Can I integrate TXP into my existing HTML&CSS website?

nzhardcore · 2012-03-23 20:33:12

Hi guys,

Asked TXP directly through Contact form but got pointed here, I had already looked here and didn’t come across the answer I was looking for so thought I’d better post up!

I have an existing website in HTML and CSS that I want to have a CMS for. I usually use CushyCMS and I LOVE IT but I’ve met the 5 website limit for the free version and don’t want to fork out nearly $500NZD a year to have more.

Found TXP and it sounds good, but I’ve installed it and boy oh boy is it confusing! I’ve looked at the documentation and none of it seems to want to help me!

I like the ease of CushyCMS where I can just add tags/classes to identify the editable regions. Can I do something similar with TXP? What do I need to do to do so? Or do I have to recreate the pages all over again in TXP and then proceed from there? If so, what do I do once I’ve copy/pasted the HTML from the existing pages into pages in TXP to add the editable bits? That content/article/presentation stuff is confusing the hell outta me.

Any help much appreciated. Please be clear :) I’m a n000000b at TXP.

Cheers.

MattD · 2012-03-23 21:12:47

When I design a site I basically create it standalone first. I then create a textpattern page and paste all my html there. I then pull out the parts I want dynamic content and replace them with the approriate Textpattern Tags.

datorhaexa · 2012-03-23 22:55:31

Hello nzhardcore,

First, to get the fog a bit clearer, check this page (in case you have not done that already). Things are not as complex as they may seem at first.

To use something you already know, namely, Cushy. There you assign a class which the system recognises and in the place of the container with this class, it lets you inject content. With TXP, what you have as your page is the Page, or the html template. You don’t assign classes but in the places where you want dynamic content to appear, you use TXP tags to output content. This content you input under the various tabs under “Content” – this can be articles with titles, body text, excerpt, etc., images that can be then put into said articles and so on.

A good place to check TXP tags is the reference
There are also a number of basic videos online that I googled up

Best way to learn, though, is by checking the default Page/Template and seeing how it outputs content. Also, read the first link I posted to understand the building blocks, and this article to get the idea of context – maybe the most important thing to understand in Textpattern.

And don’t worry – we’ve all gone through a learning stage :)

Last edited by datorhaexa (2012-03-23 23:00:46)

maruchan · 2012-03-24 00:05:09

That content/article/presentation stuff is confusing the hell outta me.

Buy the TXP book. The online learning content isn’t nearly as good.

nzhardcore · 2012-03-24 02:31:35

Thanks for all your quick replies. Will get reading/watching all of that this weekend some time and then give it another try. Will no doubt have more questions to ask :) thanks again.

nzhardcore · 2012-03-24 03:42:02

Hi datorhaexa, I had a skim through the reference for the tags and also tried looking at the default page html to see how it pulls info. but still can’t seem to figure it out! This stuff really does seem to confuse the heck outta me!

So after I create an article with a title being something handy like ‘Homepage Header 1’, how do I pull the body/content of that article and place it where I have the first header on the homepage? Likewise how would I create an article with a handy title like “Homepage Text 1’ and pull the body of that article to display as the text content under the first header on the homepage?

I’m quite unsure what tags to use so please advise if you have time :)

I tried visiting your video tutorial link but looks like it’s pointing to the wrong location?

Cheers mate.

=============
UPDATE
=============

Ok I’ve figured out how to show the title and body of an article but the thing is I don’t want just 1 article per page. I’d like to have articles for each editable region on each page e.g. for the Homepage: Header 1, Content 1, Header 2, Content 2, Side Header 1, Side Content 2, Side Header 2, Side Content List. And then the content of each within the body of each article; thus pulling only the content from each article to place into header tags (h1 and h2 etc.) and p tags.

So my question is, how do I show one particular article in one particular place on a page and other articles in other places? So then I can show each article body/content exactly where I want it and the client can easily find which section he is to change due to the titles (and can rename the titles to something he may prefer so he can find the piece of content he wants to change faster in future).

So if that’s unclear :)

Last edited by nzhardcore (2012-03-24 04:11:13)

datorhaexa · 2012-03-24 09:51:26

Morning!

Now, you should read the first link I posted to understand the building blocks. Pages/Templates belong to Sections. Sections are your structural divisions in the site, usually corresponding to points in your navigation. Articles are units of content and they can be sorted into categories (logical division of content) and Sections. Thus, an article will be shown at a given section on your site.

To learn how to output an article, read about the article tag . To learn how to output first a list of articles, check this out

Please, do read the article about context that I linked to, to understand how content output depends on the section/category/article one is on. This will clear up things.

datorhaexa · 2012-03-24 09:55:06

Oh, and though it is not the easiest thing to find, I find the good old FAQs a good place to get some of your questions answered: http://textpattern.com/faq

merz1 · 2012-03-24 11:30:45

Start by reading the Textpattern book

merz1 · 2012-03-24 17:51:29

If once I was told on the #Textpattern forum when I needed help with a stupid question to go read the book, I would have never bothered.

Source

Well, what can I say … it’s a very good book for TXP beginners and a very recommended reading to get the TXP basics. Sorry Ralitza if short and precise answers aren’t your cup of tea.

datorhaexa · 2012-03-24 18:44:12

Markus, what do you say we scrap this forum and instead put one big link to where one can buy the book? Short and precise.

I didn’t want to bring this here because it’s not part of the subject, but since you brought it, here is what I think:
This is a community where sometimes total noobs appear. They know little if anything including if this CMS is at all suited for them and their needs. They will not run and buy a book before they figure out if this is something for them. What they might do, though, is decide that it’s not worth it if the community behind the CMS can not be arsed in those five minutes they took to write “Go read the book” to help them. Get my point?

merz1 · 2012-03-27 10:54:58

… put one big link to where one can buy the book?

In case you didn’t follow my link: Google books offers the whole book.

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#1 2012-03-23 20:33:12

Can I integrate TXP into my existing HTML&CSS website?

#2 2012-03-23 21:12:47

Re: Can I integrate TXP into my existing HTML&CSS website?

#3 2012-03-23 22:55:31

Re: Can I integrate TXP into my existing HTML&CSS website?

#4 2012-03-24 00:05:09

Re: Can I integrate TXP into my existing HTML&CSS website?

#5 2012-03-24 02:31:35

Re: Can I integrate TXP into my existing HTML&CSS website?

#6 2012-03-24 03:42:02

Re: Can I integrate TXP into my existing HTML&CSS website?

#7 2012-03-24 09:51:26

Re: Can I integrate TXP into my existing HTML&CSS website?

#8 2012-03-24 09:55:06

Re: Can I integrate TXP into my existing HTML&CSS website?

#9 2012-03-24 11:30:45

Re: Can I integrate TXP into my existing HTML&CSS website?

#10 2012-03-24 17:51:29

Re: Can I integrate TXP into my existing HTML&CSS website?

#11 2012-03-24 18:44:12

Re: Can I integrate TXP into my existing HTML&CSS website?

#12 2012-03-27 10:54:58

Re: Can I integrate TXP into my existing HTML&CSS website?

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