CMSCart Manual
General Information and Use
Accessing the Site Administration Area
Administration, where design and content is done, has its own area under the site with login. (e.g. www.nameofsite.com/admin/adminsites.php)
Seperation of Design and Content
Design
When designing a site focus is put on presentation through building templates for your various pages.
This is where areas for header(s), footer(s),
possibly a left or top menu, a left sales category list or any arrangement which meets your needs.
Background images, centering, etc. can also be set in
templating. Setting a template to be a master template enables it to be
the template used as the layout for any page. A page only has one master template
although that master template can have several sub-templates within it,
even sub-templates of sub-templates. A template consists of rows and
columns like a spreadsheet, ultimately forming cells where content or a
sub-template can go. Templating creates areas for intended content and
describes where you want it displayed but the content producer described
below is where the actual content is done.
See the Templating section for more information about design using
templates
Content
Content is done in the content producer area of the site administration.
Although the content producer does affect the design a bit, depending on
the element(s) and properties selected, its main task is in displaying
the actual content within its template cell. The content producer
produces content through the use of Elements. A content area is placed
within a template cell and that content area can have elements added through
the content producer. The site's CMSCart system knows how to present
these elements based on the user selections made including the
properties of the template(s) that encompass it.
Shared Content vs. Page Content
Sometimes you will need content that will display on all the pages of a site, such as the title, the menu of links, and the footer. But you will also need to add content that is specific to each page
(the Contact Us page has contact information, the Items page has a list of items, etc). Understanding the difference between shared content and page specific content is extremely important when
developing sites in CMSCart. Shared content will display on all pages using that template's content area. When adding elements to a content area, you need to know which page you are affecting, or if
you are affecting the shared content. If you enter both shared content and page content, the page content overrides the shared and the shared will not display.
Since adding content can only be done within the Content Producer, this is where you will have to make sure that you are modifying the right content. If you are editing Site Templates (as opposed to
Site Pages. See the section on Site Design for more information), then you only have access to shared content. So in the page filter selection at the top of Content Producer, you will only be able to
select Shared. If you want to add page specific content, starting from Adminstration Home select 'Pages for [sitename]' from the design section, then pick the page you want to add content to and select Design Page Template for that page.
Now if you go into a content area and look at the page filter selection, you will see that you have the option of selecting the page you are on or shared content. Setting the page filter to the page you are
on will modify content for only that page, no others. Flipping to shared content will modify that template's content, and therefore all the pages that use that template.