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Got used to the "old" TTG CE4 manner of doing things. Liked the workflow/layout of the different sections to create/edit. But now, with Backlight, I must admit the interface is very abstract to me. I get all mixed up with the Pages, Album Sets, and Album sections. The tutorial is kind of brief so I can't figure out how to color the background, choose a typeface that's not bland, size the thumbnails...
Witness : http://pideja.ca/lyne
All I'm trying to do on this rudimentary test site is have a black background to all pages, an iconic thumbnail that leads to the gallery page (called "Dessins" here) and the correct URL to the gallery thumbnails and images.
Can I get a straightforward method or workflow to do these things?
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Page templates control the overall look of stand alone pages, albums, album sets, and WordPress themes.
Album Set templates control the layout of thumbnails as well as album set page copy. This page copy can be used, or not, in any album set. That's controlled in Publisher, just like in CE4
Album templates control album thumbnail layout, thumbnail and large image sizes, metadata settings, download option.
The album template is also where you choose to use any add-ons, like Fotomoto, Cart, and Client Response.
In addition, when you create a new album template you have the option of choosing a Backlight Standard Album or a Backlight Theater album (if you've purchased Theater).
Whenever you create an album set or an album template, you must assign a page template to it. This page template gives your site it's consistent look.
So for your site, first create a page template that has a black background, white text, etc. In the process of this you'll need to assign a navigation menu, set page widths, hyperlink colors, other Typography settings.
Then create an album set. Assign the page template you just made to the new album set template.
(In Backlight > Publisher > Top Level Galleries, assign this album set template to the 'galleries' top level gallery.)
Then create your album template and assign the page template you created to this new album template. Make all your thumbnail and image settings.
Back in Lightroom's Publisher, when you go to create an album set or album, you'll find that your templates are already there to use.
If you want a home page with an image you can click on that will take you to your galleries page, then just use some html in the page copy and link the image to the galleries page.
CE4 took some getting used to, Backlight will too. But most people have found it leaps and bounds easier to use than the old Lightoom web engines.
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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Ah, we meet again, Rod! Thanks for helping me on this BACKLIGHT gizmo.
After having read your message and slept on it, there has been some improvement. Of course, the site is still rudimentary but it's way better than the initial try.
It dawned on me (finally) that the Backlight site interface was a problem for me: I now see it more akin to the TTG interface within Lightroom, but "offshore", so to speak. It's starker and some terminology is different but I'm getting to know my way around.
For now, there is one thing I have a hard time with : the Masthead. As you can see here (http://pideja.ca/lyne ) I use a graphic identity plate. It shows up on all three pages until I edit the text on the Home page. Then it disappears! No problem on the gallery (DESSINS) and contact pages. I've looked around everywhere but I still can't figure out was is wrong.
Any ideas?
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Hello again Rod,
Fiddling around with the Page Template/ Design/Masthead and the text section (doing minor edits) the Identity Plate reappeared in the Home page masthead. Not sure why this happens but I noticed that updating via clicking on the navigation buttons does not seem to have the same effect as the auto-refresh button.
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so all is good?
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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It's getting better by the...day! Got that graphic masthead going, now it's the fiddling around:
- controlling the space between the masthead and the bloc and/or grid;
- controlling that gallery link that appears on the "dessins" page;
- controlling the size of thumbnails and large images on desktop and mobile display, etc.
I am almost halfway to where I was in CE4...witch was not very far at all as I look to the web sites others have created using these tools!
Thanks for the support, Rod
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the gallery link on the "dessins" page is a breadcrumb. You can disable that by editing the top-level gallery:
Backlight > Publisher > Top-Level Galleries. Click on the name of your top-level gallery. Click on Edit Properties. Change the setting of "Show Breadcrumbs"
masthead spacing: in your page template, go to Masthead. Adjust padding
control thumbnails in the album or album set templates
album: thumbnail presentation
sets: thumbnails
there are setting for max number of columns, width, etc. You'll see different setting depending on the style you choose: Classic, Masnory, etc.
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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I've succeeded in getting rid of the "Galleries" breadcrumb. Thank you.
However, I don't understand why the DESSINS tab is not the GALLERY tab. If you write : http://pideja.ca/lyne/galleries you'll get to a page (an album set, I guess), where there is a button leading to DESSINS (an album, I suppose). Ideally, I would like the DESSINS tab to lead directly to the DESSINS page since there are no other galleries to add to this site.
Why is there not a GALLERIES entry in the DESIGNER>PAGES editor?
As for the thumbnail sizes (border, cell, thumbnail relationships) whatever I put in the Album Sets or Album pages does not show up!
I'll have to revue everything, in a more systematical way!
Thanks again Rod
As for the Masthead spacing, when in Backlight>Publisher>Top Level Galleries no change was apparent even if I gave it ridiculously high padding numbers.
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Look at your menu set and change the "dessins" link to what you want it to be
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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Trying to get that background black.
In Templates>Page Templates>Page Setup I change the page background color to...whatever and it stays white.
As for the "dessins" menu link, as usual, you steered me in the right direction. Thank you
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Try clearing template cache as well as browser cache
Make sure you're working on the correct template
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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For the breadcrumbs that I wanted to be suppressed, I unchecked the "display breadcrumbs" box in Publisher.
For the navigation issue, going directly to "dessins", I did not use the URL method. Rather, I indicated album>dessins in the menu set. Although this points to "galleries" and the to "dessins", it does not show because the breadcrumbs are not apparent. Not an elegant solution, but for now it works for me.
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It's working as expected for me. I click on Dessins and it takes me directly to the Dessins album. What seems to be the problem?
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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Hello Rod,
There is no significant navigation issue. I just thought that there might be a more elegant way of doing this, like changing the term "galleries" to "dessins" and linking accordingly.
No, today's problem is still trying to get the pages background from white to black and the typo to white, of course. Can't seem to have it done in the designer>templates>page templates>design>page layout. Changing Page Background-color from white to whatever has no effect.
Should I consider doing this in Custom CSS? Where do I put a custom CSS file in Backlight?
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There is no significant navigation issue. I just thought that there might be a more elegant way of doing this, like changing the term "galleries" to "dessins" and linking accordingly.
I'm guessing you're talking about the URL? ..../galleries/dessins ?
You can change the name of the top level galleries folder to "dessins" if you wish. You'll also have to make that change in Publisher's top-level folder. But then the URL will be .../dessins/dessins.
A top level galleries folder is necessary for Publisher and it's an album set containing albums.
There are two places to change background color: Page Layout (for the overall page) and Main Column (for page content).
If you've set the Max-width in Page Setup to a high number (as it appears to me you have), then unless you have a very wide monitor, you'll only see the content of the page (Main Column) and you won't see the actual page background.
Page copy color is also controlled under Main Column. This page copy is for the paragraph tag. Change other colors, like Headings, in Typography
if you ever need custom css (you don't for this), that's covered in the documentation: http://backlight.theturninggate.net/doc … tylesheets
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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Yeah...I was tinkering with the different css offered with the package, but I'm back to no css.
But, the navigation on the Home page is now vertical! Only on that page.
Yes, I am building this site on a 1980x1080 monitor and wanted to see if I could get it to show page and Main Column background colors as black. At some point, I did have the page as black, showing as two columns each side of the contents. The column was still white. I have reverted back to all white (until I figure out how to change this color consistently).
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Now I changed the maximum columns in the "Dessins" album from 6 to 7 and low and behold, I get vertical navigation!
I wonder what's the relationship between the number of columns and the navigation positioning.
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Your Home and Contact pages both show the same navigation styling. Not sure what's going on there. Are you using the same page template for Dessins? Have you tried clearing template cache?
Yes, I am building this site on a 1980x1080 monitor and wanted to see if I could get it to show page and Main Column background colors as black.
If you've set the page Max-width (in Page Layout) to 1980 or larger, you'll never see the page background color in the content area, only the Main Column background color.
The Masthead and Footer background colors can be set to transparent, that will allow the page background color to show. You need to set the background-color for the content in Main Column.
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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How do clear the template cache?
I understand the relationship between page and column; a bit like the old page and block or grid in CE4, no?
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to clear template cache
From Backlight dashboard, hover over Design > Templates > Clear Template Cache
The relationship between page background and column background is pretty much like CE4. In CE4 you could set page body background and there was no setting at that point for page with. Get down to Page Container and you can set page width and content background color.
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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Looking at the site on Chrome, Safari and on Opera...not quite the same. Some borders appear on Safari and Opera.
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do you have any borders set? I've noticed that with some things, Firefox has posed some problems. Matt always fixes them though.
I think Matt will need to look into your navigation issue. I have no ideas other than clearing template cache.
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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I cleared the template cache. Now vertical navigation all thru!
I'll get back to this later... getting frustrated...reverting to manual work, like chopping wood or something.
Thanks for your patience.
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your Home and Dessins pages show the navigation horizontal, as it should normally look. It also looks like your Contact page is using a different page template. On that page, the navigation is still vertical list items
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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Just checked...navigation on my box shows up vertical in all three pages. Re-cleared the cache to no avail.
Last edited by pideja (2016-12-08 02:14:58)
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