YAML for CMSimple 2.5.2

YAML for CMSimple requires CMSimple v.2.8 and up!!!!!!
It will not work with earlier versions!!!
It is strongly suggested, that you set “menu_sdoc” in CMSimple configuration on “parent”!!!!!!!!!

YAML (Yet Another Multicolumn Layout) is a kind of construction kit for table-less CSS website layouts. It is packed up with CSS files which you plug together to receive different basic layouts. Usually it has too much code included. But when you know what you need and what you don’t need, you throw out the unnecessary stuff. Usually a webdesigner assembles a layout by sticking the required parts together. Here, you - more or less - do it differently. You throw out the parts you don’t need. That means this package is not really a ready to go template. It is a start up kit for own designs. Of course, you can use the example template as it is. But very soon you will be bored looking at it.

Cross-browser compatibility
The importance of YAML is not only its flexibility but also the high cross-browser compatibility and its platform independence. YAML is being kept compatible to the following current browsers:

Windows

• Internet Explorer 5.01
• Internet Explorer 5.5
• Internet Explorer 6.0
• Internet Explorer 7.0
• Unordered List Item

Macintosh OS

• Safari 1.0.3+
• Camino 0.6+

Linux

• Konqueror 3.3+
• Galeon 1.3+
• Epiphany 1.4.8+
• Lynx (Textbrowser)

Platform independent

• Firefox 1.0+
• Mozilla Suite 1.7.1+
• SeaMonkey 1.0+
• Netscape 8.0+
• Opera 6+

For information, please, visit the YAML website. This site is - for the moment - just in German. There are also books around now..... but also not in a more international language than just German. Nonetheless, there will be out an English version of the YAML website soon. In the meantime one can visit some websites which use YAML. They may encourage some people to read through the code which comes with the download package.

Some YAML Design examples:
http://www.wwh-bremen.de/index.php/page_id/57/language/de/
http://gymnasium-blomberg.de/
http://die.netzspielwiese.de/

Some YAML & CMSimple Design examples:
http://www.philosophie.uni-mainz.de/vollet/
http://www.ensemble-jeremia.de/
http://www.gohh.de/

YAML exists already for a number of CMS systems:
YAML for Drupal
YAML for ExpressionEngine
YAML for Joomla
Standardtemplate of Papoo CMS
dr-yaml Template for Papaya CMS
pnThemeYAML for Postnuke
YAML-Template for Serendipity
YAML for TYPO3
YAML for Wordpress
YAML for ZMS
YAML for xt-Commerce

Now, we have YAML for CMSimple!

As you know a normal CMSimple template consists of two files (template.htm, stylesheet.css) and two subfolders (images, menu). YAML for CMSimple uses also the files template.htm and stylesheet.css. The template is an example you can start from. The stylesheet file (stylesheet.css) is used to import the required CSS files. You can also use it to add CMSimple specific styling (as I did for the example file). To see how flexible already the basic layout is, just out-comment the line “@import url(navigation/nav_slidingdoorII.css);” in the stylesheet.css file and un-comment the line “/*@import url(navigation/nav_shinybuttons.css);*/” – and, wow, you have already a different horizontal navigation layout. Continue by renaming the “layout_2col_left_vlines.css” file as “stylesheet.css”. And wow, look at that!! The three column layout changed to a two column layout. You understand now, that by using the different stylesheet files, which start with “layout_” in their name, as stylesheet.css file you generate different layouts. Some work straight out of the box, some require work to function. Some have fixed widths others are flexible, some have a three column others a two column design.

By playing around that way, you should be able to understand YAML’s possibilities - even if you don’t understand any German explanations on the websites or in the books.

If you start your own project with YAML for CMSimple keep in mind to change only those CSS files which do not suggest (at the top of the file) to keep it unchanged!!!. First, it will be easier for you to update later; second, you can be pretty sure to keep YAML’s browser compatibility and its platform independence.

Questions about YAML for CMSimple may be asked at the CMSimple YAML Forum

Download of the YAML for CMSimple package

Download Page

Demo of the example template

YAML for CMSimple Forum