This package provides a fairly simple way to create a custom page layout with 1, 2 or 3 columns. You can optionally disable the display of all the primary page elements like #page-title, #side-bar, #header, #breadcrumbs, etc. Columns can be set using pixels (fixed width) or percentages (fluid widths). Support is included for advanced CSS users so they can further customize the look and feel of the page.
Include files
3column | By (user deleted) | 31 Dec 2009 19:43 |
Instructions
To install this package in your site, create/edit these pages with the following content:
This page | Contains this line |
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template:3column | see sample template below |
I highly recommend you create one or more static template pages for use with this CSS-CSI. Since there are a number of variables that can be passed to the include, and there are specific [[div]] ... [[/div]] blocks that must be part of your page content, it will be easiest to manage this way. Any time you want to use the template, just select it from the drop-down list of templates when you create a new page on your site.
Caution
This CSI makes it possible to easily disable the page options and you may lose your ability to easily edit your page. If you hide the edit button, you can append /edit/true (i.e http://mywiki.wikidot.com/my-page/edit/true) to the URL of your page to open the editor.
The template page below is fully documented and has sample content to help you get started. You can see a live example of this CSI in action here: 3 Column CSI and here: 3 Column Fixed CSI
If you find you're using multiple layouts based on this CSI, it would make sense for you to create multiple template pages. For example, you may want one template for a fluid, 3-column layout and one for a fixed width, 2-column layout.
but it's a bit complex for a beginner no?
Happy newyear
A - S I M P L E - P L A N by ARTiZEN a startingpoint for simple wikidot solutions.
Happy New Year to you too!
Yes, it may look complex to a beginner mainly because you need a basic working knowledge of the Wikidot syntax (like recognizing a div block) to make sense of much of this. And that's why I recommended using static templates to store the page source - so it's easily accessible and you don't have to keep finding it, copying it and pasting it every time you want to use it.
Plus, who said CSIs had to be targeted at beginners? The competition just says "Each package must use the CSS module to provide some useful or interesting functionality." Useful or interesting is up to others to decide. I wanted to create a way to easily change the layout of a page without having to create a new category and apply a different custom theme to it. One nice thing about CSS is that you can stick a bunch of invalid values in the code without breaking it. Invalid values are just ignored, so using something like xnone as a default is nice because all you have to do is remove the x to make the code work.
I really wanted to have more live examples ready before submitting this, but I've been crazy busy at work the last couple of weeks and just didn't have time. Win, lose or draw, I'll continue to work on this through improved code and more examples.
-Ed
Community Admin