This may sound dumb as I know xoops is a portal system but I can't help but like it's Block system for content. Is there any modules or plugins that will allow me to create pages with the same block system. Many of the pages I need to create will be the same look but the content will change.

Thanks for any help you can provide as I am a newbie to xoops.

Tell us more about it - what do you like about the block system and how do you actually use it?

For regular content you can try fmContent. You can build static and dynamic pages with this module.

You can download it from SourceForge SVN

Let us know how does it compare to your way of using blocks - what is worse, what is better?

Well I will download and try that. But what I like about the block system is how simple it is to use. I was looking to make a new site without having to go through as much work with designing it as I just don't got the time. I was hoping to use xoops as a full cms for making the enitre website and using its block system on every page of that website for adding content where it should go.

If I were to create the pages by code, i'd have to be making divs and I have always hated working with many divs as I tend to have problems with them not lineing up right, overlaping, or just looking messy. So it takes up to much time fixing out the bugs. Why do that when xoops has a perfect system in place already with the coding already done right. Now if I can go past portal to full website with pages with the tools still in place then I got myself a new site builder that easy to use, has the tools needed and no other un-needed tools installed and is flexible and time saving while at the same time keeping the look of the site as custom.

there is a module called dummy

http://www.xuups.com/modules/publisher/item.php?itemid=6

where you put your blocks inside it

the downside of using block to create new pages it is unsearchable by the xoops search system

That fmContent module is very close to what I was looking but not what I need.

Quote:

This will be bad as the site is a library / database of downloadable content and users will be using to the search button to find what they are looking for.

Would it be a good idea to put an iframe into the block and make the content using html and php ?, it not how I wanted to do it but I would be able to keep the block system and once one page is done, they will all look the same anyway so I could just copy them.

Can you show us what you've done so far, so we can understand better what you're looking for, and maybe be able to suggest a solution?

Well I can't show you any work that done as there really no work done. As I said, my time is very limited which is why I was hoping xoops would be an answer to getting content out fast without the headache of site coding and design. I leave everyday almost at 9:30 AM and don't get back home till 10:30 PM or 11:00 PM and then I go to bed by 12:30 AM. it wont take to much time to update the content on the site, 20 mins tops but site design will take months with my time frame.

Best I can do is show you a image of the layout plan and explain what should happen.

You can get the image here:http://www.megapix.com/?p=P2F6KW4B

As you can see the main working parts that make the site what is is are marked 1 and 2.

1 Is a site menu that is in the block system.

It has categories that when clicked should show links to pages. These pages when clicked should open up in the center content block marked 2 to show the page content.

This is what I'm trying to have done. I can do a menu block no problem and if I use an iframe and create the content to go into the iframe then this should work. To fix search and sitemaps from opening the pages that only have content outside of the iframe, I will make an if statement in php that will check to see if the page is being viewed out of the iframe and then reload the page with the xoops page and the iframe page inside of the iframe.

Good news is, once one page is done then its only the content that needs to change, not the page layout.

But that's what fmContent can do for you.

You create pages within fmContent, and it has already a predefined "Content Menu" block (1) that you can activate, and it will show you all the available pages. Once you click on the page link, it will show you the content of that page (2)



The only thing that we don't have right now is the Categories/Pages Tree being visible in the "Content Menu", as we only have list of pages.

How did you get the links in the block, did you add them manualy ?

And if the page gets to long with this system will it make a 2nd page to jump over or will I have too ?

I'm still unsure as this is not for a normal website. This site will be a database filled with downloadable content for multiple games.

No, the block is being populated automatically, so you don't have to do anything, just publish the article.

The pages can be as long as you want the screen will just scroll down.

My suggestion is - try to do it with fmContent for something like 10 pages, and then you will see if it works for you. From what I saw that you want - this might be the easiest solution for you.