My name is Olivier Bellin, and I live in Paris.
I'm an IT technology journalist and former chief editor of Computer Reseller News magazine in France (edited formerly by VNU, which created SVM and SVM Mac sites in Drupal already).
I'm planning on creating myself an IT BtoB news portal using a powerful CMS. After considering Joomla for a while, I found that Drupal is probably the best choice. I've now spent a few weeks on learning how Drupal works a bit better (I'm an user and not a programmer).
But I need help rapidly because I am not a developer. Drupal is strong, no question, but its Themes and templates are really too poor looking for my project. So, I need to adapt nice looking templates, I can buy existing one to customize at reasonable price on Internet to start with for instance. I did contact Rue89, who has also developped its news site in Drupal.
Like me, and many others in France, Rue89 would like to use Drupal massively, if not for the poor existing themes... So I would be pleased if any of you can share its expertise, how to combine easily the best of 2 brother worlds for instance : a joomla nice existing template to customize with the powerful Drupal CMS.
best regards
Comments
Hi Olivier, I spent more
Hi Olivier,
I spent more than three days testing different templates. And none was "what I was looking for".
I decided to use the Amadou theme. But, I had to customize it to fit my needs. Here there's an example of what I did.
I am also using Panels and Views modules, and these give me a lot more flexibility.
I am developing a regional online newspaper written by the people. I wanted (and still want) a template like the one Elpais.com uses.
Maybe you could tell us what is "a joomla nice existing template" providing a link. So we could understand better what are you looking for.
Regards,
Jorge Melo
"nice existing template" for commercial IT magazines or portals
Hola
thank you for your answer
I am very impressed by elpais.com drupal site, but I do not have the money to create something that comparable, at first at least.
I did browse hundreds of themes and templates those last few days and I provid you a link to some joomla (or other) "nice existing template" for commercial IT magazines or portals.
I probably find a developper able to convert a joomla or nuke theme to Drupal CMS, but I am still looking
best regards
Olivier
http://ijoomlademo.com, they have very nice themes for portals adapted from Rocket themes
http://www.themescrib.com, themes 8229, 10112, 51112, etc.
Can be done
That can be done. The basic steps are:
If you need multiple page design types, you can implement that by following the documented rules for template naming.
Overall, Drupal theming is MUCH simpler than it's made out to be. Most of the problems I see in the forums are coming from people who don't know enough HTML to create a flat page.
about usage value
Hello
thank you for your reply
you are right, I am a user and not a programmer, like most of the journalist or entrepeneurs who wants to create nice and useful site.
So, my problem is that I believe in Drupal, Linux approach, etc, but it is sometimes difficult to discuss with some Drupal or Linux guys, who talk only of code, by the code, for ever, and do not care enough, most of the time, for usage value, content, design, etc.
Drupal could be THE killing CMS if they would help newbies like me to promote their technical stuff combined with powerful contents and nice looking templates, easy to manage.
So, I am a believer and I am sure I will find a way to developp my editorial site - with Drupal - without having to learn how to program or spend thousands of euros in conception and design.
best regards
Olivier
Gutenberg
You can also grab Jeff Eaton's "Gutenberg" theme, which provides pluggable compatibility* with Movable Type themes.
--
http://ken.therickards.com/
http://savannahnow.com/user/2
http://blufftontoday.com/user/3
--
http://ken.therickards.com/
Easier to theme a newspaper style install profile?
I think you'd see better themes if there was a newspaper template/install profile to use as a starting point. Would be ideal to have custom profiles/themes for the various flavors of media sites listed here - http://groups.drupal.org/node/5100.
Gus Austin
PepperAlley Productions
Gus Austin
We seek an Install Profile
Hey Gus- you hit the head on our interest as well. We are seeking a turn-key Install Profile for news or newspaper sites. I understand their are other end-users who too could benefit from this. I would like to suggest that we pool our demand for this solution together and perhaps financially encourage some programmers to assist in this endeavor.
We are also very interested in good design and presentation as Olivier.
Does anyone have a suggestion how we may begin to gether resources around this kind of project?
Thank you,
jeff
Reverse bounty?
I've been working on one particular flavor of media/newspaper site/install profile (details here) and would be interested in any sort of collaborative effort. In terms of funding, possibly a reverse bounty could be posted for a specific type of profile (and possibly some themes)? The projects needing financing group may be a good point of reference.
Gus Austin
How useful !
Hi Jeff
you are right,
turn key install profile seems more than useful, not only for editorial sites.
Do you think, it will be included in the D6 release, if yes, when.
If not what do you suggest ?
idem for scrolling menus...
best regards
Olivier
We cobbled together a newspaper theme
Using Drupal 4.6.x and a trial and error approach, we have put up an SNA-award-winning site. Moving this week to a 3-tier server setup, we are faced with the downside of open-source versions --
We want to upgrade, but major re-programming awaits us to go from Drupal 4.6 to 5.x. And who knows what challenges lie ahead to get to 6.x?
We like much of the 4.6 functionalities, but are scratching our code-challenged heads about how to improve our CMS while still retaining the things we don't want to change.
The site is www.thecitizen.com.
Join the club
We're in that situation, too. Though it's more a case of "we built new functionality for 4.6 that needs to be ported -- and we don't have time."
The core functionality of D5 and D6 are both far superior to 4.6.
--
http://ken.therickards.com/
http://savannahnow.com/user/2
http://blufftontoday.com/user/3
--
http://ken.therickards.com/
Ouaou !
congratulations by ulki
Another very good editorial sites develop with Drupal
2 news about nice editorial projects in one day !
so you believe it better for someone who want to lauch an editorial portal to wait for Drupal 5, or even 6 ?
are we close in this group to edit a news magazine theme under Drupal 5 or 6 in the coming weeks ?
what a challenge
Bravo !
Drupal 5/6, and theming
:: Concerning waiting for Drupal 6 ::
In general, I don't think it's a good idea to wait for the next release of something. There will always be a new version of Drupal on the way, and if we wait for Drupal 6 before creating an installation profile/theme/module/whatever, we'll also have to wait for bug-fixes, module updates, and so on.
Better, I think, is to focus on Drupal 5 right now, and then put some efforts in updating and improving when Drupal 6 comes along. (I've also heard on the Lullbot podcast that updating modules from 4.6 to 4.7 is far more troublesome than updating from/to 4.7-5-6. That may or may not be of some comfort for those of you stuck with 4.6 and heavy work on updates in front of you...)
:: Concerning developing a theme ::
Considering a newspaper/news magazine theme, I think it is a task with some inherent problems. Theming is a kind of branding, and as little you want your magazine/newspaper to use standard MS Word formatting, just as little you want your site to look like a standard installation.
This means that most papers/magazines will want to develop their own themes (and probably not share all of the work).
On the other hand, there are some features that newspaper sites are likely to share: multiple-column layout on front page, in-article boxes with info and read-mores, teasers with thumbnail images, and more. But most of these things are not done with theming, but customized settings for modules and content types (and could be put into the Garland theme).
So - a question to anyone with more knowledge in theming: What newspaper site features are likely to put in a theme? (In-article blocks, perhaps?)
(By the way: For those of you who know as little as me about theming, I recommend Lullabot podcast No. 44. Skip the first 30 minutes if you want to dive directly into their theming-talk.)