Widescreen, a photoblog template for Textpattern

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Created by James Muspratt for the Textplates.com competition
Released under a Creative Commons License
http://jamesmuspratt.com

This guide applies to Version .8 of Widescreen, dated 28 February 2006
See http://jamesmuspratt.com/widescreen/ for updated information
See http://jamesmuspratt.com/widescreen/demo/ to view an example installation 
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1. Introduction
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a. Widescreen is a photoblog template (set of forms, page templates, and CSS files) for Textpattern. It features a wide layout (950 pixels minimum) and an automated method for incorporating custom colors onto each photo's page. To use it to show your photos, you must first install Textpattern, set some preferences, and then copy and paste the Widescreen template files into Textpattern's admin interface. You then upload the stylesheet (CSS) files and images.

b. IMPORTANT: As of v.8, the following features are incomplete or do NOT work:

i. The unlimited category plug-in does not seem to work on all servers/installations. See this thread: http://forum.textpattern.com/viewtopic.php?id=14168

ii. Even if the Unlimited Categories plug-in *does* work on your server/installation, I have not tested the template's output extensively. You'll probably need to modify it.

iii. Internet Explorer will render the template differently in many ways from standards-compliant browsers like Camino, Safari, and Firefox. Differences include effects that require semi-transparent PNGs and the use of position:fixed; for the comment form. Browser support and rendering consistency will improve in future versions.


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2. Install Textpattern and Plug-Ins
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a. Download the latest version of Textpattern from http://textpattern.com. Follow the instructions to create a database and get Textpattern working on your server.

b. Install and activate (by clicking on the word "no") the following plug-ins, created by Rob Sable:

Unlimited Categories:
http://www.wilshireone.com/textpattern-plugins/rss-unlimited-categories

Live Search
http://www.wilshireone.com/textpattern-plugins/rss-live-search

Admin Show Advanced Options (optional but recommended)
http://www.wilshireone.com/textpattern-plugins/rss-admin-show-adv-opts

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3. Set Textpattern options
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a. Create or modify the sections to match the following:
   	
Section name: archive
Section title: archive
Uses page: archive
Uses style: default
Selected by default? yes
On front page? 	yes
Syndicate? yes
Include in site search? yes
	
Section name:	search
Section title:	search
Uses page: 	search_results
Uses style: default
Selected by default? no
On front page? no
Syndicate? no
Include in site search? no

b. The following preferences are required or recommended:

PUBLISH
Date format 28 February 06 (for example)
Archive date format 28 February 06 (for example)
Production Status: Live

COMMENTS
Moderate comments: no
On by default? Yes
Present comments as a numbered list? yes
Comments date format, 28 February 2006, 12:00
Comments mode: nopopup
Automatically append comments to articles? no

ADVANCED - COMMENTS
Comments require user name? yes
Comments require user email? yes

ADVANCED - CUSTOM
Custom field 1 name: Image-ID
Custom field 1 name: Image-Color

ADVANCED - ADMIN
Image directory: images

ADVANCED - PUBLISH
Never display email? yes
Attach titles to permalinks? yes
Use admin side plugins? yes

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6. Install Template Files
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a. Click on Presentation > Pages in your Textpattern installation. Use a text editor to open the Widescreen text files in the Pages folder, and copy and paste them into the appropriate Textpattern page fields. Create new pages where necessary, making sure to match the spelling of the filenames exactly (e.g name the page "search_results", not "search-results").

b. Click on Presentation > Forms and do the same with the Widescreen form files. Use the word in parentheses to set the each form's type to the appropriate setting (e.g. misc, article, comment). Again, check the spelling of the name of each form.

c. Once your pages and forms are saved, upload the CSS folder to your installation's root directory using an FTP program.

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7. Post Photos
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a. Cick on the Images tab and use the interface to upload one or more images. The current layout requires them to be 700px wide. Create a thumbnail: a width of 150px is recommended. Add an alt attribute, save the image, and note the ID number Textpattern has assigned it (viewable by hovering over the "Textpattern" link).

b. Click on the Write tab. Enter your title caption, and use the custom fields to specify the Image ID (just the number) and the Image Color (a hexadecimal code without the # sign). 