CMSMS ROCKS LIKE NO OTHER

[Eric T]

I have been looking for a CMS to do what I wanted for a long time (years)... then I came across CMSMS.  While it has a few quirks and can do weird things at times... it still rocks.  Period.

My first implementation of it is http://www.silverdalebaptist.com.  It uses the standard features of CMSMS, along with Content Aliases, mod_rewrite, and the vertical menu.

Take a look and I would love to hear some feedback whether it be complements or suggestions.

Thanks,
Eric

[kermit]

my initial reaction (besides lack of accessibility and inconsistancies/errors in the code) is nesting div's 7-8-9 layers deep creating a div/css layout and then resorting to, ahem, *tables* (and consecutive   ) to format content areas. ugh! oh the insanity! 

[Eric T]

my initial reaction (besides lack of accessibility and inconsistancies/errors in the code) is nesting div's 7-8-9 layers deep creating a div/css layout and then resorting to, ahem, *tables* (and consecutive   ) to format content areas. ugh! oh the insanity! 

Kermit, Thank You for your response.

This is the first official website I have made.  Making the template completely css was definitely a challenge.  I wish I could get a different calendar system that didn't use tables... right now it is EasyPHPCalendar.

In the future I plan on removing all of the tables however this was just to get my thoughts onto the page... and to get a copy up for our senior pastor who has been waiting patiently for me to finish.  It was originally launched in September using pictures to put the content in place so this is definitely an improvement.  Do you have any suggestions as to how to accomplish the design in all css?  Another thing that I haven't quite grasped is how to layer everything correctly.  Any suggested readings?

Thanks a million,
Eric

[kermit]

this is exactly where i started when i began learning css layouts:

http://www.google.com/search?q=css+layout+tutorial

http://www.alistapart.com is a pretty handy reference of howto's and other articles
http://www.csszengarden.com or http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/alldesigns/ is an awesome css demonstration

http://www.openwebdesign.org and http://www.oswd.org are full of free templates you can use to learn from. search for the valid xhtml ones to pretty much limit yourself to the table-free layouts. the process of converting one of these to cmsms is a good exercise (i've done a few so far).

start simple. add things like your rounded 3d style borders after you get the basics of layout and positioning down.

[jelle]

You should not hesitate to use a table when you have tabular data. You should not use it to format layout, but use it how it is meant to.  A calendar is a good example of tabular data. It makes no sense to have the cell float to a 6 column layout if space does not allow more.
Make sure though that you only use the table tags to markup what is in you table, do not put any layout or formatting in the table tags. Those belong in you css.