Regarding the full with and 2 column templates, that's just two different Templates that you assign a DocType to, then a Editor can select which type of template they want for a specific page. Check out the docs for Templating in Umbraco:
https://our.umbraco.org/documentation/getting-started/design/templates/
When it comes to widget's people have different approaches. Some uses Nested Content, Archetype or Content Nodes to create widgets. There is no right or wrong, just find your favorite.
My recommendation would be to download a Starter Kit of some sort and see how they have done it.
uSkinned: https://uskinned.net is not free but you can probably try it out for free. They use nodes with Content pickers for widgets and they use a few different templates (2 column, full-width etc) for their doctypes. That could be worth checking out.
The options of templates and widgets to choose from for the editors is completely based on which templates and widgets the developer creates for the editors. A clean Umbraco installation doesn't contain any templates or any widgets, so it's up to you as a developer to provide your editors with tools that will give them a pleasant user experience.
I'm not familiar with Wordpress, but since its originally a Blogging platform I guess widgets like "Recent posts" and "Search" comes out of the box. This is not the case with Umbraco. But there are plenty of packages available here on Our.Umbraco so that you don't need to write everything yourself.
Try to consider Umbraco as a clean platform that you can create almost anything you want with and tailor it as you please. I think after a while you will come to love it and you will never want to go back to Wordpress. ;) At least I hope so! :)
Also if you haven't done so yet, I really recommend you signing up for a Umbraco.tv subscription. It's full of video tutorials and it's well worth the money!
Thanks Dennis a lot. I will do my research and see how things go. Having such a passionate community member as you, means a lot about Umbraco and its people :)
Can I consider a widget to be a Macro in Umbraco terminology? So for instance I can prepare a Macro with Partial View behind maybe some parameters to be supplied by EDITOR and then they can use it either in Grid or RTE?
Is Grid a good choice to allow editors to customize and edit their content? Maybe in some pages it's going to be a dynamic page listing some sort of document types etc but some pages are usually static and could be edited using grid? Is it customizable enough? I'm comparing it now to Page Builds in WP.
If I want for example to use a Slider in several projects better create it as property editor?
Back to Macros. Editors could use it to embed dynamic content inside Grid text content?
It includes a bit of discussion about implementing multi-column layouts. The comment section also has some good discussion regarding alternatives to Archetype (e.g., Nested Content, Grid).
Thanks Nicholas. I am still having my mind confused when it comes to "Thinking in Umbraco". I could establish document types and templates, deliver a website, but maybe I am looking into optimizing my work, making the life of editors easier, etc.
Add/remove widgets by editors
Hi,
I am trying to map my knowledge in WP to Umbraco.
In a WP theme, one can provide a full-width and 2-column page templates that the editor can use.
In a 2-column page template, editor can add/remove widgets at run time.
How does that map to Umbraco 7? In other words, how would I be able to provide the same experience?
Thanks Bilal
Hi Bilal.
Regarding the full with and 2 column templates, that's just two different Templates that you assign a DocType to, then a Editor can select which type of template they want for a specific page. Check out the docs for Templating in Umbraco: https://our.umbraco.org/documentation/getting-started/design/templates/
When it comes to widget's people have different approaches. Some uses Nested Content, Archetype or Content Nodes to create widgets. There is no right or wrong, just find your favorite.
My recommendation would be to download a Starter Kit of some sort and see how they have done it.
Umazel: https://our.umbraco.org/projects/starter-kits/umazel-starter-kit-responsive-bootstrap-theme/ is free and uses sub nodes for rendering widgets.
uSkinned: https://uskinned.net is not free but you can probably try it out for free. They use nodes with Content pickers for widgets and they use a few different templates (2 column, full-width etc) for their doctypes. That could be worth checking out.
If you want to go a little more advanced you should check out http://24days.in/umbraco-cms/2015/multilingual-vorto-nested-content/ where Jerome demonstrates Nested Content and Vorto in a clear way. (There is even an example project you can download and look at).
Best of luck to you and have a great day!
Thanks a lot Dennis for the info. I will check the links and read more.
I haven't seen a demo or video yet whereby, the editor can decide for example, on the side bar I want to show Recent Posts, then, Search, then etc.
Is this done the same way in Umbraco or it has a different way of managing content?
Thanks and have a good day too.
Hi again.
The options of templates and widgets to choose from for the editors is completely based on which templates and widgets the developer creates for the editors. A clean Umbraco installation doesn't contain any templates or any widgets, so it's up to you as a developer to provide your editors with tools that will give them a pleasant user experience.
I'm not familiar with Wordpress, but since its originally a Blogging platform I guess widgets like "Recent posts" and "Search" comes out of the box. This is not the case with Umbraco. But there are plenty of packages available here on Our.Umbraco so that you don't need to write everything yourself.
Try to consider Umbraco as a clean platform that you can create almost anything you want with and tailor it as you please. I think after a while you will come to love it and you will never want to go back to Wordpress. ;) At least I hope so! :)
Best of luck!
Also if you haven't done so yet, I really recommend you signing up for a Umbraco.tv subscription. It's full of video tutorials and it's well worth the money!
http://umbraco.tv
Thanks Dennis a lot. I will do my research and see how things go. Having such a passionate community member as you, means a lot about Umbraco and its people :)
Regards Bilal
Thank you Bilal for those extremely kind words! It warms my heart!
Have a great weekend!
Hi Denis
I have few questions related.
Can I consider a widget to be a Macro in Umbraco terminology? So for instance I can prepare a Macro with Partial View behind maybe some parameters to be supplied by EDITOR and then they can use it either in Grid or RTE?
Is Grid a good choice to allow editors to customize and edit their content? Maybe in some pages it's going to be a dynamic page listing some sort of document types etc but some pages are usually static and could be edited using grid? Is it customizable enough? I'm comparing it now to Page Builds in WP.
If I want for example to use a Slider in several projects better create it as property editor?
Back to Macros. Editors could use it to embed dynamic content inside Grid text content?
Many thanks Bilal
I just wrote an article that just got published a couple weeks ago about widget based websites in Umbraco: http://skrift.io/articles/archive/building-umbraco-websites-with-archetype-widgets-and-ditto/
It includes a bit of discussion about implementing multi-column layouts. The comment section also has some good discussion regarding alternatives to Archetype (e.g., Nested Content, Grid).
Archetype can also be used for other types of content, such as links: https://code101.net/links-in-umbraco-are-broken-but-alternatives-exist-1fe89aae2093
FYI, I copied the wrong link in my original reply. I already edited my post, but just in case you got an email notification, here's the correct link: http://skrift.io/articles/archive/building-umbraco-websites-with-archetype-widgets-and-ditto/
Thanks Nicholas. I am still having my mind confused when it comes to "Thinking in Umbraco". I could establish document types and templates, deliver a website, but maybe I am looking into optimizing my work, making the life of editors easier, etc.
is working on a reply...