The Pageline DMS learning curve

[epagewebsites 2]

Hi, I'm new here :-)

 

I can see that DMS is a fantastic tool - just the sort of thing I've been looking for. But boy, learning how to get started is not easy!!

 

I'm trying some really basic stuff and I just cannot figure out the correct way of doing things!

 

To start off with, I'm trying to do something that should be unbelievably easy. I want to add a full width banner graphic to the header. I assume the way to do this is add a 'Textbox' to the 'header' section and add a <img> tag linking to the image. But having done that, I appear to have loads of space around it. And space that doesn't seem to be associated with the added image, but the holders it sits within.

 

I'm guessing I need to write some CSS to address this? But what am I targeting?

 

Really, what I'm looking for is a basic step-by-step walkthrough if how to create my first page. I've taken a good look at http://docs.pagelines.com/ but no-where does it do this. I think the documentation is really targeted at those migrating from Pagelines?

 

So, this is a long winded way of saying... is there a step-by-step guide anywhere? Can someone give a few pointers just to get me started? I'm looking forward to using this product, but the level of documentation and guides is causing me massive frustration right now!

[Jake 74]

Hi epagewebsites - Welcome and thank you for choosing PageLines DMS! It's a different way of putting a site together than many of us were used to so there is a bit of a learning curve, but I can assure you with a little practice you'll get it down in not time flat and wonder how you ever built a site any other way!

 

First your question about full-width images in the header. There is a section called "section area" which is a full-width section that allows you to upload an image. There is no padding by default so you won't run into the same issue you had with the default padding around the text box.

 

For some more getting started type of tutorials, I have a few suggestions; Take a look at the DMS walk-through video at http://youtu.be/rNYiWNLtk5A. Also take a look at http://usingpagelines.com/ - a fantastic resource curated and managed by our developer community. Finally, troll through these forums a bit - I think you'll find many answers, example sites, and tips and tricks from forum staff as well as fellow users.

 

Let us know what else we can do to help you get started!

[ahansson89 57]

and we are a bunch of devs that started the blog Better DMS

 

http://betterdms.com

[beardedavenger 158]

Is there ANY particular reason why both my responses have been deleted? I thought the first one was a snafu. So I posted again. This time, I got a screenshot of it.

 

http://cl.ly/image/0p0q2j0M0K3M

 

WHY have you deleted it?

[ahansson89 57]

To whoever of you PageLines people is deleting Nicks posts...

 

I see nothing wrong with Nicks post as there are no devs affiliated with Using PageLines. The guys in there are designers and really helpful people, but not developers.

Whenever you guys are deleting a post that other people are responding to, you are creating a flow that cannot be tracked on the forums. This is not how forums should be managed. My post was a response to Nicks and now we lost track of who said what and when. Right here is not a big problem, but in the future this can turn out really critical. So please stop deleting posts in here.

[epagewebsites 2]

Thank-you all for the feedback! That's all very encouraging. It's given my plenty to read. I have emails containing links to the stuff now removed, so will be checking that also. Glad to see there's an active userbase, that all bodes very well!

 

But a note to Pageline themselves. It probably all seems blindingly obvious to you, but a simple A...B...C... to building your first page would be a massive help. The video walkthrough is lovely, but it doesn't actually show how to customise any of the components. It doesn't show how I address any element to add further styling to it. I've been writing complex PHP for years. I'm fairly new to WordPress, but it's all fairly straightforward, but the total lack of any basic "to achieve this, you need to do this" type of guidance is exasperating.

 

To give an example of what I mean, I've struggled adding just a basic header image, I've tried different approaches and Jake, you say just add it to a section. But in order to give that section some height, I need to (presumably) add a min-height to some CSS/LESS somewhere. But how do I address that section? I'm sure it's obvious if you know... but currently I don't!

 

I have a couple dozen similar questions like this and I really had hoped the documentation would address some of that.

 

If you're going to do a video walkthrough, it would be more helpful to start from a blank canvas, add some basic elements, show how to address and style them rather than scrolling up and down an existing website and randomly pressing buttons to add elements in their standard form! Just sayin' ;-)

[Simon 248]

Is there ANY particular reason why both my responses have been deleted? I thought the first one was a snafu. So I posted again. This time, I got a screenshot of it.

 

http://cl.ly/image/0p0q2j0M0K3M

 

WHY have you deleted it?

just readd it nick, those links are ok, the are resources. Community resource links are OK with me.

[orpheus42 1]

Is there a forum script or auto-moderation not that removes posts with multiple links? Or would a human have had to do that?

[Rob 547]

The forums are manually moderated.

[hostmonkee2 1]

Epagewebsites, I hope you found the answers you were seeking, because I don't see that anyone here helped.
I would also like to see a step by step guide without having to pay for that to.

Good luck,
Tracy

Thank-you all for the feedback! That's all very encouraging. It's given my plenty to read. I have emails containing links to the stuff now removed, so will be checking that also. Glad to see there's an active userbase, that all bodes very well!

But a note to Pageline themselves. It probably all seems blindingly obvious to you, but a simple A...B...C... to building your first page would be a massive help. The video walkthrough is lovely, but it doesn't actually show how to customise any of the components. It doesn't show how I address any element to add further styling to it. I've been writing complex PHP for years. I'm fairly new to WordPress, but it's all fairly straightforward, but the total lack of any basic "to achieve this, you need to do this" type of guidance is exasperating.

To give an example of what I mean, I've struggled adding just a basic header image, I've tried different approaches and Jake, you say just add it to a section. But in order to give that section some height, I need to (presumably) add a min-height to some CSS/LESS somewhere. But how do I address that section? I'm sure it's obvious if you know... but currently I don't!

I have a couple dozen similar questions like this and I really had hoped the documentation would address some of that.

If you're going to do a video walkthrough, it would be more helpful to start from a blank canvas, add some basic elements, show how to address and style them rather than scrolling up and down an existing website and randomly pressing buttons to add elements in their standard form! Just sayin' ;-)

[Danny+ 1,327]

We understand the documentation isn't up to scratch. However, creating a template to me anyway, is self explanatory and pretty much how all templates work.

 

When you first in DMS, there are several templates to choose from. However, if you want to create your own, you go a page and configure it i.e. adding what sections you like, position them and configure them. Once you're happy with the layout, go to DMS Toolbar > Add to page and then click Save as Template. Once saved, you can go to other pages and assign this template.