Mike Lane
Sep-14-2005, 03:00 PM
Humungus, outspoken Aussie mod extrodinairre and self described "A typical SM cave dweller", mentioned that the various tutorials that we've got in here are over the heads of many dgrinners and consequently many miss out on the opportunity to take part in one of Smugmug's most powerful features. Humungus said there needs to be a "paint by numbers" customization tutorial that anyone can follow; a tutorial that will let those who have zero knowledge of html, css, or any other mysterious new-fangled acronyms to get a smugmug site of their own design that will turn heads. My reaction was that this was exactly what was missing from all of these discussions. And Smugmug and Andy agree.
That is what this thread is going to be all about. This is a thread for anyone who feels like they can't even chime into discussions about the cobranding because they just don't know the first thing about how to build a web page not to mention CSS. This is going to be a discussion, not a closed thread. This thread is NOT the place for "How do I change my green text?" questions so please address those elsewhere. The discussions in here will be driven by a once weekly or once semi-weekly tutorial that I post to this thread. Bear in mind, customization is only available to power and pro account holders of Smugmug. There are things that basic users can do in the galleries and we may touch upon that in time; however, if you are not a power or pro account holder, you will likely not get anything out of this thread.
So what exactly is going to happen here?
Smugmug is right now in the process of creating a new account specifically for these purposes (more on that once there are some galleries with images in there). We are going to start from a fresh, completely uncustomized smugmug page. Over the course of time (however long it takes) we are going to transform this this blank smugmug site into something special. This tutorial will walk you through specific steps that can be easily modified by you to make the photo sharing site of your dreams. And in the process, we'll be creating a growing reference for everyone. Best of all you'll have a real smugmug site that will let you see how things happen in real time.
Again, I want to emphasize, the discussions are for everyone. Please, please ask any question that you can possibly think of. There are NO stupid questions with this. I am asking that those of you who are html and CSS pros chime in to help answer the questions that come up. However (and this goes for everyone who gives an answer), if you aren't 100% positive that your answer is correct, verify it before you post. I want to try to eliminate confusion as much as I can.
What's coming up next?
The next post will be of a few of the very basics of html and some links that everyone will need to look over. I'd love to tell you that you could get the site of your dreams without knowing anything about html or css, but I just can't so this seems to be the most logical place to start.
UPDATES!!!
- The First Chapter is posted! (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=18732) Give it a read!
- Our example site is up and running. Head on over to http://customize.smugmug.com to see our blank slate. Thanks to Andy for supplying the pics!
- There weren't any questions on the 1st chapter so I decided to go ahead an put out the 2nd chapter (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=18907). Please make sure to ask questions if you need to, there are things that you will need to know in this chapter in order to understand the smugmug cobranding.
-Chapter 3 (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=19946) of the Customization for Dummies has been posted.
-Chapter 4 (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=24920) of the Customization for Dummies has (finally) been posted!!!
-Chapter 5 (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=25538) has been posted!
That is what this thread is going to be all about. This is a thread for anyone who feels like they can't even chime into discussions about the cobranding because they just don't know the first thing about how to build a web page not to mention CSS. This is going to be a discussion, not a closed thread. This thread is NOT the place for "How do I change my green text?" questions so please address those elsewhere. The discussions in here will be driven by a once weekly or once semi-weekly tutorial that I post to this thread. Bear in mind, customization is only available to power and pro account holders of Smugmug. There are things that basic users can do in the galleries and we may touch upon that in time; however, if you are not a power or pro account holder, you will likely not get anything out of this thread.
So what exactly is going to happen here?
Smugmug is right now in the process of creating a new account specifically for these purposes (more on that once there are some galleries with images in there). We are going to start from a fresh, completely uncustomized smugmug page. Over the course of time (however long it takes) we are going to transform this this blank smugmug site into something special. This tutorial will walk you through specific steps that can be easily modified by you to make the photo sharing site of your dreams. And in the process, we'll be creating a growing reference for everyone. Best of all you'll have a real smugmug site that will let you see how things happen in real time.
Again, I want to emphasize, the discussions are for everyone. Please, please ask any question that you can possibly think of. There are NO stupid questions with this. I am asking that those of you who are html and CSS pros chime in to help answer the questions that come up. However (and this goes for everyone who gives an answer), if you aren't 100% positive that your answer is correct, verify it before you post. I want to try to eliminate confusion as much as I can.
What's coming up next?
The next post will be of a few of the very basics of html and some links that everyone will need to look over. I'd love to tell you that you could get the site of your dreams without knowing anything about html or css, but I just can't so this seems to be the most logical place to start.
UPDATES!!!
- The First Chapter is posted! (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=18732) Give it a read!
- Our example site is up and running. Head on over to http://customize.smugmug.com to see our blank slate. Thanks to Andy for supplying the pics!
- There weren't any questions on the 1st chapter so I decided to go ahead an put out the 2nd chapter (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=18907). Please make sure to ask questions if you need to, there are things that you will need to know in this chapter in order to understand the smugmug cobranding.
-Chapter 3 (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=19946) of the Customization for Dummies has been posted.
-Chapter 4 (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=24920) of the Customization for Dummies has (finally) been posted!!!
-Chapter 5 (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=25538) has been posted!