Long front page with stories in boxes?

[pocketyum]

I posted this on the Template Discussion board, but upon review this may be more than that.

I've always admired sites like www.palminfocenter.com, www.zodiacgamer.com and even to some extend www.pdabuzz.com that have lots of news items on ther front page, each in it's own neat little box. These sites extend far below one screen, and the user must scroll to see the older news items, new ones being added at the top.

How do I get this look / functionality with Mambo? Can I? I'm assuming it's just a template issue, and I'm open to any suggestions of templates to use. If Mambo is not the right tool for a site like that, I'd be bummed but willing to switch.

Any insights welcome!

[Shinka]

I've always wondered how to do this too, so if anybody know how, please tell us! Is there a way to do this without complications?

[gaby]

That is exactly what Mambo can do. When you publish a new or othere item there is a box to tick to show on front page. It really is that simple.

This bit has nothing to do with the theme .. www.utes.com.au, www.uteshows.com.au, www.jcisenate.com.au, www.mowerracing.com.au all are different themes but what appears on the front page is because we tick the box.

[jmiba]

This is a limitation in Mambo:
You MUST check EACH item you want to show in frontpage.

AND check AGAIN when you no longer want that it appears more!

I have written a module that displays the last N items from news, automatically. With the date and intro text.

Now you can put that module below the main content [a few articles you want show at top]

In a few days I publish that module.

[gaby]

jimba I recon you got it all wrong there.

You set how many items you want to show on teh front page and how many subsequent links and that it. As you ad more items the older ones become redundant.

All items added to the utes site were originally on the front page but they don't all show. Every now and again I go to the front page Admin Section and do a clean out and rearrange but it's no big deal.

Yeah you module may be a tidier solution but it's another module to load. sorry

[Shinka]

I guess that it's not what he's asking, lol
Of course that you have to tild the new to show in the frontpage and that is not a limitation, is an advantage if you have many section with news and newsflash.

What he wants to know (and I want to) is how can you put each one of the news you add in separate boxes, each new in a closed box, and no all together and contiguous like a big sabana.

Anyone knows?

[tarmithius]

I would like to know how to add the stories in their own separate boxes too. I have tried to play with the template but to no avail. Does anyone out there know what I need to add as far as code goes.

[jmiba]

Originally Posted by Shinka

What he wants to know (and I want to) is how can you put each one of the news you add in separate boxes, each new in a closed box, and no all together and contiguous like a big sabana.

Well, if this is the problem, you do'nt have solution.

the CSS structure of main body is (for each content item):

-table.contentpaneopen
--->contenttitle
-table.contentpaneopen
--->create date & user
--->intro text

then, if you put a box surrounding "contentpaneopen", you get two boxes: one for the title, another one for the date/user & intro text.

It is possible that it is a bug in mambo?

All you can make is to put a single line before the title, playing with CSS and the class "contentheading". Or put it in a colored box (setting the backgroundcolor) to clearly separate items.

[conum]

I'm using Web-Developer-Tools in Firefox.
Activating the outline-tool you can see that all content items on the frontpage are gathered in one table, each content item in an own cell. Inside this cell there is another table for the itemtext with three cells for Header, Date&Author, Intro.
So you have to find the css for this cell in the maintable ...
Regards
Konrad

PS I will have a look at the code

[conum]

If you follow the steps beneath, be sure to have a clean copy of your template_css.css and of your /components/com_content/content.php
That's only experimental!
What I did is:
1. Define new classes in the template_css.css like

td.lead_fp {
height: 1%;
border-width: 2px;
border-style: solid;
border-color: #00DD00;
margin-top: 4px;
padding-bottom: 4px;
}
td.item_fp {
height: 1%;
border-width: 2px;
border-style: solid;
border-color: #DD0000;
margin-top: 4px;
padding-bottom: 4px;
}

2. Have a look at /components/com_content/content.php and find the function "BlogOutput (...)" and there: "// Leading story output"
Beneath you'll find the output for the leading story, the items and so on.
There a some "<td> definitions. Put your 'class="lead_fp"' or 'class="item_fp"' inside:

<td class="item_fp">

and you'll find boxes around your items on the frontpage.
But that's only experimental!
Good luck
Regards
Konrad