bloke (2008-11-11 17:08:09)
The smd plugin menagerie — for when you need one more gribble of power from Textpattern. Bleeding-edge code available on GitHub.
Txp Builders – finely-crafted code, design and Txp
Offline
Re: Need help with Glass and Minima templates
I shouldn’t worry Stef. Putting the site into Debugging mode throws up a totally incomprehensible (to me that is) error so I need to post elsewhere and find out what is causing it cuz I can’t see anything wrong with the page/form code. :(
Stuart
In a Time of Universal Deceit
Telling the Truth is Revolutionary.
Offline
#6 2008-11-11 20:42:38
- Violetxoxox
- New Member
- From: Oakland, CA
- Registered: 2008-11-01
- Posts: 5
Re: Need help with Glass and Minima templates
Bloke wrote:
For the plugin errors you can safely ignore them. Recent changes (more recent than the last revision of that plugin at least) to Textpattern mean that plugin writers must declare everything they use before they use it. In this case the plugin does not do that so it throws a warning. When you switch your site to Live they’ll go away. If you really want to get rid of the warnings I can tell you what you need to add to the plugin to make them go away.
You’re right, the errors disappear when live. Yay! Errors in general just freak me out, especially when I don’t know what they’re trying to tell me (and I’m always afraid it’s something like “the server is gonna blow in ten seconds, ruuuuuun!”).
As far as using rss_suparchive goes, I seem to recall somewhere on Stuart’s site was a tutorial or three related to how to do archives without a plugin.
Saw the later responses from Stuart. Planning to spend today checking those tutorials out.
If you don’t have an excerpt for all articles you’ll have to come up with some other way of excerpting them on list pages. There’s rvm_substr for cutting a string at a fixed number of characters?
No, I won’t have an excerpt on all articles. I only want articles to use an excerpt when I specifically define one in the write tab, otherwise show entire article.
With regards the Minima template I think you may have to wait for someone who know the template better than me to answer that one, sorry.
The irony of the two templates is that in terms of making changes, Minima has been much simpler than Glass when it comes to nearly every other aspect. The CSS is well-written and separated into clearly labelled/defined sections. The only thing Minima lacks is a true archive (specifically an archive that lists by date). Otherwise, IMO, it’s one of the best and most easily altered templates for a novice. I really do like it.
I’m crossing my fingers that Stuart’s tutorials will help me set an archive on it without the plugin.
Offline
Re: Need help with Glass and Minima templates
Hi Violet!
The irony of the two templates is that in terms of making changes, Minima has been much simpler than Glass when it comes to nearly every other aspect. The CSS is well-written and separated into clearly labelled/defined sections. The only thing Minima lacks is a true archive (specifically an archive that lists by date). Otherwise, IMO, it’s one of the best and most easily altered templates for a novice. I really do like it.
I am the author of the template. Your words have left me all warm and fuzzy – I am really happy you like the template – ease of use and adaptability was exactly what I was looking for!
To solve your problem, I would suggest you use the code I posted on another site of mine – TXP Tips. An article on creating an archive is right here. You don’t need to use a plugin for a basic archive page.
I will update the template in the next month or two to include an archive, but in the meantime please post again if you need any more help.
Offline
#8 2008-11-11 22:28:33
- Violetxoxox
- New Member
- From: Oakland, CA
- Registered: 2008-11-01
- Posts: 5
Re: Need help with Glass and Minima templates
jstubbs wrote:
I am the author of the template. Your words have left me all warm and fuzzy – I am really happy you like the template – ease of use and adaptability was exactly what I was looking for!
You definitely succeeded. I’ve spent the last couple of years looking at the various TXP templates, and Minima was one of the ones that I consistently came back to. Other designs may be flashier, but unless you’re going to use a template exactly as-is (and I knew I wanted to make changes), you really need a template that has a strong backbone and structure. Things that look cute on the surface can be a nightmare to deal with when you see the template in its underwear. It’s easier to add bells and whistles to a simple, clean template than to try to scale back or move bits around in a complicated one. For a novice like me, anyway.
To solve your problem, I would suggest you use the code I posted on another site of mine – TXP Tips. An article on creating an archive is right here. You don’t need to use a plugin for a basic archive page.
Thanks. I sent you a message over there. :)
Offline