Use your own design
The easiest way is to copy a skin, change the directory name and start making changes (be sure to edit the skin.xml file to avoid conflicts)
Required templates
Your theme must implement the following cfm templates:
- index.cfm: corresponds to the blog's main page
- post.cfm: where a single post is shown
- page.cfm: the default template for pages
- generic.cfm: a generic template that can be used to show errors and by plugins to show their information when they need a page by themselves
- archives.cfm: where the archives by date, category, and searches are shown
- author.cfm: shows author information
- error.cfm: it shows errors. It should contain minimal tags because you don't know what the error is, so it is possible that tags are failing too.
Recommended templates
- archives_index.cfm: a page that lists all the archives (ie: by month, by category, etc).
You'll need to add it as a custom page template in the skin.xml file as follows:
<pageTemplates><template file="archives_index.cfm" name="Archives Listing Page" /></pageTemplates>
- login.cfm: a custom login page
You'll need to add it as an admin custom page template:
<adminPageTemplates>
<template id="login" file="login.cfm" />
</adminPageTemplates>
Theme registration
It must also contain an xml file:
If this file is not found, then the theme cannot be used.
Tags
Tags you can use in your template
Template events
Events a skin template should broadcast:
- beforeHtmlHeadEnd: right before closing tag
- beforeCommentFormEnd: only when there is a comment form (post.cfm, page.cfm)
- afterHtmlBodyStart
- beforeHtmlBodyEnd
- afterFooterStart
- beforeFooterEnd
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Regarding the side bar pods, you may want to read this section:
http://www.mangoblog.org/docs/documentation/use-your-own-design/pod-enabling-a-theme
I've setup a repository for contributed themes (http://code.google.com/p/mangoblog-extensions/ ). I'd give you access to it and you can commit it there. I can then add it to the administration downloadable themes.
Thanks!
I've slowly started to update and complete the documentation, but it is really lacking at this moment. I know! :)
I've confirmed your user NImon in the forums, so you should be able to login.
You will need to modify index.cfm, page.cfm, post.cfm, and generic.cfm to incorporate your header and footer design.
Probably the easiest way to do this is to first build your own template -- including your header and footer design. Get it looking and working perfectly using W3C standard markup. Then incorporate your template with each of these pages -- index.cfm, page.cfm, post.cfm, and generic.cfm. This is, in effect, the process to "skin" the mango templates to incorporate your own design. I think you will find the ColdFusion parts are easy -- they are already done for you. Building the CSS and the HTML, and incorporating the CF elements with your CSS and HTML, will require patience, research, and trial and error. Give it a try and let us know how it works for you. I hope this is helpful.
Eric B