Explanation of site elements

[ctrout01 0]

Hi. I am so frustrated. Is there a more complete explanation of the elements under Design Control, most especially the site element colors? I just don't know exactly what I am changing. I've tried changing all the site element colors to the same bright red (#ff0000), so I can detect any change, then change them one by one, but I can't see that red anywhere on my site. Perhaps these Design Controls are not working? Site is www.christiantrout.com. Thanks.

[kastelic 6]

Do you have any caching plugins installed?

[ctrout01 0]

Not that I know of. Ion re-adding my question, I want to clarify... It isn't that NONE of the site elements aren't changing. I just don't know what all the site elements are called. The ones that I know what they are, I can see the changes. It is that, with many, I don't know what I am changing. Is there no place where each element is explained or shown on a sample site? Not just a few examples (which I may or may not know what THEY are), but a more comprehensive explanation or mapping. Thanks.

[Jenny 33]

I wish something like this existed as well. The 'ole trial and error isn't that fun.

[Rob 547]

Have you looked at this?... http://www.pagelines.com/docs/design-control

[cornell2 0]

I've got the same issues - I just ranted on a separate forum subject ... but the "site elements" in the pagelines menus are not enough - no where near it. Here's the thing ... look all over these forums ... in order to achieve ANYTHING of substance, the answer always begins and ends with "Custom Code". Now then - without debating (again) why this should not be the answer so often for a'platform' - if custom code is indeed to be used often - then how about just publishing a simple few pages of documentation explaining the different classes and id's (show us a couple of wireframes of post page, boxes page etc with some arrows and annotations telling us which classes etc control which element. Every time I need to change something I either search the boards for an hour hoping someone asked a similar question (searching for classes is useless if you don't know what they are called). Otherwise it takes another lifetime in firebug to find out (and having to retrace the inheritance is a real chore). Thanks again rangelone for jumping in and helping us...

[cloudbearing 0]

Agreed, this is a necessary part of the documentation that is clearly lacking...

[catrina 103]

We are currently beginning the process of improving and rewriting the documentation.

[cornell2 0]

I found an interesting alternative (or addition) to firebug - that right now is helping me better make sense of the CSS anchors, classes, IDs etc.. It is not a substitute for the needed documentation from the PageLines developers - but for me it helps better than firebug (which is good for debugging). I use the "Web Developer" extension for chrome (not sure if avail for FF or IE). I wish I could post a screenshot. One of the quick views is where it overlays little tags of the CSS IDs/classes on over your page so you can see exactly which tags affect which elements. In fact, Pagelines could probably use this tool and take screenshots to document the CSS in this visual but static manner, within an hour or two.

[Jenny 33]

Thanks cornell2! I did a search and they do have it for FF as well. I haven't dug in to it a lot but I hope to use it soon.