Hi guys, just new here and have little experience with software such as drupal. I just finished off the design of my website in Dreamweaver using just html and iframes. I'm finding it time consuming creating content on separate pages then having to update each section of the website it's linked to hence why I'm interested in content management software like drupal.
This is my site here: http://www.akolang.co.uk/home.htm
The problem I have is I really want to maintain the look and layout of my site but can't find any templates which are close to my design. I have no experience with CSS and don't have a clue where to start with drupal.
I would greatly appreciate any tips on where to start, any themes that anyone knows that are similar and easy to use etc.
Thank you for your time everyone, Deckard.
Comments
embrace the css
hi deckard,
if i were you, i'd dive into css and re-think your use of i-frames. you won't regret it!
there are plenty of places to start, but http://www.htmldog.com is one of my personal favourites with tutorials for html/css from beginner to advanced levels.
:)
If you are going to start
If you are going to start learning CSS, then I suggest that you start using the Firefox web browser with the Firebug plug-in. Firebug allows you to explore a site's CSS and HTML structure. It also makes it easy to see why something is being displayed in a certain way, so you can override it in CSS, if you need to.
Once you begin learning CSS, you'll never look back.
I agree with megg about getting rid of the iframes. They are evil and unnecessary.
I would also say "Ditch Dreamweaver," but I'm a do-it-yourself-er... on everything!
- Corey
www.mybragpage.com
I second the "Ditch
I second the "Ditch Dreamweaver" -- Drupal's one major flaw is how client-side intensive it is, and the last thing a Drupal page needs is proprietary formatting and quirks. I think it's safe to say the Drupal experience from the coder's side is much more satisfying and efficient when you're working with the code directly, especially if you're using other perople's themes.
On the developing a custom theme, check out the following two themes: Channel Nine http://drupal.org/project/channel_nine and Foundation http://drupal.org/project/foundation . Both are pretty basic, but are very, very adaptable and are well documented. They are great sandboxes to start playing around with CSS and figuring out what you can do and how it will work.
Also, a page I look to now and again for CSS commands is http://home.tampabay.rr.com/bmerkey/cheatsheet.htm . Nice comprehensive list of CSS tags and their function. The best thing to do with CSS is to get up to your elbows in a test site and start manipulating the stylesheet. Find a couple of "cheatsheets" or guides for direction, but change things and see what happens. If the site is simple enough (see Channel Nine above) you'll learn quite quickly how things work and what you can do.
Thank you for the
Thank you for the information guys you've both been a big help. I shall get down to learning some CSS from scratch, mmmm the fun to be had ;) Thanks again.
Pro Drupal
If you're serious about theming and want to do more than just one website, it might be worth picking up the Pro Drupal Development book. It will show you everything about custom theming. Sure you can find it all here on drupal.org but the documentation and forum topics are so spread out that it will definitely save you a lot of time and make the learning a lot easier.
If you just want to do one site. I suggest the Zen theme. It's heavily based in CSS so you can do most all aesthetic customizations without any knowledge of PHP.
---
www.skylabservices.com
reply:Pro Drupal
Thanks anthonylicari :) having a book with everything in one place would be very handy, thanks again.
Even better: the free sample
Even better: the free sample chapter of that book is the Theming chapter!
Get it here: http://www.drupalbook.com/node/15