 i just set up ssh, i have no idea what most of the terms for all this is, but i am computer savy so i can figure it out with a little help in the right direction. any help would be great. first question is once I follow install manual and get it on server, how do i customize my site to be unique? are there templates or do I have to know html codding? and when i install addons where will i put them? |
Okay, your off to a great start here.
1. Your computer savy.
2. You seem to know html.
Those to 2 things, with Dolphin will get you to the position your at right now.
Dolphin, while it has html files, does not utilize html for it's appearance, only for extrememly basic layout. Let me help you out here with an example. Below in orange is a copy of the index.html file for dolphin:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
No, kidding, that is the entire index.html file in dolphin. So with this in mind, the rest of us tend to spend our time working the layout of Dolphin in the templates/tmpl_{tmpl}/css/files.css areas of the site. Of course, you could decide that you want to buy a template, that will get you some rounded corners and cut down on times for images and such, you'll find yourself still digging at the layout to tweak/work it the way you want.
Then of course, there will be files that can't be done in the /files.css and they have to have the layout work done in the filename.php sections of the site, but even those utilize css inside of the .php file. Confused yet?
I hope not, because we still have to cover how tables are created in the .php but not always, sometimes they are in the page_#.html files (yes, we do have some items in the page_#.html files, but those are all super simple items, and you will need to page attention to the design.html files also. Of course, there is java & flash that contribute to certain pages/sections and oh so many other things.
Best thing, get your dolphin installed, then create a subdirectory and install it again into a subdomain. Do all your testing/playing in the subdomain and when you have what you want do it again on your production site. Spend lots of time here looking things up, most of your questions you will find have been answered and with a small amount of due diligence you'll find those answers.
Good luck and enjoy Dolphin, your about to become very confused if you attempt to use anything you've learned before you found it. |
