Textpattern CMS support forum
You are not logged in. Register | Login | Help
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
#109 2025-11-26 16:36:25
Re: Textpattern's face to the public
Kudos to Lab99.
I’m impressed that the tutorial starts with a static website as the subject (counterintuitive to us regular users), but perfect for non technical users. The next lesson inches higher, specifying a single article id instead of the expected <txp:article />. Etc.
They start with the absolute basics and build from there, nothing is assumed. Love ut.
Offline
#110 2025-11-26 22:15:23
Re: Textpattern's face to the public
giz wrote #341364:
Kudos to Lab99.
I’m impressed that the tutorial starts with a static website as the subject (counterintuitive to us regular users), but perfect for non technical users. The next lesson inches higher, specifying a single article id instead of the expected
<txp:article />. Etc.They start with the absolute basics and build from there, nothing is assumed. Love ut.
“…but perfect for non technical users” . . . that is why the cms that shall not be named is so popular
My new site is currently all in a flat pure html format. I am next going to start by adding TxP code to footer and header… and so on. My very first site also started out this way. Marie Poulin also had a great tutorial built along this approach. It was available from FuelYourCoding.com now defunct. I salvaged her tutorial and I may refer to it again for this new project of mine. Her example site with an all the code was for a Portfolio example site. I can’t fathom why no one else has done something similar for 4.8. I remember that in the early days Expression Engine came with a default site when installing the css. It was great to use as a foundation for a new site as it had all the code which one could adopt for one’s use.
Textpattern has a great dedicated core development team for which we’re all grateful. What is lacking is marketing. And an easy to use sample site more fully developed than what is currently distributed.
PS I just came across the old Textpattern Buzzbomb files .. which reminds me // how do we handle dynamic automagical navigation using active class css these days?
Last edited by bici (2025-11-26 22:20:27)
…. texted postive
Offline
#111 Yesterday 08:01:26
Re: Textpattern's face to the public
bici wrote #341365:
Marie Poulin also had a great tutorial built along this approach … now defunct …
You can still find it on archive.org and several years ago, I updated Marie Poulin’s theme files to work with the current theme folder principle. See this post for the download link and screenshots :-) It is very basic, though.
I remember that in the early days Expression Engine came with a default site when installing the css. It was great to use as a foundation for a new site as it had all the code which one could adopt for one’s use.
Textpattern has a great dedicated core development team for which we’re all grateful. What is lacking is marketing. And an easy-to-use sample site more fully developed than what is currently distributed.
I agree. Or perhaps a mini theme family for a couple of typical situations. I’d suggest that’s to tackle for Textpattern 5. FWIW: Phil’s theme is, I think, well worked out but overshoots in some areas (schema.org detailing, good but clouds the intent) and undershoots in others (structural expansion of a site). It takes the conscious decision to use a minimum of theme assets (images, pre-entered content), which limits it from being more fully developed but also means there is practically nothing to remove when starting a new site.
PS I just came across the old Textpattern Buzzbomb files …
Wow, that was such a long time ago, I had forgotten what that was…
How do we handle dynamic automagical navigation using active class css these days?
txp:section_list and txp:category_list still have an active_class attribute, but it’s really only of use for very simple navigations. I usually use txp:if_section / txp:if_article_section (analogue for categories) as well as txp:if_article_id within a menu loop to determine what is currently active. Menus can be built in so many different ways, but the tools are there for different situations.
The current best practice (as far as I’m aware) is now to use aria-current on the a anchor rather than an active class on the list item, so that assistive devices are informed about which nav item the current page refers to. You can use two approaches together if you prefer.
PS: We’ve gone way off-topic from the original purpose of this thread
TXP Builders – finely-crafted code, design and txp
Offline
#112 Yesterday 12:18:32
Re: Textpattern's face to the public
bici wrote #341365:
What is lacking is … an easy to use sample site more fully developed than what is currently distributed.
jakob wrote #341370:
Or perhaps a mini theme family for a couple of typical situations.
Or both? A fully working theme for distribution, and a minimal comprehensive playground for the demo site. The latter does not need SEO and other meta stuff. Just few tags to illustrate the basics.
Offline
#113 Yesterday 18:10:41
Re: Textpattern's face to the public
jakob wrote #341370:
PS: We’ve gone way off-topic from the original purpose of this thread
Perhaps admins can move the discussion to a proper thread? ( apologies if I started it in an inappropriate thread).
…. texted postive
Offline
#114 Today 10:38:51
Re: Textpattern's face to the public
This cognitive function test shows I’m losing it, so please take my tuppence worth with a pinch of sea salt.
I like the current look and feel – the graphics suggest relaxed, easy-going, hand-made and unique. Words and fonts show the serious side, as they should.
The new look is far more serious. OK, the bouncing balls suggest fun and ingenuity and I love how you’ve continued the theme with circles around descriptions below. I still think it looks too serious, however, and the only idea I have that might help is to perhaps misshape or “chip away” the circles ever so slightly or put some 89 degree angles in there so the graphical side suggests “almost perfect”, which I think Textpattern is and always will be.
The big mustard dot after Textpattern could have a sideways triangle to turn it into a clickable “Play” button, for those of us fascinated by the bouncing balls – with default animation stopping after one play through. But I’m only looking on a big screen. Perhaps on a mobile, default animation would continue and there would be an X in the corner to click to stop it? (I’m totally out of touch with modern CSS and coding, so apologies if my ideas are impractical).
Robert’s ideas on content sound sound. I’d like to see the word play prominent. Also powered by real human intelligence or no artificial sweeteners. Yes, I haven’t embraced AI yet.
Keep up the good work and I look forward to the new design.
Dozy P My attempt at music
Offline