Blog post page type vs page template
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I'm considering how things are going to work when creating a packaged theme for the concrete5 5.7 marketplace. In 5.6, it was fairly straightforward to provide a page type for blog post entries and give the theme user instructions to create a blog using the page type.
I have been doing some reading about page templates and separating the function of the page from the page layout. I think this is a good idea. But I am just wondering if it is still okay to provide a blog post page type in a 5.7 marketplace theme to give clients the option to use it if they so choose? Or will this be frowned upon and considered bad form?
My thought process is this (and please correct me if i have it wrong). The person who buys a theme has two choices:
1. Create a blank install and then add their own blog page template in the dashboard, choosing their page type etc.
2. Create a sample content install with the theme developer's blog page template already added to their dashboard.
Personally, I don't like having to add sample content as it means I have to go in and delete things. I would rather just start from scratch. Also, I am wondering if this approach (by itself) creates more work for the theme buyer and maybe allows for more potential for things going wrong, e.g. theme user doesn't understand how to add the page template or maybe deletes the sample content. Whereas if you provide a page type for blog posts, they could always use this if they want OR create their own page template (win-win situation). Also, if a blog post page type was included, it seems less likely that it may get deleted, as it is a file in their theme folder, rather than something in their dashboard.
So, can we still include a blog post page type, if we choose, in concrete5 5.7 themes we submit to marketplace? Or must we only use page templates for blog post entries?
Or am I thinking about this the wrong way? :) Any comments appreciated...
I have been doing some reading about page templates and separating the function of the page from the page layout. I think this is a good idea. But I am just wondering if it is still okay to provide a blog post page type in a 5.7 marketplace theme to give clients the option to use it if they so choose? Or will this be frowned upon and considered bad form?
My thought process is this (and please correct me if i have it wrong). The person who buys a theme has two choices:
1. Create a blank install and then add their own blog page template in the dashboard, choosing their page type etc.
2. Create a sample content install with the theme developer's blog page template already added to their dashboard.
Personally, I don't like having to add sample content as it means I have to go in and delete things. I would rather just start from scratch. Also, I am wondering if this approach (by itself) creates more work for the theme buyer and maybe allows for more potential for things going wrong, e.g. theme user doesn't understand how to add the page template or maybe deletes the sample content. Whereas if you provide a page type for blog posts, they could always use this if they want OR create their own page template (win-win situation). Also, if a blog post page type was included, it seems less likely that it may get deleted, as it is a file in their theme folder, rather than something in their dashboard.
So, can we still include a blog post page type, if we choose, in concrete5 5.7 themes we submit to marketplace? Or must we only use page templates for blog post entries?
Or am I thinking about this the wrong way? :) Any comments appreciated...
Thanks for the link - looks like blog page types are still ok to use. Good to know :)
Just in case you haven't read this post. It does a very good job of covering the topic.
https://www.concrete5.org/community/forums/5-7-discussion/5.7-page-t...
https://www.concrete5.org/community/forums/5-7-discussion/5.7-page-t...
That is a very good explanation. I guess I was getting the impression that we weren't supposed to use page type anymore for things like blog because I was looking at the Elemental theme and the blog sample content as an example. It's a great idea to have the different page templates for layout for a particular page type, as suggested by Mesuva in the link above. Sounds like an elegant solution for a client to easily set up blogs, etc. Thanks!
You might find this helpful.
http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/developers/5.7/designing-for...
"A SimpleSite must provide the following page types:
Blank
Basic Page
Blog Entry
Blog
SimpleSite themes are strongly encouraged to provide additional useful page types. SimpleSite themes should provide useful page templates and set their page types and defaults in such a way that the distinction between a page type and a page template is clear. This means making multiple page templates available for use of page types, if those page templates will be compatible."