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Adding a right column and centering my blog
Posted: 28 June 2005 04:45 PM   [ Ignore ]  
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I posted this in the design forum but nobody answered. How do I add a right column, and then center my whole blog. I have the logo centered but not the whole blog. Here is a link to my site http://www.jameztown.com/pMachinePro2.4/weblog.php

Thanks james

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Posted: 29 June 2005 12:55 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]  
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This is really a general HTML/CSS type question rather than something related specifically to pMachine Pro.  If you want to add a column, then you need to alter your PHP files (such as “weblog.php”, “comments.php”, etc.) to add that content in the correct place.  You’d then alter the CSS to display it correctly.  In general, you’re probably better off simply starting over with a different layout rather than trying to modify the default/sample layout.

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Chris Curtis
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Posted: 01 July 2005 04:26 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]  
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I was not aware of different layouts when I installed pmachine. Now that I do have it installed how do I pick a new layout and set it up on my site?

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Posted: 01 July 2005 07:10 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]  
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You can’t choose different layouts when you install.  In order to change your site layout you have to edit your site files (weblog.php, comments.php, etc.) and your Templates (Edit Templates in the Control Panel).  See the page I linked to above as well as the tutorials.  You will need HTML and probably CSS knowledge to alter your site like this.

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Posted: 02 July 2005 09:22 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]  
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Okay I find one I like I will work on installing it. Thanks for the help chris.

P.S. What about centering the entire blog, How can I do this? I tried <center> but it only made the top logo centered.

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Posted: 03 July 2005 12:21 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 5 ]  
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Okay I am in the process of trying to install my new layout and think I would rather have a root canal. This is not very easy at all. Please help!!

This is from the instruction’s on how to install it. They used a 2column template as an example. I am trying to install a 3 column.

3. Once you have selected the template you will see that its files are stored in their own directory. So all the files required for the 2 Column Right Menu template are in the directory 2colmr.
You need to move these files to the weblog location you defined as part of the pMachine install - mostly likely the base directory of your web site.

I have my site setup like this: mysite/Pmachinepro2.4/allmyfilesforpmachine. So I just copied all the files to here.

4. Also in this directory is a file called 2colmr.css which contains the CSS required for the layout alone. The other CSS is contained in a file called all.css located in the css directory off the root of the directory tree. In order to properly use the templates you really need both files - the templates will look pretty ordinary without the colours and styles associated with the layout.

Since you’ve moved the template files around you need to ensure the links to the css files are accurate. The two css files are linked using different methods.

The layout CSS file, in this case, 2colmr.css, is linked using an import tag. This hides the CSS from older browsers allowing the content to be displayed in an unstructured but readable manner. You need to adjust the tag to point to the new location of the CSS files. For example if you placed the CSS files in a directory called css in the same directory as the weblog files the import tag would look like this:

<style type=“text/css” media=“all”>
@import “css/2colmr.css”; <!—Layout CSS - contains the CSS required for this layout—>
</style> I just copied all my files to one spot so what do I need to do to make my files work.

The second CSS file contains all the presentation CSS and is linked into the template file using the link tag like so:

<link rel=“stylesheet” type=“text/css” href=“css/all.css” /> <!—Presentation CSS - included in all layouts and defines the look and feel—> When I open the all.css file I do not see this line of code to edit. Do I need to add it?

The above tag assumes that the all.css file has been moved into the same css directory as the 2colmr.css file. Where I have all the files I have a folder called css and both of these files are in this folder.

You need to remember to change all the CSS links in all of the template files. is there more files to edit besides these two?

5. Now rename the files to a format that suits you - remember to keep the .php extension to allow your server to process the files as .php (there are methods of changing the extension to .htm or .html - like using .htaccess files - but these are outside the scope of this document - please check your web server’s documentation for details). I did not change any of the file name I left them as the are

6. Once you’ve renamed these files you need to tell pMachine where they are and what they are called. This is defined in the Weblog Management section of the pMachine Control Panel. Click on the weblog you wish to manage and input the names of the files in the relevant fields. The template files are essentially similar to the files contained in the standard template that comes with pMachine. For example:

2colmr_weblog.php is equivalent to weblog.php
2colmr_archives.php is equivalent to archives.php
etc, etc…

Thus you change the entry for Main Weblog Page to whatever you have renamed 2colmr_weblog.php to and Comments Page to whatever you have renamed 2colmr_comments.php to and so on. I used the 3 column template so I changd it to everything with the “3colhed_” in front for ex: 3colhed_weblog.php .

Needless to say my blog does not work.Nothing changed, I thought if I messed it up nothing would show up,or it would be all outa wack or something. My blog looks the exact same.  As you can see I have a lot of questions. I was disappointed in how easy I thought this was going to be. There has to be an easier way to just add a column on the right side. Please help.

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