Coming from WordPress - User Guide is not enough
How Do I?
Hello,
I am new here and I can not understand the structure of EE. I was on wordpress long time, but after years, It make me angry - because of it speed.
So I went here, 4 days in documentation and I can not understand the templates/channels and i dont see any best practices anywhere.
Look at my problem.
I want to use Bootstrap 4.1 - ok, no problem, I can include it in my header, wait what? I dont know how to make Header for whole site. Is it a Template group? And what are those template types? How they work? why it is not in documentation?
Can you help me make it clear? I need this site structure:
Homepage News -article Events -event Shop -product
So my idea is:
Channel 1 = News Channel 2 = Events Channel 3 = Products Channel 4 = WebParts
Template group 1 for articles -template type = normal -template type = video -template type = podcast (?-template CSS)
Template group 2 for Events -template event = meeting -template event = cooking -template event = show (?-template CSS)
Template group 3 for Products -template product = wearable -template product = electronics -template product = others (?-template CSS)
And then: Template group 4 for webparts -template header -template menu -template body -template footer -template sidebar
But i dont think that this is the right way, how does it work.
Can someone help me to understand the EE?
Hi AlesS,
Welcome to ExpressionEngine! We’re glad to have you!
The best way to help you understand how ExpressionEngine works, and how to build sites with it is to install the default theme. This will install templates, channels, and content. You can dig through and see how things connect, and work together. We built it a learning tool that will give you access to best practices and show you the power and flexibility of ExpressionEngine.
To install the default theme, you just need to check the option in the ExpressionEngine installer.
Hi AlesS, Prior to EE the only other CMS I used was WordPress as well, but I only did that on request & was more prone to build sites from scratch. What I found I liked about EE was that it had absolutely none of the bloat of WordPress and I could still build sites the way I am used to when building from scratch, but I can Use EE to fill in as many or as few holes as I need and only give clients the control that they require. I can use embeds (think - includes) for my Header & footer or I can use layouts (which weren’t difficult to understand once I tried).
My point to all of that is that it is flexible. I think what you outline would work. As James said, the default theme can help in understanding.
Also, there was an eBook I used to learn to build my first site (BuildingEE2_2.9 BY MICHAEL BOYINK) , but it is for EE2. I glanced through it and the general concepts all still apply, just the interface has changed. It focuses more on DRY Templates using Embeds for headers & footers but is good for understanding. Not sure if you can find it anywhere or if it has been updated for the current versions or not.
Good Luck. I’m happy to answer any questions you have if I can. Russ
PS… also just found I have a PDF titled “Create-a-Blog-Using-ExpressionEngine.pdf” I’m not sure where I got it but it may be of help as well. (Didn’t even know I had it.)
I think Ellislab will have to up their game on tutorials and user guides for newbies like AlesS .There is a big learning curve when you are coming from the likes wordpress /drupal/jooma and now EE is open source converting those new users is key to the future of EE .Anyway Ryan Masugas guide to expressionengine is excellent , its only covers EE2 but explains the concepts of how EE works really well https://gomasuga.com/eeguidebook
Thank you guys, I will definitely go try demo site and look for the eBook.
I have one more question, where is official Github repo for EE?
https://github.com/ExpressionEngine/ExpressionEngine
Another good source is https://expressionengine.com/learn and the posts that are there.
I suspect you will also start seeing tutorials & guides produced by the community as well like you do with other Open Source projects. Any big change like this takes a bit of time to ramp up, just requires patience.
In the meantime though, .. I’m happy to help as best I can. R
Have you watched our ten-minute primer video?