Expanding on Gantry's Documentation
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- Ryan M Pierson
- Sr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 243
- Thanks: 164
- Technical Writer
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Hello there!
What are some of the areas you would like to see Gantry 5 documentation explore in greater detail? Are there any questions that came up during your time with the platform that you feel could be clarified even further within the documentation?
We want to make sure that the documentation we are putting out there is as useful as it can be. Our goal with the Gantry 5 documentation was to provide a resource that is useful across a span of usage cases ranging from new users getting acquainted with the back end Gantry features to advanced developers that want to create their own Gantry-powered templates.
As you could imagine, this is a pretty big undertaking. There are a lot of questions that come up that we don't really get a chance to hear. Every user has a different set of requirements, and level of experience to take into consideration.
Our plans are to keep adding to documentation, every day. This includes our RocketTheme documentation for individual templates/themes as well as Gantry's own documentation for information related to the framework and not a specific template/theme.
So, this is your forum. What would you like to see more of in regard to our documentation? -
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- Ryan Matthew Pierson / Technical Writer / Buda, TX USA
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- Anibal Sanchez
- Newbie
- Posts: 13
- Thanks: 2
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Hi Ryan,
I am a long time user of Rocket themes and now I am loving Gantry 5.
Particles are amazing. But, I am missing a piece of documentation about them.
Some particles purpose is very clear, like Atom/ Analytics. However, it is not clear the subtle differences between:
- Block content
- Content List
- Info List
- Promo Content
At this time, I find time consuming to test particles parameters to check the final result. Demo site helps, but it does not show every particle like "Block Variations".
It would be great to have a single page with "Particle Variations". - Last Edit: 8 years 6 months ago by Anibal Sanchez.
- Best Regards,
Anibal Sanchez
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Extly.com - Extensions
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- Ryan M Pierson
- Sr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 243
- Thanks: 164
- Technical Writer
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This is a great suggestion. You might be surprised to find out that we have this documented already, though I will add direct links to this documentation within the actual docs.
Because the styling for these particles change significantly between themes, as particles can be assigned theme-specific styling, we have documented it for RocketTheme themes within the demo itself. Just check out the Typography page in our demos for examples and a breakdown of these particles.
demo.rockettheme.com/live/joomla/kraken/features/typography
The one problem with documenting them within the Gantry docs specifically is because there are animations and other bits and pieces that don't present themselves in a screenshot. Likewise, the styling applied per theme varies to a great degree.
What I will do is add links to the demo typography and variations pages to make this easier to find.
Thanks for the suggestion! - Ryan Matthew Pierson / Technical Writer / Buda, TX USA
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- Anibal Sanchez
- Newbie
- Posts: 13
- Thanks: 2
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Hi,
I totally missed Particle documentation in Typography page.
I am acustom to pre-Gantry5 Typography page. So I didn't expect to find particle documentation there.
In fact, when I visited Typography page, I noticed that it does not longer show the usual styles, like: demo.rockettheme.com/live/joomla/vermilion/features/typography .
To sum up, it would be great to have "Particle Variations" and a full "Typography" page. - Best Regards,
Anibal Sanchez
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Extly.com - Extensions
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- Ryan M Pierson
- Sr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 243
- Thanks: 164
- Technical Writer
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Particles are extremely flexible, and it would be difficult to list all the possible combinations of variations with examples of the outcome, however we will certainly look into ways of making it easier.
What we do list in theme documentation is how we created each element in our demo. So, if there is a look you want to duplicate, you can just find the documentation of that particular element and copy it, then edit as you please.
As for the typography content not being there: It's all there right below the particle examples. Granted, it's not as apparent as it was when it was the sole content in the page. We'll look into ways of making that easier to navigate.
Any variations not listed here are documented within the per-particle documentation in our docs. This is usually due to the fact that some of the styling we use on the front page is exclusive to the particular item in the theme, in a variation that covers more than one element within that item.
In either case, you do make a good point and I will work with the team to find a way to make this easier to find in our documentation. Thanks for the suggestion. - Ryan Matthew Pierson / Technical Writer / Buda, TX USA
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- Brian Shea
- Sr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 176
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- Web Management, Server Admin, Google Apps Service Provider
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I'm thinking this should be a sticky post, shouldn't it?
The only reason I found it was from a link in another post complaining about the documentation, stating that if no one says anything that there is not much to fix.
While I completely agree with that statement, along with the 'open source, please feel free to offer help' concept, I think it would help greatly if such a request for comments on documentation be a sticky. Especially with the heated confusion that we see posted once in a while about G5. -
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- Anibal Sanchez
- Newbie
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Hi,
Back to the original topic about particles, I'm very happy with the current documentation. For instance:
rocketthemedemo-18af.kxcdn.com/live/joom...p/features/particles
... and yesterday I found how to curtomize even further template particles:
docs.gantry.org/gantry5/tutorials/overriding-particle-settings
Great Work! -
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- Best Regards,
Anibal Sanchez
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Extly.com - Extensions
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- Brian Shea
- Sr. Rocketeer
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Number one fix for the documentation: adjust for your audience.
Yes, you probably have a better idea of your audience, where I am assuming is a lot of developers that want really cool features and awesome tools to do awesome stuff. That's great.
But, is there not a lot of other users of these templates that came to RocketTheme so we didn't need to know all this geeky stuff? YAML files? WTF?
So, perhaps there can be a 'simple, non-coder, non-geek' version of the docs?
Also, has anyone looked at the template from the end-user view? The view of the 'owner' of the website after us designers set them up with an RT template? All the 'praise' is about all the cool features and power. All the complaints are about how it is no longer simple, and adds another layer on top of the CMS.
When I set someone up on Joomla (or even Wordpress), I show them the basics of Joomla. Someone who works in Joomla should be able to find their way around any Joomla website, at least for the basics. But G5 adds a new 'specialty' that needs to be learned. Any other my G4 sites, I can expect end users to quickly figure things out, since content is either in 'content', or 'modules'. Any Joomla user should understand that. G5 'hides' content in the template, which, in essence, makes G5 more of a content creator rather than a tool that simply changes 'the theme.'
So, from a documentation standpoint, maybe there can be 'dummy notes' that help get people up to speed fast on the 'simple' and 'basics', like "Load Gantry 4 preset" to get up and running fast. -
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- Brian Shea
- Sr. Rocketeer
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- Web Management, Server Admin, Google Apps Service Provider
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Layouts - Default versus Base Outlines
I just installed Galatea on a new, clean install of Joomla. NO RocketLauncher, as I never need all that clutter.
A simple install of G5 and Galatea gives me TWO template options for Galatea.
Why? Why do we need a separate 'Home - Particles' layout?
Do you not see the confusion here? I installed a template, and it made it's 'default' layout the website's default (not polite default install behavior, is it?), and assigned it's special Home - Particles to it's own Menu's Home item.
Why? Why 'take over' what was there prior to installation?
What would help tremendously is to keep things simple. A template/theme is supposed to change the look of a site, NOT change the underlying concept of the CMS being used.
Base Outline should be the basic default. Why Base Outline, Default, and Home - Particles?
Simple simple simple. Keep it in mind when explaining things. Just because we 'design/develop' websites does not mean we all love to dig into code. Yes, I've coded before, but that doesn't mean I want to learn every new thing every 6 months. I use a template club so I don't have to relearn stuff.
I chose RocketTheme way back in the old days because of consistency and standards. In the past I was able to just pop a new template onto a site, tweak a few settings, upload a logo, and poof, design change. G5 does not give us that out of the box. Instead, it's all about 'assigned pages' with whiz-bang features.
Simple. -
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- Brian Shea
- Sr. Rocketeer
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- Web Management, Server Admin, Google Apps Service Provider
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Just finished reading up on the docs.
Soooo much better than last time I reviewed it.
One thing I would add is a "for dummies" version. Something that gets non-geeks up and running quicker.
Sure, I know twig and yaml and css is all very 'easy' to understand, but that all still counts as 'coding' for many. Sorry, the world doesn't use cmd prompt like it's 1988 anymore.
My point is that the docs still read from a 'developers' view, and doesn't seem to address the simple non-tech person. When I read things, I tend to do it in my 'normal user' view, versus full developer brain. Why? Because I want to be able to explain it to those who are clueless.
I want my clients to be able to understand how to update their website using the tools of the CMS, and not have to rely on Gantry for 'basics'. This is possible, I see, now, after I spent hours simplifying it for myself. But, all the docs are aimed at developers, and not 'maintainers'.
So, I think having a 'Simple and Quick for Dummies' version of docs might go a long way towards acceptance for those who are not overly excited by the powerful bells and whistles.
(looking forward to seeing the Prime version of this) -
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