Stephens Blog: website

Showing posts with label website. Show all posts

Saturday, 21 February 2015

drupal views link to another view

I have a view which shows a list of a content type. When the content is clicked I want to show another view of that content.

The reason is I want to make use of the css layout I've already made with a views slideshow, and I would like to duplicate it with another view of just one item.

I have found this question, which is answered linking to these places about arguments.

I worked it out in the end. Although I did have trouble to begin with because I got all the settings correct and it still didn't work. But on creating a new view with the same settings it worked. It might have been due to the url having several 'layers' to it.

Basically:

Sort out your page
add 'contextual filter'

I did a taxonimy term.

test out in preview panel.

Saturday, 20 September 2014

Drupal Backup and Migrate - how to (in progress)

So, I have a drupal website. I'd like to write down the process of backing up and then restoring upon a complete failure.

So, to backup just use the default backup and set to download. Save these somewhere safe. Just to be safe I also did the same for Public Files Directory and Private Files Directory.

I guess thats the easy part. For the next part I've found it hard to find any documentation on restoring from a complete failure. Here's what I have found:

http://www.anexusit.com/blog/how-restore-backup-migrate-file-using-drush
http://drupal.stackexchange.com/questions/40490/how-to-restore-a-site-from-a-backup-done-with-backup-and-migrate-module-using-dr

Both are related to drush which is a command line shell and scripting interface for Drupal.

My best guess for restore is to install drupal, install drush and run the restore command line.

If you also lose files, then you have to make sure you have backup of all files as well.

I think what I'd really like is the backup utility used with Joomla, Akeeba. This is much easier. I don't even think you need to install Joomla to reinstall. And it backs up all files. There must be a reason it isn't as easy. Oh well.

Monday, 6 January 2014

Joomla changing background image depending on menu item

So I want to change the background picture depending upon the page you're on. When I first looked at the problem I thought it'd be easiest to create a Page Class on the menu item, and then within the content area, make an item which appears behind everything (z-depth) and fills the whole screen. The proved quite difficult.

Turns out there is a much easier way, still using the Page Class on each menu item. Found the answer here in a forum, and here in a Joomla Help Page.

Basically, you can use PHP to find the page that is being displayed, and put the class suffix anywhere in the document, i.e. in the

put this code inside the head tag:

<?php $app = JFactory::getApplication(); $menu = $app->getMenu()->getActive(); $pageclass = ''; if (is_object($menu)) $pageclass = $menu->params->get('pageclass_sfx'); ?>

Put this in the tag you want a class to. I.e. the body tag:

<body id="<?php echo $pageclass ? htmlspecialchars($pageclass) : 'default'; ?>">

You can also add another stylesheet to keep the css even more streamlined. Sorted! (oh, by the way, I havent tested any of this!!!!)

Well, after leaving it a while I came up with a problem. The specific page I want to change is a "featured-blog" menu item, so when I put the Page Class, I have to put a space to separate it from the word 'featured-blog'.

But alas, the pageclass picks this up! I had to get a php line in which trimmed the spaces from the pageclass:

$pageclass = trim($pageclass);

Monday, 11 February 2013

Joomla Template selector

So I would like an extension which will allow users to select which template they would like. Eventually I would like an extension which would allow users to create and upload templates which users could then select.

First off I am trying Template Selector.

Well, it works exactly like it says on the box. Only had a little trouble working it, but it's my fault.

download
install
go to Extensions > Plugin Manager

switch it on

go to Extensions > Module Manager

switch it on
activate for all pages
select which templates to select

Done

Only issue is that you need to make sure the position the module is in is present in all the templates it will be switched between.

To take it back to the default template simply delete the cookies in the web browser.

Monday, 30 July 2012

Creating a Joomla Template

So, I've made a few websites in Joomla now, but I've only been able to 'cobble' them together either by editing existing templates, or by deleting content from a traditional website I've made and putting the right code it.

This second way is close enough to the real thing. I've found this nice tutorial on how to do it for Joomla 1.5. But it's not too different from the latest version (2.5).

I think the easiest way is to have your own machine setup as a webserver (see this blog on setting that up) and editing the files locally, and easily seeing what Joomla makes of it by viewing the pages through the web browser.

On top of this I found this youtube video explaining how you can setup dreamweaver to interact with the website locally so you can edit all files in dreamweaver. To do it:

Set up a new site in Dreamweaver
edit the local folder to that of the joomla site
in server enter the web URL which you need to type in the browser to access the site
Make sure you tick the "testing" box

Here are some screenshots:

locate the local root folder for that particular joomla website

enter the weburl that the computer has to go to view the website

Make sure to tick the "testing" box.

If you havent got a new template in the joomla site yet, just create the folder within the templates folder, make index.php and templateDetails.xml files (found tutorial here), then go to extensions > extension Manager > Discover > press Discover button. If you're templateDetails.xml file is the correct format then you should see it in the list. Tick and click install.

To edit a template:

load up its "index.php" in it's own template folder
click "live view"
click yes to the dialogue box
you will need to change the address of the viewing page to the root of the joomla site. i.e. you are editing the main template, which changes the whole site. So you view the website like normal

I did have a few problems refreshing whatever changes I'd made. The simplist was to just go to File > Save All, which would then work.

Saturday, 7 July 2012

Embedding multimedia into Joomla

So, I just wanted to make an article with an embedded youtube video. Easy you would think:

go to the youtube video

click share > embed
copy code

make a new joomla article

write what you want
go to code view
paste iframe code
save

done

Not so simple. Seems when you go back to 'not code' view, it gets rid of the pasted bit of code. Very annoying.

After reading a forum discussion it appears for some reason it's best to have an extension. The simplest is "Allvideos". Download and install it under extensions. Enable it under "Plugin Manager". Then the procedure is:

go to the youtube video

get the id code of the video (the last bit of the address in the address bar)

i.e. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI97VGGHkic (bit in bold)

make a new joomla article

write what you want
where you want the video to appear type:

{youtube}kI97VGGHkic{/youtube}

save

done

So, in the end not too hard, just have to know the right buttons to press. Not good user design if you ask me, i.e. I had to look it up in a forum. The good thing about it is that you can embed all sorts of stuff, like flv files, mp3 files and more like it. Nice.

Wednesday, 20 June 2012

Making buttons and content only for registered users in Joomla

It's simple really, but I did need to do a search on it. I wanted a button which registered users could press which made a new Article in the News category.

What I did in the end was to make a new module, changed "access" from "public" to "registered". This module would then only show if the user was logged in.

I made a new menu, and put it in this module. I then created a button in the menu of type "Create Article" and made the default Category "News".

But looking at it now, it appears you can change Access to Registered for any menu item. So I could have just added menu items. But it still looks good.

Friday, 13 April 2012

Moving a site to Joomla

So, here I am moving www.wallspacevisualarts.co.uk to Joomla. I thought I'd best keep notes so I don't loose where I am when I finally give up for the day.

So far I have downloaded and installed the latest Joomla - 2.5.4 on the home machine and put it in the folder - /WallSpaceVisualArts/

I've ran the setup wizard:

The admin user is me with my usual password.
The sites database is - wallspacevisualarts (all lowercase). Admin for this is root. My own password.
I didn't install the sample data set.

The plan is relatively simple. I put the whole website on there, minus the content that can change. For the moment the only content that is changing is the tabulated text in the tabs. These can be articles which are always shown.

I want to eventually make the pictures an article also, but this would require much more work.

Here's the plan in chronological order (or maybe not so chronological):

~~get the documentation to know how to make a template~~

here it is

~~take out the css and put in a file~~

I called the file "main.css" in the css folder

~~make the template files and folders~~

made the root /Joomla Website/Templates
made one inside called /WallSpaceVersion1/
Made /css/ and /images folders
made templateDetails.xml

copied all info from link above and made it relevent

made index.php

~~move ALL images into "images" directory~~

moved images from "assets" directory to "images" directory
change any mention of "assets" with "images"

~~Change the way the tabs work so that they are called "tab1" and the information attached to each tab is called "tab1_info" to make more universal.~~

~~re-write the templateDetails.xml to encompass all the files used~~

if you declare a folder, do you need to declare the files in that folder?

looking at atomic's templateDetails.xml, they just put the files in the root folder
I think you just declare the files that you want to be editable

~~put the right bits of code in the right places~~
~~delete text~~
~~replace text with relevent code which brings up articles~~

Just found this article about Jdoc statements. It will hopefully work nicely
So, having looked into it, I found that what I actually wanted was to make each article a "Custom HTML" module. Each of these modules is then assigned a position in the page

Here's an example of what I put in the html code:

<jdoc:include type="modules" name="menu1" />
and for the module I assigned it to position "menu1.
don't forget to declare the menu1 in the templateDetails.xml document

~~make into template~~
~~put in joomla~~

had a little trouble with this. It turns out the "discover" button doesn't work well. The template turned up in "templates" tab but not in "styles" tab! Had to zip it and install it!

test

with initial testing, the images didn't appear

here's the code that I eventually used to link pictures placed in the template:

basically, where-ever you have

="location.jpg" you replace with:
="baseurl; ?>/templates/location.jpg

make johns login
make a space for it in index.php and declare it in templateDetails.xml
~~upgrade daily.co.uk account to Home Pro~~
~~make database on Daily (limited to 20 databases)~~

described it as "wallspacevisualarts"
db name is wallsp_1
To get on the database, you can go to mysql.daily.co.uk

it runs on phpmyadmin

normal password

backup joomla on home machine
backup old website on daily server
restore on daily server
give him a tutorial

Thursday, 1 March 2012

Chesterfield Panthers Rugby Club move

So, we're making the website and the design's looking good, but I think we need an idea of a site map.

Here's a nice little list of what information they want to show:

An introduction to what is happening (they're moving)
Some pictures of the new site
Lots of plans of the new site

Seperated into different builds and different facilities

Another brick in the wall (buy a brick)
Whats happening to the old site
News on little things that are happening
thorough contact details

seperate into who to contact for what

login page to add/change website content
email login page for members to check emails
Link to rugby club website
Sponsors page

could go into more detail about what each sponsor is providing

Timeline with dates
Events (could be tied into timeline and news)

I'm probably forgetting things, so I'll ask tomorrow.

So, just need to organise this list into categories and sub-categories:

Home Page (contains introduction and latest news clippings)
The Move (contains an overall picture)

Links to specific parts of the new site (different facilities)
Pictures of the new build as it's happening
Timeline
The old site

perhaps a tribute to the old site, some history
plans on the old site

News (all the news items in a big chronological list)
Sponsors Page (tiled with all the sponsors)

Click on each sponsor for more details and link to their website
Some info on how to add your company to the list

Contact section

fill in a form
email details
phone details
address details

Another brick in the wall - buy a brick

put a link to contact incase someone wants to do more then buy bricks

I'll add and change this as it evolves. Might invite phil to edit it too?

Monday, 20 February 2012

Uploading/transferring joomla

So I want to make a joomla site, but I use multiple jam-a-lam jazzy jeff stuff, yeh?? is you dizzy blood?!!

cannot believe how hot it is ya know! like 16 degrees yeh on wednesday!! gonn be real hot and sweatey wagwan, so get ya tshirts on and in the pool bitches! :D

So I found this wiki based on joomla 1.5. I shall read sometime.

So there are basically two ways:

manually uploading files and database

Copy joomla folder up to server via ftp
using myphpadmin on local machine export database
somehow import database into server php?
edit the configuration php file and change details

using akeeba

backup joomla using the akeeba extension
I assume you upload a joomla site and import this jpa file somehow
Here's their quickstart guide which looks VERY helpful.

So I did it!!

I backed up using akeeba

I downloaded the backup file
upload the backup file to the new server root

on the new server make sure there is a database ready
I used akeeba kickstart to restore!!

heres some documentation (very helpful)
download kickstart
unzip
put kickstart.php and en.ini file in root of server
goto the webaddress http://yourserver.com/kickstart.php
go through the wizard

Done

Sunday, 19 February 2012

Transferring from blogger/blogspot to joomla

So, I'm hoping to make a website for myself, which I want this blog to be a part of. But how to do it. Well, at first I thought I'd just have it as a feed, but actually I want to incorporate it fully into the joomla site. So.... here's what i found on the amazing thing called the internet:

Found on this forum

Export xml from blogger
import to wordpress
export from wordpress to joomla

Looks like wordpress is the go-between. Not found anything more recent then 2009, so maybe there is a straight blogger to joomla extension?

Found a how to website with information on the wordpress to joomla conversion. Need to install JoomBlog extension.

Also found this blog on how to do it. Costs $15 to by feed2post though

Just had a quick search on the extensions directory for joomla and found this PLo Blogger, which duplicates blogs on your joomla site onto your blogger site. This would be a good way to have them both up and running, and not loose any followers and such.

The question is: Is it worth the hassle? Perhaps keep blogger going, and make a new blog for other things on the joomla site. Might be the best thing to do?

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Joomla on a Mac

So, I've been trying out the cloudaccess.net version of Joomla and I thought I'd try the totally free downloadable version, mainly to see the differences and also to perhaps edit files more locally.

Just read up on the txt file which comes with the download, takes you to this page for installation requirements. At the bottom of the page it says there is a quicker way then installing all the little things; MAMP, Macintosh, Apache, Mysql and PHP.

So... here's how I did it:

Download MAMP and install
run MAMP from applications folder

Go to "Open Start Page" or open browser and type : http://localhost:8888/MAMP
Go to MyPHPAdmin

Name a new database and click create

Now download Joomla

unzip it (if safari doesn't)

Put the new folder in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs

In the web-browser go to http://localhost:8888/Joomla_2 (or whatever folder you've named it)
It now takes you through the Joomla installation
One point I got stuck on was the database name. Type in the database name you created in MyPHPAdmin
The default password for the database thing is:

username = root
password = root
I wouldn't change these if I were you. If you do:

Go to MAMP/bin/mamp/index.php and change the password bit
Got to MAMP/bin/MyPHPAdmin/config.inc.php and change the password bit in here too

Done!!

I'm going to try and download the joomla site I made on cloudaccess.net and put it on the computer? I shall hopefully write a post and stick it up here.

Notes:

Had this error message come up:

Could not connect to the database. Connector returned number: 2

Turns out I didn't create the database and/or put the right password in. It would be easier if Joomla could do this bit?

I'd gone and changed the password for root in MAMP!! Doh, I ended up having to look for where the password entries were for each part of MAMP. Found the main two:

Go to MAMP/bin/mamp/index.php and change the password bit
Got to MAMP/bin/MyPHPAdmin/config.inc.php and change the password bit in here too

How can I change the password for the MySQL database?

Open the terminal and type the following:
/Applications/MAMP/Library/bin/mysqladmin -u root -p password

Instead of use the new password you want.
Afterwards, you also need to change the password for phpMyAdmin and other scripts which are running under MAMP. You can change the password for phpMyAdmin in the file /Applications/MAMP/bin/phpMyAdmin-X.X.X/config.inc.php

Tuesday, 14 February 2012

Joomla notes

Thought I'd best take some notes because I might just forget how I ever did it. So:

Make a module for everything you want to place on the page, with exception to the articles

Theres a Banner module
theres a search module
theres a menu module
etc

These modules require you to designate them a position. This is set out in the template you are using. If you change template you'll have to change all the position. (there always named differently)
To view the positions, I found this forum. Basically in templates, go to options, switch on "preview positions" then whereever you are on the actual site, just put "?tp=1" without the speech-marks.
When in the menu manager you can assign different menus to different modules. I think this is so you can have a few different menus for different areas. All you'd have to do is make another menu module and put that in a different position.
To edit a templates stuff, I saw on a tutorial that there are lots of options which come with every template. I couldn't find these with Beez template, but with all you can edit the html, and also the css. So it's totally changeable!

I shall add to this list of useful hints over time.

Saturday, 11 February 2012

which Content Management System to use?

What with all the new websites about these days, with constantly updating and interactive elements, it is too daunting to learn php or asp so why not use a content management system?

Well, I think I'll try some out and then I'll be more able to answer that question. I had a quick look around and found this informative blog, which gives a nice little list of free ones. Here are some of the most popular and nice looking, and almost most importantly, free:

I'll carry on here when I've had some playing about.

Well, I'm still having a good look at Joomla. Seems good but a little complicated when you first have a look at it. I'm finally getting there. Here's what the joomla site currently looks like.

I've just found this wiki which describes how to begin templating, which is ultimately how I will make the website. It'll take a bit of getting used to, but essentially all I'll have to get used to is using the special php references to put the content in. You then use CSS to style all the html you made in the template.

Whilst looking through the joomla wiki I found that it might be easier to start off editing the "beez" template, which they claim to be highly adaptable! Heres the wiki

Friday, 9 September 2011

WallSpaceVidualArts coming soon

Just made the coming soon front page for the website www.wallspacevisualarts.co.uk. All works well, apart from in Firefox 4.0.1. Have a look at this:

Firefox 4.0.1 in background, Safari 5.0.4 in foreground. Notice you can't see the bottom email address in Firefox, and the last part of the phone number

Looks like Firefox 4.0.1 either makes the text too big, or makes the gaps (padding and margins) too big. Quite frustrating. Might be because I used em's for the font size?

Yep, worked it out in the end:

Firefox 4.0.1 in background, Safari 5.0.4 in foreground - fixed inconsistency

So, I started by changing margins which had no effect. I then tried changing font size from 'em' to 'pt', but this didn't work either. Finally tried the old 'line-height', changing from 'em' to 'px' which fixed it. Safari and Firefox are not the same when it comes to 'em's and 'line-height'. I still don't exactly know what 'em' means, but I'm sure I'll look it up one of these days.

Also to note was the slight differences in title formating. I used h1, h2 and h3 for the headers and footers, and there was a slight inconsistency with margins on them. Had to set them to 0px.

Also, for the "JOHN KING" text and phone number, I put a little bit of 'word-spacing' using 'em's, this is inconsistent between these browsers, so I changed it to 'pt'.

I also manually changed the margins for the '
' paragraphs. This is what gives it a bit of space at the top and bottom. I manually changed these so that I could determine the exact distance between the top and bottom of the main text.

Friday, 22 July 2011

Animation thumbnails as Animated GIFs

I have an idea to thumbnail all my animations for my website. The problem is: In what format should they be?

Well, the only universally acceptable format is of course "Animated GIF". Supported on ALL browsers, across ALL devices! With JAVA being another more complex alternative.

Anyway, to start testing it I was using my "Letters in a Box" animation.

So, I started by opening it in "Quicktime Pro" and exporting as an image sequence, but the images had bad facets (MPEG encodings) issues. It looks like quicktime looks at individual frames but the movie was compressed in DIVX which probably requires DIVX pro to re-convert into nice looking images again. Doh!

So my next idea was to take it into Final Cut Pro, which did a fantastic job at converting to an image sequence! Even though it should be the same as Quicktime Pro (in a way).

So now I open the image sequence into Photoshop, and file > export for web and devices. Click on any of the GIF options. The file sizes were VERY big though. But I am quite adamant that I want the entire animation thumb-nailed as it's one of the principals of the website.

So I made it 100px width and tried all the different GIF variants. I also played with the frame rate. Here's some examples:

1 fps, 128b dithered, 104K

12 fps, 32b dithered, 548K

12 fps, 32b dithered, 100% lossy, 84K

5fps, 32b not dithered, 156K

Oh, and in Photoshop I forgot to loop it. It's in Export for Web and Devices > loop option bottom right.

I shall conclude this another day

Just found this Red Design website which has pretty much the same idea, well executed. I had a look at image sizes and all came in at around 1kb. I think this would be due to the amount of frames, which is about 10 - 15 frames long, whilst these are around 100 - 200 frames long.

Tuesday, 17 May 2011

nviro-cleansolutions search engine optimisation SEO

I'm finally getting around to submitting the website to the search engines. I've found this which is very sensible reading. Basically you don't have to use the meta tags.

Found this free search engine submission form which might be good

Tuesday, 16 November 2010

Website creation for Nviro-Clean Solutions NCS

Tom asked me if I'd be interested and I jumped at the chance. His brother is just starting out and wants a nice clean coorporate website for the cleaning company. Mostly to advertise and make first contact with customers. Firstly a front page, then some more pages with info.

The company is very flexible set up into two main parts; Domestic and Commercial. It is setup to do business in the midlands, centred on Matlock. Tom has designed the logo which the website will work around.

I've jumped the gun and had some ideas. Based around the blog templates of having a blurred background, each page could have it's own background. So for the domestic some non-de-script clean home, and for commercial some offices. Perhaps for others we could have a commercial kitchen.

Perhaps to contrast the blur, we could some cleaning utilities in focus. Of-course this means some bespoke photography and the question of what products to show. Perhaps a silhouette of a vaccum cleaner and brush. Perhaps not the brush, a little old fashioned.

For the navigation nothing has really come to mind. Keep it simple and in line with the logo.

Monday, 5 July 2010

personal website design

A thought occurred to me about my own personal website design. I thought I could have everything I've made tiled in the background of the website. When you click on any of it, it would enlarge and play (if it was a video) with information about that piece. A lot like Johns website, but with the stuff in the background and with videos playing in the background.

I could even convert the videos to flash, but only small versions, and have them playing in a loop in the background, bringing the page to life. This could also be styled with CSS I think.