By b3six on

I went to the drupal showcase, looked at some sites and picked out some modules that alot seem to be using but still dont know what they do yet.

I created a quick mockup design of what I'm tryin to do, its very simple and If it was just XHTML/CSS I could of been done but I'm tryin to learn drupal so I have no idea where to start.

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/3679/blahev9.jpg

It's a 1 page design, but when a news article or a project is clicked, it will show in the big box at the top.

From what I understand so far,
page.tpl.php - is the whole white page, everything in it
style.css - the css file, how does this bring everything together I still don't understand
node.tpl.php - pretty much like a blog post? This would be the about section I think
block.tpl.php - layout for all 4 of my boxes?
box.tpl.php - unsure when related to my site

I can look up what they mean, but I still dont know what they are when related to my website and thats my problem.

Other questions I have is how does 1 page link to the other?
Could some1 explain removing username/password create account and all that? Would it be possible to keep a "Login" button so I can login into the admin side?

I'm just trying to remove everything that has anythin from drupal so I can just have my website and change the content with drupal.
If thats not understood, I mean somethin like this http://www.stockmanngroup.com/listings which is a drupal powered site, it has no login info or anything though which I like about it. how can I do somethin like this?

⋅ Categories: Drupal 6.x

Comments

cog.rusty’s picture

cog.rusty commented

I am not a themer but what you have in the image can be implemented with a theme with two "regions".

Theme guide (Drupal 6)
http://drupal.org/node/171179

Take a look at the admin/build/block page when using the default Garland theme. As you can see in the select lists for block placement, the Garland theme has 5 regions: "content", "left sidebar", "right sidebar", "header", "footer". All the regions can accept blocks, and the content region in particular also contains the posts.

So, what you need for your design is to create a new theme with only 2 regions, one for the content and one containing your 3 blocks. When you click on a link, you will be going to a new page with its content displayed in your content region.

You can design your new theme using html and css, and then print your regions at the right places in page.tpl.php, using Drupal's theme variables to bring-in the content, in the same way as the Garland theme does.

If you don't want a full theme but only one splash page on the front, then the http://drupal.org/project/front module can do it.

To be able to access your admin menu, you can go to admin/settings/admin and select a different theme, such as Garland, for your admin/.../... pages.

You don't need a login button to login, just go to http://www.yoursite.com/user or http://www.yoursite.com/?q=user and you will see a login page (if you are not already logged in).

trekid’s picture

trekid commented

basically we're dealing with a content mgmt system (cms), check out some basic concepts here
www.gouncleweb.com/typd_design_website_hours

b3six’s picture

b3six commented

Would it be good to start out with the zen theme? and also, how does the page come together? how do I get stuff to display on the page.tpl.php?
And with the front page module, can I design as many pages as I want or is that just 1 page? would this be a good solution to develope a website from this module if i can?

cog.rusty’s picture

cog.rusty commented

The zen theme is fine.

The page.tpl.php page is similar to a normal html page, with a head and a body, taking its styles from css files. If you know how to do your design using html and css (I don't) then you can make it a theme. If not, then you can't create a theme (but you can always make small changes to an existing theme).

The main difference from a normal html file is that instead of typing the content in it, you add little <?php print $this;?> and <?php print $that;?> snippets, using some specific Drupal variables, and Drupal replaces them with content depending on the URL you are on.

About the front module, I am not sure if it can create more that one page because I haven't used it for a couple of years, but I believe that it would not be a good idea anyway. Bypassing Drupal's theming system sounds like abandoning Drupal and creating hand made pages, which defeats the purpose of a CMS.