Websites – The Coding Pad

Building a Website with MODx for Newbies- Part 7: Introducing Ditto

Welcome to part 7 of our series of tutorials on building a website with MODx CMS. So far we’ve looked at:

Part 1: Introduction to MODx
Part 2: Installing MODx
Part 3: Working with Templates
Part 4: Introducing Chunks
Part 5: Introducing Snippets
Part 6: Introducing Template Variables

As we work through these tutorials, we’re building a MODx resource site called Learn MODx. In the last segment we introduced template variables and started to add a new section (Library) to our resource website. We created a new template to hold information about books, and created a container to hold all the pages about books. Recall that in MODx a container is simply a page that acts as a parent to other pages (children). So far our website looks pretty much the same as it did before: (you can click on the images to see a larger view)

In today’s tutorial, we’re going to continue working on our Library section. We’re going to publish the individual pages for the different books, and then make them accessible to our website visitors by creating a page that aggregates all our book pages using the Ditto snippet, and then make that page accessible to our visitors. So let’s get started:

Continue reading “Building a Website with MODx for Newbies- Part 7: Introducing Ditto”

Building a Website with Drupal 6 – Part 12: Formatting Content

Welcome to part 12 of our tutorial on building a website with Drupal 6. Previously we covered:

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Installing Drupal 6
Part 3: Configuring your Site
Part 4: Playing with Blocks
Part 5: Playing with Modules
Part 6: Playing with Themes
Part 7: Installing Modules and Themes
Part 8: Pathauto, Content, and Content Types
Part 9: Users, Roles, and Permissions
Part 1o: Reports – Keeping Track
Part 11: Managing Spam and Comments

As we go through this tutorials I am building a Drupal resource site called Learn Drupal. So far our website is shaping up really well, the basics are pretty much taken care of, and we’re now looking to build on content, and start adding on more functionality, depending on the purpose of your website.

In this installment, we’re going to look at how to make formatting your content easier for yourself and your users.

Continue reading “Building a Website with Drupal 6 – Part 12: Formatting Content”

Building a Website with Drupal 6 – Part 11: Managing Spam and Comments

Welcome to part 11 of our tutorial on building a website with Drupal 6. Previously we covered:

As we go through this tutorials I am building a Drupal resource site called Learn Drupal.

So far our website looks like this: (you can click on the images for a larger view)

As we’ve been building our website we’ve been aiming to have users and visitors interact with our website. One of the ways in which visitors interact with the Learn Drupal website is by leaving comments, and sometimes, spam. Today, we’re going to look at some ways of managing comments and spam on our website.

Continue reading “Building a Website with Drupal 6 – Part 11: Managing Spam and Comments”

Building a Website with MODx for Newbies – Part 5: Introducing Snippets

Welcome to part 5 of our series of tutorials on building a website with MODx CMS. So far we’ve looked at:

Part 1: Introduction to MODx
Part 2: Installing MODx
Part 3: Working with Templates
Part 4: Introducing Chunks

As we work through these tutorials, we’re building a MODx resource site called Learn MODx. In the last installment we introduced chunks and learned how to use them to clean our template and make it more manageable. So far our website looks like this: (you can click on the images to see a larger view)

Today, we’re going to introduce snippets and learn how to use them to add functionality to our website using one simple example. At this point in our tutorial, if you’ve been following along, our website navigation is simply cosmetic and the links don’t really lead anywhere. We’re going to use a snippet to rectify that and make our site navigable from the horizontal menu links.

Continue reading “Building a Website with MODx for Newbies – Part 5: Introducing Snippets”

Building a Website with Drupal 6 – Part 10: Reports – Keeping Track

Welcome to part 10 of our tutorial on building a website with Drupal 6. Previously we covered:

As we go through this tutorials I am building a Drupal resource site called Learn Drupal.

So far our website looks something like this: (you can click on the images for a larger view)

Our website is coming along great, we have some content, we have a contact form, we have a relatively unique look, things are looking good. But how do we know if we’re getting visitors? You’ll notice in my screenshot that I have a counter on each piece of content that tells me how many times the content has been viewed. This is made possible by the settings we chose when we enabled the Statistics module, and is visible to me as the administrator, and you should be able to see it on your website too. But what other specific data does the Statistics module log? This is part of what we’re going to briefly explore today.

Continue reading “Building a Website with Drupal 6 – Part 10: Reports – Keeping Track”