CMS Made Simple Forums

I am completely new to webdevelopment so I have trouble to see where I need to start.

The following issue:
I Would like to use an existing template. I like the simplicity of this template, but it lacks the option of expandable menus.

Can anyone give me pointers how I can add expandable menus so I can access subpages from a menu (when a parent page has subpages ofcourse)

I tried to use another menu template, but that didn't do the trick.

Any help is highly appreciated.

Dear Khildin,

Although I have no intention of discouraging you in any way, I think it's important that you know that CMS Made Simple is targeted towards people who already have a good level of (front-end) development experience. You may get lucky to find a very small number of people on the forum who have the time and patience to explain things, but generally this is quite rare.

It has nothing to do with unwillingness, but with the fact that most of us around here need to make a living as designers and developers.

Only a few years ago, I was just like you. Although I already had quite some design experience, development was new to me. I could not code a single line if my life depended on it. I was a Dreamweaver addict, it did all the work for me. (Nowadays I am a PSPad addict).

By reading, reading, and more reading (Google was - and still is - my best friend), and also searching for video tutorials on YouTube for example I came a loooong way. As a designer and marketeer I am visually oriented. Videos really helped me get where I am today.

I warmly want to advise you to dig a little deeper into the logic of CMS systems in general, HTML and logic, and then also some more in CSS fly out menus, as I assume that is what you mean by extendable menu...

I hope you understand and that you do not take this as an offense. I just want to spare you the disappointment if there are not many other responses to your thread.

Kind regards,

Anne-Mieke

Look at some of the default templates to see what the {menu} tag for a drop down menu looks like, template= is most important as this ties in with the menu CSS/style sheet used for it which is attached to the page template...

DrCSS, thanks.
This is the kind of pointer I was hoping to get. When you don't know where to start, it is hard to do anything.
I am not looking for complete solutions. I'm a ICT professional long enough to know what it is to troubleshoot and read related information to solve problems. Only having a ton of books and not knowing what specific book to read doesn't help...

Anyway, I am diving into the {menu} tag and (probably) will come back with additional questions... (if those are allowed anyway... )

/lil rant (may I remark it is rather discouraging for new people how the 'antispamsystem' currently is set up? I understand you want to fight spam. However there is a big difference in active spam fighting and stalling/disallowing help questions)

Thanks so far for a great cms.

khildin wrote:..
/lil rant (may I remark it is rather discouraging for new people how the 'antispamsystem' currently is set up? I understand you want to fight spam. However there is a big difference in active spam fighting and stalling/disallowing help questions)

Hmm, it's there for a couple of reasons. One of those you already mentioned, spam-control.

Another reason is so we can see if the post has a certain quality to it, if people followed the forum rules and if they tried to look for a solution theirself.
And that's where this post is an example of.

While menu questions usually belong in 'product support', this question is merly about how to make the menu dropdown, and therefore a 'layout and design' question.
(I've moved it to the right board for you)

read related information to solve problems. Only having a ton of books and not knowing what specific book to read doesn't help...

We understand that it is difficult to start working with a new product, that sometimes things are not as clear to new users as they are to people who have been working with the product for a little longer.
In this case it's mostly CSS code you'll have to understand to make it work. This, for example, is a good starting point to learn how to make a menu dropdown: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/dropdowns/ (Like Anne-mieke already mentioned 'Google is your best friend')

Sometimes it works best to start with a clean HTML webpage, a website outside your CMS. Then try to make the menu work the way you want it to. After completion, look at the standard CMSMS menu templates and see that some smarty (http://www.smarty.net) code makes it dynamicly.

come back with additional questions... (if those are allowed anyway...

Ofcourse you are welcome to post additional questions! But, please try to explain what it is what troubles you or what doesn't work. Maybe with a link to the website, so we can see for ourself. Maybe even with an attached copy of your current menu template.

More can be found here:
http://forum.cmsmadesimple.org/viewtopi ... 40&t=28121
http://forum.cmsmadesimple.org/viewtopi ... 40&t=17166
http://forum.cmsmadesimple.org/viewtopi ... =40&t=2661

Thanks so far for a great cms.

You're welcome