What I Wish I Had Known. In my first 30 days with umbraco

Transcription

1 What I Wish I Had Known In my first 30 days with umbraco

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3 What to expect A fast-paced session for beginners who want to learn from (rather than repeat) others mistakes. Concepts Best practices, tips, rules of thumb Demos (as many as we have time for) Your questions Presentation available at:

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5 Document types The storage area for your content

6 Content Pages Your Stuff

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18 Document Type A Box or Container

19 Content Pages Your Stuff

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21 Document types Use the best container for your content Like packing boxes for your web content (or, like database tables and fields)

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24 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Contact Person Company Name Telephone Number Fax Number Address Headline City, State, Date Lorem ipsum dolor sit lorem ipsum dolor sit lorem ipsum dolor sit For additional information, contact: Contact Person Company Name Telephone Number Fax Number Address ###

25 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Contact Person Company Name Telephone Number Fax Number Address Headline City, State, Date Lorem ipsum dolor sit lorem ipsum dolor sit lorem ipsum dolor sit For additional information, contact: Contact Person Company Name Telephone Number Fax Number Address ###

26 Document types Rules of thumb Make as many doctypes as you need If your design has a unique template you probably want a unique doctype as well Typically, a doctype has only one template associated with it

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28 Document types Defacto standard properties: bodytext (primary content richtext editor) umbraconavihide (true/false)

29 Document types Special property aliases: umbracoredirect A nodeid (contentpicker) Umbraco will redirect to the selected page umbracointernalredirectid A nodeid (contentpicker) Umbraco will load the selected page s content transparently; no url change

30 Document types Special property aliases, continued: umbracourlname A textstring Override the page s default url umbracourlalias A textstring Add additional urls for the page Example: faq,support/help/answers No spaces, no leading slash, no.aspx

31 Templates Where doctypes and markup meet

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35 Templates DocTypes define the fields to store Content nodes contain the actual data Templates are for static HTML Notice the separation of content and presentation Save time with parallel site development, design, content entry

36 Templates Templates are created by a designer Use your favorite design tool Visual Studio Dream Weaver GoLive FrontPage (*gasp*) Umbraco has no limits what you put in is what you get out

37 Templates Use.NET Master Pages MainNav bodytext HTML with placeholders For doctype property fields <umbraco:item field="bodytext" runat="server"/> For macros <umbraco:macro Alias="MainNav" runat="server" />

38 Templates Rules of thumb If you need another template, you probably want another doctype to go with it You ll have a unique homepage template You can have multiple templates for a page E.g., Print, RSS feed, Mobile views Remember the?alttemplate= syntax, or append the template alias to the url

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40 Content organization Can make your life easy (or difficult)

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42 Content organization Organize content into logical sections according to website visitor s expectations Url s are created from the content tree structure Easier to remember urls Helps with SEO Place the homepage at the top level, and all other pages below it Macros are easier with this structure Also helpful for multi-language sites

43 Content organization Keep detailed information in sub-nodes and render the result on the parent container with a macro Job postings Press releases FAQs Products

44 Content organization Rules of thumb Organize the Media section into folders Store only items used by content nodes in the media section Keep imagery used in the templates and css on the filesystem Users shouldn t be changing these anyway

45 Simplify the user experience

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47 Simplify the user experience Do as much work for the user as possible Better consistency Easier for the users More praise for you Less time supporting users Arrange doctype properties Organize tabs Supply property descriptions Use mandatory and validation settings (if appropriate)

48 Simplify the user experience Rules of thumb Add styles in the drop-down list Set richtext editor width to match site design for better WYSIWYG Create multiple RTE datatypes Allows control over width, styles, toolbar features for each doctype Ensure the right content appears in the right place with doctype structure

49 XSLT macros are easy If you use the built-in samples

50 XSLT Samples Building Blocks

51 XSLT macros are easy Macros automate and simplify your site XSLT macros are fast Common uses Main and sub-navigation Sitemap Product list News list Staff list notice the word list in many of these?

52 XSLT macros are easy Umbraco s built-in xslt macro templates Provide most of the functionality you ll need Can often be used as is Quickly modified Don t require extensive knowledge of XSLT Easier to edit than create

53 XSLT macros are easy XSLT is simple, but verbose Common functions <xsl:value-of select=" " /> Optional: disable-output-escaping="yes" <xsl:copy-of select=" " /> <xsl:if test=" "> </xsl:if> <xsl:choose> <xsl:when test=" "> </xsl:when> <xsl:otherwise> </xsl:otherwise> </xsl:choose> <xsl:for-each select=" "> </xsl:for-each> <xsl:sort select=" " />

54 XSLT macros are easy Discover the XML you re working with /data/umbraco.config Contains the XML for the site s content <xsl:copy-of select=" " /> Echoes the XML View browser s source to view output properly Or, <textarea><xsl:copy-of /></textarea> Use with XSLT Visualizer toolbar button

55 XSLT macros are easy $currentpage provides context for macros The page the website visitor is currently viewing For example, a sub-navigation menu might list those pages below the current page Yes, there s an xslt sample for this

56 XSLT macros are easy XPATH Is a bit like traversing folders from a command prompt select="$currentpage/node" Is a bit like SQL The 'where' clause is in [brackets] select="./node [@nodetypealias='news'] " Means, select nodes where the nodetypealias is news

57 XSLT macros are easy Pass parameters to a macro <umbraco:macro alias="mymacro" slogan="the friendly cms" runat="server"/> Remember to set the macro properties and aliases

58 XSLT macros are easy Pass dynamic parameters to a macro [#propertyalias] Insert a page value [$propertyalias] Insert a recursive page value [%cookievaluekey] Insert a cookie value [@requestvaluekey] Insert value from a request collection

59 XSLT macros are easy Test for multiple values <umbraco:macro alias="mymacro" slogan="[#propertyalias], [#propertyalias2], my static string" runat="server"/>

60 XSLT macros are easy Rules of thumb Most XSLT macros are short Umbraco.library and Exslt extensions Functions you ll want to know and use Make your own xslt extensions Use macro caching for performance

61 XSLT macros are easy Rules of thumb Use XSLT macros to Render umbraco content Use.NET macros to Access external data Edit umbraco content

62 Don t reinvent the wheel Modules, packages and code available for pillage

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65 Don t reinvent the wheel Some of my favorites CWS2 Runway & Modules ImageGen ImageCropper XSLTsearch ZipUpload umbimport Content & Media Pickers Our.umbraco.org projects Package repository Blogs CodePlex Google include umbraco in your search

66 Looking for help You re never alone with umbraco

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68 Looking for help Our.umbraco.org Forum, Projects, People Umbraco Pro support Umbraco.tv Training On-site UK training offered by Percipient Studios Twitter #umbraco Blogs Get this presentation at blog.percipientstudios.com Regional meetups