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How to get started with themes/templates (8 posts)

  1. mcblogs
    Inactive
    Posted 18 years ago #

    hi,

    apologies in advance if this is a redundant topic. i've searched this forum and read many things about theme and template development here and at codex.wordpress.org (not sure how relevant that info is to wpmu) but i'm still trying to grasp the concept of creating a new design for my wpmu site. from reading discussions, it appears that the way wpmu now handles themes has recently changed (from smarty to not smarty), making me even a bit more confused when reading discussions on the topic because i'm not always sure which information still applies.

    from what i understand, to give my site a different look (site theme) other than the default kubrick design, i have a few options (please correct me if i'm wrong):

    • install a new site theme,
    • tailor the current default kubrick site theme, or
    • create a new site theme, from scratch.

    having that said, i am most concerned about redesigning the homepage of the site (which from reading the forums, i believe is "home.php"), and i would like to have a few "static" pages, such as about us, help, faq, etc. a good example would be, edublogs.org. now, with regards to this my question is, which approach would be best for me if this is what i want to accomplish? and, is there any recommended documentation on how to do it?

    thanks in advance for the help! jason

  2. jaseone
    Inactive
    Posted 18 years ago #

    Basically the themes for WPMU are compatible with the themes for Wordpress itself, previously they used Smarty but that has changed recently.

    Usually what you do is find a theme that is similar to what you want and then tailor it to your needs, for things like an about page you use the built in pages functionality of Wordpress.

    So it really depends on what sort of theme you want and if a similar one already exists.

  3. mcblogs
    Inactive
    Posted 18 years ago #

    thanks for the info! i'll get to looking for a theme i like and go from there. where should i look for the built in pages functionality of wordpress for the about page? thanks!

  4. akbigdog
    Member
    Posted 18 years ago #

    In the admin panel, go to Write > Write Page and create your page there. Add a Page Title, Page Content, and you're set. The Post slug field over on the right is where your page can be viewed. For instance, where slug equals about, your page could be seen at yourdomain.com/wpmu/about.

    You're sure that WordPress Multi-User edition is the one you want to use, right? The single-user version of WordPress is much more stable; if you're looking to publish only your own blog or a company blog, then I would recommend using WordPress instead of WPMU. You can set up multiple authors in WordPress with different permissions.

  5. mcblogs
    Inactive
    Posted 18 years ago #

    hey, thanks a bunch. those instructions worked like a charm! yeah, i'm def wanting to use wpmu because i'm hoping to host blogs for people.

    so if i want to link to the about page on the homepage (home.php) would the correct way be to create a link to mydomain.com/wpmu/about ? thanks!

  6. jcspringdot
    Inactive
    Posted 18 years ago #

    Sorry for going back to something mentioned earlier, but I'm curious - If WordPress Multi User has moved back to using normal Wordpress themes instead of smarty-based themes, how does this affect the security?

    I am only just starting to look at wpmu, so sorry if this is a stupid question, but I was under the impression that the smarty-system was being used because it was more secure (didn't allow users to run php code in their templates). Is using the normal WordPress themes now as secure?

    Obviously I don't want to be in the position where my server could be compromised by something so simple as templates!

    Thanks.

  7. TomK32
    Member
    Posted 18 years ago #

    @jc: users would require write access to the theme, but they don't so it's secure as long as you check and test the template before enabling it.
    there's a sidebar manager already and maybe we'll have a CSS-manager soon which should be more than enough for custimizing your themes.

  8. jcspringdot
    Inactive
    Posted 18 years ago #

    Cool - thanks for your help, appreciate it.

About this Topic

  • Started 18 years ago by mcblogs
  • Latest reply from jcspringdot