CMS Made Simple Forums

Hi,

New to the forum & CMS Made Simple, but I have been a web designer for years (Dreamweaver) and I understand the basics of CMS tools, although I'm a designer...not a coder.

I've been given an assignment to "freshen up" and existing website that was built with CMS Made Simple. I've looked through the site (via Admin area) and I've read many threads in the Forum.

Before I did deeper into the documentation, I have a simple question. I find many themes that are far more attractive and user friendly than what was originally used and would like to use one.

If I download a new theme, can i swap out the old theme for the new theme and will it apply the "look & feel", menu, etc. while keeping the content of the old theme.?? Meaning, does the theme xml just effect the layout and design or will it blow the existing site apart. The existing site is live and running, so I don't want to swap themes only to find that the site is rendered useless.

Thanks

Johnny_d

Themes will be based around the default modules and content installed with an 'out the box' version of CMSMS.

You don't link to the site in question, but it's unlikely that an operational site is using only the default modules and content areas. As a result the templates that make up part of the original theme will have been altered, so you changing the theme will overwrite any modifications.

In any event, a big bang approach to something to crucial is rarely a good idea on a live website. Make a new CMSMS install in a subdirectory, restore the database for the current site so you have a working copy and try your changes there. Only when they're working should you consider doing it on the live site.

Hmmm,

Well, I guess it was wishful thinking on my part to think I could just swap one-for-another.

Good advice.

Thanks Fraserm

Johnny

ps. here's the site:  http://www.sandri.com/

I just wanted to expand a little.

The theme will affect the templates for the site. Specific module templates (including Core modules) will not be exported or imported.

However it does export the stylesheets that are attached to that specific theme/template. If you attach a stylesheet that is just for one module it will be exported and imported. You can do many module template changes with CSS alone, provided your templates are similar with existing objects (div id's, classes, etc). A little forethought will allow you to make a big change to the site including module templates with just the site template and attached stylesheets.

I hope that makes sense.

I am not sure what exact changes were made when it comes to templates and the theme manager but I know there were some issues addressed in the upcoming 2.0 version. This issue may be better handled in the future. Maybe not initially, but the groundwork may be put down allowing for it.

Install the new theme, copy one of the pages that has the most stuff in it like News module calls, calendars whatever modules that are used in the site, testing new themes in a copied page is a great help in seeing what the new theme may be missing...

Open/edit the copied page and set it to not show in menu, apply new theme to page, check to see if content blocks are the same, check page in browser...

Is it missing parts of the page, look for extra {content block='somename'} in original theme or any module calls in it, maybe the menu template is different, it may have a {menu} in the footer or a different GCB in footer...