How to redesign a New Smugmug site?
Teetime
Registered Users Posts: 202 Major grins
If I have an existing New Smugmug site, and I want to replace it with a redesign - what is the recommended workflow? I assumed I could create a new design parallel to my existing published site, and then publish the new to replace the old. But I am finding it very awkward to create the new site independent of the old. For example, new pages have to be created and customized from within the old site, without the benefit of any new theme used in the new site. Hopefully I'm missing something very fundamental here. Is there some documentation on this I've missed?
Jerry
0
Comments
In my case, I just created a new theme (CSS) and created a test site with the new CSS. Once I was happy with it, I published the new Theme.
Images in the Backcountry
My SmugMug Customizations | Adding CSS to Your Site | SEO for the Photographer | Locate Your Page/Widget Number | SmugMug Help Desk
Mike, it is the combination of the two (new design with new theme) I am finding awkward because all new pages have to be created within the old design.
I agree. I like how WordPress separates the content from the "looks".
Images in the Backcountry
My SmugMug Customizations | Adding CSS to Your Site | SEO for the Photographer | Locate Your Page/Widget Number | SmugMug Help Desk
I did not publish until I was as done as done could get {crispy barbecued was how it felt
I had my old site open in one browser (Chrome), and my new site editing in another (Firefox). I needed to see both side by side.
I followed the logic:
- If new content did not need any customization, I created it in Old.
- Customized new content was done in new.
As I recall, if you create new content from within the new site, you can't see it in Old view, so this partly motivated me to create from within Old.
I can't remember what triggers this: If you create something within something, the galleries don't show up in New where you would expect - they show up in some other folder in the organize structure. I can't remember what causes what for this behavior. EDITED: Actually maybe this is, if you create new content within Old, it doesn't show up in New where you expect? Sorry I'm not remembering accurately!
Anyway, what I did, if I think about it:
- First I added some new galleries that I planned out, in Old, so that they would populate as new. No html customization in Old, just in New.
- I tend to have HTML custom code in many or most of my galleries, so I cleaned up each one in New view.
- I ID'd some site reorganization that I could, and reorganized in Old, so that I could see that in New.
- Where I needed new galleries and new HTML, I created them in New, and just lived with the fact that they would not be public until I published.
I took screen shots of the folders and layout in Old, as a backup once Old was gone.
If I could graph what happened, it would look something like: editing was high in Old at first, gradually slowing down and then replaced by editing in New, finally stopping all editing in Old because the wave was building - it made no sense to do more in Old. It made more sense to follow the wave.