Downloading themes

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MikeP
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Downloading themes

Post by MikeP »

Hi everybody

I am trialling both Wordpress and cms made simple to decide which will be our standard install

With Wordpress installing themes from within the program is very simple and there are hundreds of foc themes to chose from

With CMS made simple it is proving to be very difficult

I appear to have a few basic simple themes installed as standard but they are not suitable for our needs

Looking for a new theme I noticed that most had to be paid for but I eventually found a foc theme, Singlepage-1.4 and I tried to install it, as a test.

I downloaded to my local disk and then I go into Theme Manager and click import and select the downloaded file Singlepage-1.4.zip.

After a few seconds I get the error message "DTD Version mismatch. Cannot import" I then tried with 2 other themes with the same result

I have searched and and searched for any online help on this but can't find anything

Could you help me please

Thanks

Mike
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Jo Morg
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Re: Downloading themes

Post by Jo Morg »

CMSMS has imo the largest resource of themes of all CMS's. Keep in mind that the import/export feature of themes and, in more recent versions, designs exist to facilitate migration of sites more than anything else although it can, and has been used to share templates or designs between users.
Check these links for a clearer explanation:
https://www.cmsmadesimple.org/2015/03/W ... -Templates
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=71042
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=70094
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Jos
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Re: Downloading themes

Post by Jos »

Agree with JoMorg that with CMS Made Simple it is quite easy to change any design into a CMSMS template.

Regarding the singlepage-1.4 template, this is the authors webpage:
http://pmkmedia.nl/news/30/88/CMSMS-HTM ... o-template

As you can read there, the most recent version is 1.6 (renamed to VIDEO) and it is made for CMSMS version 1.12.
I would not recommend it, but you could try to install the template on an 1.12.2 CMSMS installation and then upgrade to latest and greatest (2.3.2)
MikeP
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Re: Downloading themes

Post by MikeP »

Thanks to both Jo and Jos. I can see that cmsms has a dedicated fan base

I eventually found a Youtube video on installing a theme in cmsms (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0g9WkCwO7s) which lost me after a couple of minutes. Do I really have to move files around and start messing around with coding? The whole point of me using a cms is so that I don't have to start learning coding. And, I am afraid to say, with wordpress I need no coding experience, it is 1) find theme 2) hit install and you are done.

I really would like to prefer cmsms to wordpress but, in cmsms, everything seems so complicated, designed for a tech, not simple at all

I had installed wordpress and created a few pages, with a theme I installed in 20 seconds, in less than an hour, but I am still struggling to get a theme installed with cmsms after a few days

I would appreciate some help



Oh, and thanks for the link Jos, but I don't understand Dutch !

Thanks again
Mike
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DIGI3
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Re: Downloading themes

Post by DIGI3 »

CMSMS isn't really made for "plug and play" websites like Wordpress is. Our userbase is primarily web developers who aren't afraid to learn a bit of coding. The 'Simple' part of our name refers to a few things:
  • it's simple for a developer with some html & css knowledge to build a site (and gets even better once you learn Smarty)
  • it's simple for the end user to manage the content on said site
In the 2.x series, importing and exporting themes is actually very easy, often just a couple of clicks, but generally this is used for developers to be able to install starter themes as they build a new site, such as having a basic Foundation or Bootstrap skeleton install.

You'll find a lot of passionate users that want full control of their designs using CMSMS, but you'll want Wordpress (or Squarespace, Wix, and other site builders) if you want a 'ready to go' site.

That said, check out http://www.cmstemplatebuddy.com/ for some excellent CMSMS themes.
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Stom
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Re: Downloading themes

Post by Stom »

The whole point of me using a cms is so that I don't have to start learning coding
You may actually be looking for a site builder then, such as Wix etc, if you're not wanting to do even the basics of a design.
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Re: Downloading themes

Post by MikeP »

Thanks Matt

I am hosted at 123-reg (although I am beginning to think that to be a mistake) and according to my 'site admim/system info' in cmsms it is version 1.11.11 which I believe to be five or six years old now. I have searched through the cmsms documentation for, and googled for, "import themes into cms made simple". Everything is for release 2.x and the instructions simply do not work for 1.x, in paricular importing themes. Is there legacy documentation available?

@ Stom
I have created a site very quickly with wordpress without touching a single piece of code. Everything is acheived from their excellent GUI with drag n' drop and simple selections. Wix is nowhere near flexible enough and, more importantly, there is no way on earth to backup or move your website.

I think for now I will use wordpress for my live sites while I persevere with learning how to use cmsms to get past the two or three basic themes.

Mike
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DIGI3
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Re: Downloading themes

Post by DIGI3 »

The old docs are archived at docs1.cmsmadesimple.org but I'd strongly advise NOT continuing with such an old version. Aside from some serious security concerns, you're going to get stumped by every tutorial, and not get the correct advice here, on chat, or elsewhere.
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MikeP
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Re: Downloading themes

Post by MikeP »

Thanks, but it is not under my control which version is installed at 123-reg, or is it?

Mike
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Re: Downloading themes

Post by DIGI3 »

You can install whatever version you like, but yeah if your host is offering pre-installed ancient versions, it should make you question how much they pay attention to updates in other areas, too. For a start, they don't seem to take security seriously.
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MikeP
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Re: Downloading themes

Post by MikeP »

Thanks for that

their reply to my asking why they are running an ancient version was:-

"The current version that we have for CMS Made Simple is indeed Version v1.11.11 and I'm afraid that we do not have any timeframes for when the version update will be done. If your site requires using the newer version, you can try to run the upgrade as per https://docs.cmsmadesimple.org/upgrading/old-versions or https://docs.cmsmadesimple.org/upgrading/to-cmsms-2.x"

Both of the docs referred to are way beyond my capabilities,,,, why can't they do it? Oh well, perhaps I should have spent longer researching the host. 123-reg are one of the biggest but I am now beginning to learn that that does not always equate with 'one of the best'

I might well look for another before I spend much more time on my sites, particularly as I am only now hearing the horror stories of how, last year, they deleted many of their users' sites by a 'rookie' mistake of running clean-up scripts with no fail-safe in place

Thanks
Mike
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velden
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Re: Downloading themes

Post by velden »

Consider moving to one of our hosting partners:

https://www.cmsmadesimple.org/2017/07/P ... g-partner/
https://www.cmsmadesimple.org/partners/

And if you want to see some nice showcases of websites built with CMSMS have a look here:

https://welovecmsms.com/
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