Yes, in theory. The challenge: how to integrate new pages inside the already available navigation?
Yes, also this is a real option for the future.
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Yes that would be the key issue to resolve with the navigation. At the moment it is a sticking point with new clients if they ask about adding new pages and I want to suggest using Volt.
That part is essential really if we have clients, who are making a lot of text changes on the page, but may find the Seo set in Blocs no longer matches the new page text.
One irony of all this is that I find very few clients ever change their sites beyond editing a few words, once they are built, but they really want the certainty that they can if needed. I am sure this applies to any other CMS as well.
Either the web design app is in full charge of building the main navigation (Blocs), or, the CMS. And currently there is only WordPress allowing the latter. Having a way to build the full navigation inside Volt CMS is a way off.
A combination of both (App + CMS) is difficult. There are ways to add items into the main navigation via JavaScript, which might not fit to the overall style of the navigation, or the indication of the current page.
Using a blog with additional posts as kind of a new page with its own navigation is a compromise of above challenge.
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Thanks @Jannis (and others) for the responses.
Seems like the answer at this point, even allowing for some workarounds (I could edit offline in a text editor if need be, do a one-time script or manual content conversion), biggest issue for my use would be a lack of templates to select from at this point, or a ore dynamic editor for page to page layout differences. And yeah, I ‘could’ go Wordpress but am just really not a fan there. YMMV.
Will check back in 6 months and see where things are then. Thanks!
Which kind of templates do you think of?
Should these be available in a blog (post template) or on a page (normal content)?
I guess these templates should be editable by yourself, correct?
Please clarify this point - how to save what users have written via Volt?
Just do not overwrite folders like on the screenshot?
And if serious changes are made to the site will it work?
You mean: backups? You see them on your screenshot.
Define serious.
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Hi @Newbie, if I’m reading your questions correctly:
-
The Volt areas (named by you in the building of the site) are uploaded straight to the CMS folder on your server. There is a backup of all of your CMS every day (you can see the folder named ‘backup’).
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Volt will only overwrite the contents of the folders when you make changes, but earlier versions are in the ‘backup’ folder so you can copy out from there and revert if needed.
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If by serious changes, you mean in the structure made by Blocs, then providing you keep page names and the volt areas named the same, then yes, all of those parts will be kept as they are.
You can add new areas, delete existing areas etc. but if you have a page and text called, for example ‘mypage’ and ‘mypagetext’, and keep these names in your changes, then Volt will keep the content.
Hope that helps.
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Thanks @TrevReav Trev!
Actually the page names aren’t relevant. All content matching is done by the area names.
With this, you’re able to use the same content areas on different pages, as also content areas inside the global areas like the footer.
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Just beware, it is possible to overwrite the _CMS folder on the server whilst uploading files. (I think a combination of exporting all files from Blocs, not just changed ones, and an FTP program that updated everything on the server with the new files was what did it.)
I’m very much more careful now…
and keep a local backup…
The local Blocs project export newer includes the _cms folder. Maybe this will change in the future during a closer Blocs integration.
Maybe your FTP app was configured to delete not locally existing files and folders on the server, which would erase the _cms folder on the server in this case.
Always a good idea to keep a local backup, though any half decent web host would also maintain regular backups that can be obtained through the control panel. From that perspective your _cms folder and contents should always be recoverable or at least a recent version within the last few hours.
Regarding FTP, the folder was deliberately called _cms, so that it would go to the top of any file list ordered by name, indicating that it should not be touched and separated from normal page folders. I do this with my other remotely hosted folders as well like _images or _video. Any folder with an underscore means do not delete.
One thing not found in Forklift that I miss from Yummy FTP is the ability to slap a big red do not touch label on a file or folder. Professional FTP apps generally include an option to exclude specific files or folders when making updates. One slight apprehension I have about Blocs starting to handle FTP is that users may end up deleting files and folders in error.
When you are tired and working on more than one project it is far too easy to delete something in error, so you need a methodical workflow in place to limit the chance of mistakes.
There are times at 2.00am when I might just become a little confused over what I am doing during a site update and find myself closing the FTP app to start again. I am also a little old fashioned in that I prefer to manually delete everything, then upload everything fresh. It takes a little longer, but ensures everything on the server is correct and not a mishmash of old & new.
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@Jannis
Please clarify - and the margin indents through the shift in the blocs 4, we can not add? Only through classes?
I am not able to identify what you’re in detail wishing for.
Volt Content div areas do all have the class volt-content assigned. You’re able to target everything based on this.
I have, for example, h3 - the title, which I want the user could change without me. In the screenshot it is displayed, but I will remove it before uploading the site.
But h3 has a margin of 20 so that it looks good.
How can I make it so that when I add content through Volt - margin 20 was the same?
And the second question - is there any way to fill in the content for the Volt content directly in Blocs 4?
CSS:
.volt-content h3 {
margin: 20px;
}
Or margin-bottom, whatever you need.
Same is possible with adding this through the class manager.
Not in Blocs 4 currently.
Blocs 5: maybe.
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And this class with margin needs to be applied in the block with volt content in block 4 itself?
Or through the volt editor when adding text to a hosted site?
Just add above CSS in the Code Editor → Additional CSS, and it’s always available for all h3 headers in Volt Content area automatically.
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Basically, you can copy whatever the settings are on the existing areas to your new Volt additions when you’re constructing the page.
Volt just deals with the content inside of those areas, any margins or padding are done within the page construction with classes etc.
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