my first impression about c5 cms and things that would be nice to adress
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first of all thx for your hard work on this software.
well to the point :), since i choose to migrate to c5 cms it means non of the issues are a gamestoping issues but it takes away the killer app nomination.
a little background :), im not a fully fledeged designer but i have my days so i like to work on my company site, for this job i used to do joomla and before that drupal.(yeah im really a cms fan :) ), ovbiuosly im quite fluid in js, ajax, php, css and html and c++.
so the good things:
* the layount concept +1 (finally makes me change to c5), unlike drupal and joomla wich are very rigid, aka you need to define the layout at theme level which is annoying.
* table like layout at sections level(example sidebar/click/layout) is a killer feature to able to do it in realtime and be able to save it as preset is another killer feature
* community sync and autoupdate, well i think another really killer feature in what maintainability and future proof refer.
*multiple objects in sections is fantastic cuz for other cms is an external plugin
and they never do the job that well (is a pain to positioning if the sizes are different) + the layout system makes c5 the ultimate cms for easyness of page layout.
* administrative tools(the bar up) is quite nasty too, simple, intuitive and allow you to watch what you do in realtime(never saw that in another cms btw so kudos here)
* php internal structure seems to be really simplistic wich is good at first but problematic at some point but i leave that to the issues section
* really fast and responsive comparing the same layout in joomla (used chromium measures tool)
the issues :(
* the theming process is not very intuitive at first, so would be nice a more extensive tutorial(yeah the actual is not that intuitive if you come from joomla or drupal).
* the component skinning need a good explanation, cuz unlike joomla or drupal you are forced to work at component level and css is especially annoying at first. i know that custom templates are for that but like i said for firstcomers is not that simple to figure it out.
* the components are too overly simple(when you are used to the joomla or drupal components), especially autonav and login are a pain, at the end i had to rewrite most of the component php/css code to get them to do the basics like dropdown, vertical/horizontal login form, etc
* the css skinning need a good explanation too cuz in most cms the core in php porvide you the most parameters to skin (google joomla css and you will find a table), so it will be a time saver to know you have to skin everything one for one, except the main layout in default.php wich it pretty much explain itself
* a nice tutorial about custom templates would be peachy, is not as ovbious as you think
* an a more extended how to make a component, again is not so ovbius at first either
* no way to replicate ovbious components through pages :*( , for real put an option in the menus to be able to span in all or slected pages the same components in the same place. really paste items on the footer of 150 pages is not fun, change the position of the top menu in 150 pages is not fun.
at the end of the day c5 is way more flexible to work but much more laboriuos too, but most can be fixed with a better docs/examples except the last one wich for me is uber serious, is an experience killer, the ultimate doom bringer, is worst than the mayas and nostradamus togheter, plz, plz for next revision plz
beyonf that is a really nice tool to work with (again except the last one plllllzzzz)
well to the point :), since i choose to migrate to c5 cms it means non of the issues are a gamestoping issues but it takes away the killer app nomination.
a little background :), im not a fully fledeged designer but i have my days so i like to work on my company site, for this job i used to do joomla and before that drupal.(yeah im really a cms fan :) ), ovbiuosly im quite fluid in js, ajax, php, css and html and c++.
so the good things:
* the layount concept +1 (finally makes me change to c5), unlike drupal and joomla wich are very rigid, aka you need to define the layout at theme level which is annoying.
* table like layout at sections level(example sidebar/click/layout) is a killer feature to able to do it in realtime and be able to save it as preset is another killer feature
* community sync and autoupdate, well i think another really killer feature in what maintainability and future proof refer.
*multiple objects in sections is fantastic cuz for other cms is an external plugin
and they never do the job that well (is a pain to positioning if the sizes are different) + the layout system makes c5 the ultimate cms for easyness of page layout.
* administrative tools(the bar up) is quite nasty too, simple, intuitive and allow you to watch what you do in realtime(never saw that in another cms btw so kudos here)
* php internal structure seems to be really simplistic wich is good at first but problematic at some point but i leave that to the issues section
* really fast and responsive comparing the same layout in joomla (used chromium measures tool)
the issues :(
* the theming process is not very intuitive at first, so would be nice a more extensive tutorial(yeah the actual is not that intuitive if you come from joomla or drupal).
* the component skinning need a good explanation, cuz unlike joomla or drupal you are forced to work at component level and css is especially annoying at first. i know that custom templates are for that but like i said for firstcomers is not that simple to figure it out.
* the components are too overly simple(when you are used to the joomla or drupal components), especially autonav and login are a pain, at the end i had to rewrite most of the component php/css code to get them to do the basics like dropdown, vertical/horizontal login form, etc
* the css skinning need a good explanation too cuz in most cms the core in php porvide you the most parameters to skin (google joomla css and you will find a table), so it will be a time saver to know you have to skin everything one for one, except the main layout in default.php wich it pretty much explain itself
* a nice tutorial about custom templates would be peachy, is not as ovbious as you think
* an a more extended how to make a component, again is not so ovbius at first either
* no way to replicate ovbious components through pages :*( , for real put an option in the menus to be able to span in all or slected pages the same components in the same place. really paste items on the footer of 150 pages is not fun, change the position of the top menu in 150 pages is not fun.
at the end of the day c5 is way more flexible to work but much more laboriuos too, but most can be fixed with a better docs/examples except the last one wich for me is uber serious, is an experience killer, the ultimate doom bringer, is worst than the mayas and nostradamus togheter, plz, plz for next revision plz
beyonf that is a really nice tool to work with (again except the last one plllllzzzz)
Great review. thx
Sth to the last cons point:
at the dashboard->themes&pages->pages there is a button defaults for page types, where you can set up blocks, that should show up on every page. Make sure after adding a block to an area in page defaults to set it up to child pages.
--ron
Sth to the last cons point:
at the dashboard->themes&pages->pages there is a button defaults for page types, where you can set up blocks, that should show up on every page. Make sure after adding a block to an area in page defaults to set it up to child pages.
--ron
ok my bad, it was there shame on me but its still not usable for me for most parts of my common blocks.
aka when i edit the defaults paste blocks is fine but im using layout presets for stuff like
1. logo(cell1)/login horizantal form(cell2)
2. topnav with custom templ(c1)/search custom tmpl(c2)
then in the custom subsection prefooter
1. object a(c1), obj b(c2), obj c(c3)
then in footer and so on.
so would be nice to have to option to propagate layout and presets too alongside the blocks for complex sites.
well for now back to bot mode :)
aka when i edit the defaults paste blocks is fine but im using layout presets for stuff like
1. logo(cell1)/login horizantal form(cell2)
2. topnav with custom templ(c1)/search custom tmpl(c2)
then in the custom subsection prefooter
1. object a(c1), obj b(c2), obj c(c3)
then in footer and so on.
so would be nice to have to option to propagate layout and presets too alongside the blocks for complex sites.
well for now back to bot mode :)
Thanks for your suggestions. There are more and more tutorials going up every day. I recommend checking back regularly for new additions.
There are several tutorials on making addons and custom applications. So make sure you take the time to work through those.
thanks for your feedback,
best,
Chad