Geeklog Forums

Registered: 06/19/06
Posts: 1 Tuesday, June 20 2006 @ 09:52 AM EDT

I am completely out of my element. My web host has Geeklog installed. I upgraded to 4.0 or whatever the new one is called. Only God knows if I did it correctly. Is there any way to test it?

Next case: I have a beautiful theme (movabletype) that I would like to use. Is that possible?
When I use my NoteTab text editing software, is there a way I can make it compatible with Geeklog?
Offline, the theme looks perfect - however, online, it's a mess.

I posted on GL2 but I think it was the wrong forum

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The Happy Shutterbug

Hi Erika,



When you first install, there is an 'Are You Secure?' block on the left. What does that say? You can check your path permissions with 'http://www.mysite.com/admin/install/check.php'

If you've no errors and aren't experiencing any functional problems then you probably have installed eveything correctly. Do you have any reason to believe the site isn't working?

I think you should first see if it's working ok with the default theme 'professional'. After that think about your own theme.

Is the theme you want a Geeklog theme? If not you'll need help from someone with more Geeklog experience than me (which is pretty much anyone!).

Up2date themes are available from
Geekdownloads.net.

Shane

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Those who say it can't be done, are usually interrupted by others doing it.

Hello Shane,

Thank you for responding so quickly.

I don't seem to be able to locate that theme. (That's another word for template, right). So, if I understand you, the default template for Geeklog is called Professional. I found such a folder but no template.

You know, I'm new at this whole blogging thing in the first place. So far, I've been using the Google blogspot one. It's OK and it's sure easy for the novice but I don't like that squished appearance which most blogs seem to have - a skinny middle and all that wasted space. Then I tried MS Spaces. Same squishy appearance only this time it's pushed to the left. Therefore, I ventured into unknown territory and thought I'd try something professional. Well, I'm really and truly out of my element.

If you think I should just forget the whole thing, better just tell me. I can take it. I'd prefer to learn this thing but I can't do it without help.

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The Happy Shutterbug

A Geeklog theme is basically just a folder full of .thtml files where the directory name equals the theme name. So you were in the right place, I'd say.

Also see my response in the other thread you started.

bye, Dirk

Erika,

Am I right in saying you problem is that you can't get your old theme to work in Geeklog? But first I need to know is GL 1.4 which you installed working? If so it will be using the default theme 'professional' which is what this site uses.

Shane

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Those who say it can't be done, are usually interrupted by others doing it.

I went into the tree and in these are the files and folders in that section: public_html/Geeklog/layout/professional:
admin 755
article 755
calendar 755
comment 755
images 755
links 755
pdfgenerator 755
pollbooth 755
preferences 755
profiles 755
search 755
stats 755
submit 755
users 755
Create New File
README 7 k 0644
adminoption.thtml 0 k 0644
adminoption_off.thtml 0 k 0644
archivestorybodytext.thtml 0 k 0644
archivestorytext.thtml 1 k 0644
blockfooter-left.thtml 0 k 0644
blockfooter-related.thtml 0 k 0644
blockfooter-right.thtml 0 k 0644
blockfooter.thtml 0 k 0644
blockheader-left.thtml 0 k 0644
blockheader-related.thtml 0 k 0644
blockheader-right.thtml 0 k 0644
blockheader.thtml 0 k 0644
customlogin-footer.thtml 0 k 0644
customlogin-header.thtml 2 k 0644
featuredstorybodytext.thtml 0 k 0644
featuredstorytext.thtml 1 k 0644
footer.thtml 0 k 0644
functions.php 0 k 0644
header.thtml 2 k 0644
leftblocks.thtml 1 k 0644
list.thtml 0 k 0644
listitem.thtml 0 k 0644
loginform.thtml 0 k 0644
menuitem.thtml 0 k 0644
menuitem_last.thtml 0 k 0644
menuitem_none.thtml 0 k 0644
rightblocks.thtml 0 k 0644
storybodytext.thtml 0 k 0644
storytext.thtml 1 k 0644
style.css 14 k 0644
topcenterblock-span.thtmlx 0 k 0644
topicoption.thtml 0 k 0644
topicoption_off.thtml 0 k 0644
useroption.thtml 0 k 0644
useroption_off.thtml 0 k 0644

Yes, the old theme will not work. I figure there must be a way to make it work. I've downloaded the ReadMe file and "Creating a Theme" file. I will read them both thoroughly, cross my fingers and post results.

May I just add that I am thrilled with the level of help I'm getting. I can't thank you enough.

I don't want to put you off, but I would consider what you are about to attempt, which is basically to create your own theme, to be quite a big job! Maybe I shouldn't have said that

I never created a theme and would be envious of you if you do. But I suppose you just need to go through each of the files and fix it to you specifications.

When you succeed you might think about contributing your theme to the GL community.

Let us know how you get on.

Shane

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Those who say it can't be done, are usually interrupted by others doing it.

Oh Shane, I sure will try to get the theme I want. Sadly, it's not original. It's a wordpress, I think. But I just fell in love with the colours and the layout. I want it. I really want it. But how do I get it to work?

Hi Erika,


That's really quite a big question. I don't think you'll be able to just import the theme you want. You will need to actually create a new theme the same as what you want. This will involve rewriting each file in the professional theme! So you'd need to get right into the code and actually understand what those files do.

I would suggest trawling this forum. I'm sure others have asked where to start when writing a theme.

Shane

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Those who say it can't be done, are usually interrupted by others doing it.

So, I opened the header file and this is what i saw.

header.thtml
File Type: PHP script text

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

{plg_headercode}


{menu_elements} {site_slogan} {left_blocks} {welcome_msg} {datetime}

that's the headter.thtml. what if I just put that into my NoteTab Light editor? Would that be a start?

Oh, it's me again with a question. Why is it that there are so many files for one little template? When I did my website, I had lots of pages but they were for different pages of the site. But with a blog, there are a bunch of files, each one having a little code on it. Why aren't they all in one file? This is really hard. When building a regular website, you can do a little coding, save it, open the html page, refresh and you see what you've done. Then you can go back and make the corrections, save, open the page and check again.

I want to use my regular NoteTab editor. I've used it for years and I'm comfortable with it. Why can't I create everything in that editor and then upload it into Geeklog? Is that not possible?

BTW, I don't like any of the templates offered in Geeklog. 89 varieties and not one attractive one. I hope I didn't just insult someone. I'm always shooting off my mouth.

Erika,

Hi. I'm new to Geeklog as well. I if you have your heart set on that Movabletype theme, you could just install the MT client onto your hosting account since both it and Geeklog are PHP-based.

Erika,

Geeklog pieces together all of the elements needed for the page using the required theme files to create the page you see on your site. Some pages require different elements so thats why there are so many. You don't have to change them all though to get a different look to your site. On my site I only changed things in header.thtml, leftblocks.thtml, and style.css and that was enough to get it looking like I wanted. Your best bet is to find a theme that is close to what you want it to look like and modify it until it looks like what you want it to. You can find themes on this site or http://www.geekdownloads.net/ and make sure it says it has been updated to work with Geeklog 1.4.0. It should be possible to make your theme look anyway you want. There are lots of great examples of what people have already done throughout this forum.

Good Luck,
Bill

Well, this is interesting. I uploaded the theme into Geeklog as suggested. When I click on the file and then "View File" it looks almost like I want it to except the sidebars push into the header a bit, so that needs adjustment. However, when I click on the url, it's a holy mess. Is that normal? Also, I sure would like to get rid of any mention of MT in case someone else looks at the code and discovers I copied it - which I did but does everybody have to know?

Now, does this have to be broken into all these separate files for it to work in Geeklog? If I enter the code of the theme into this forum, would it be helpful?

Here is the URL - the one that's a mess.
http://www.ceconn.com/Geeklog/layout/pictureperfect/pictureperfect.html

I'm not sure why I'm doing this. Is it helpful?

As I mentioned elsewhere, themes for Movable Type will not work with Geeklog. As others have explained above, Geeklog uses separate files to create a page. header.thtml is used for the site's header area (where your logo and the main menu would go), footer.thtml is for the footer area, the side blocks are sandwiched between blockheader.thtml and blockfooter.thtml, etc.

This is explained in the theme documentation I already pointed you to (someone once made a picture of how this all works together - does anyone remember the URL?).

So if a theme for MT only consists of one file (does it? I have no idea), then you will have to break it down into separate files, as explained above. There aren't that many that you have to change to make the site look like you want. Again, that's explained in the theme documentation.

HTH

bye, Dirk

I've read everything and then some, several times. I just don't understand it. So, as much as I hate to admit defeat, I am forced to admit it.

BTW, the graph is on http://www.geeklog.net/wiki/images/3/32/PluginInstallOverview.jpg

Thanks for trying.

Erika

Nah, that (once you replace "www" with "wiki") is the graph for plugin installations. Completely different topic ...

bye, Dirk