Missing menu/news data in theme

[JohnnyB]

It is probably an old theme that is not compatible with the recent CMSMS 1.11.x versions.

To add news into a page or template, simply add the tag, {news}, where you need it. However, maybe you should post one of the layout templates here so we can look at it and make suggestions.

[velden]

Or consider using the 'create from scratch' approach;

Just make your own hand-crafted html page/layout and learn how to integrate CMSMS.

You will probably love the flexibility of cmsms and you will learn it very fast this way.

http://docs.cmsmadesimple.org/ contains a lot of information. In your case 'layout' will be helpful. And of course you can post questions in this forum.

Once you understand how cmsms works, you will probably love it.

[Jo Morg]

I added {menu} into the template, and this rendered a sitemap of all entities, so the data is obviously available. Can anyone suggest where I've gone awry?

There is an obvious question that comes to mind: if you are only using the {menu} alone, did you set the correct menu template from the theme as default? Check in Menu Manager whether the theme has set a usable template and if it is set as default. Alternatively use {menu template='<theme_menu_template_name_here>'}...
HTH