Hello, I know I'm flooding the mailing list but I have another question. I want to really modify the interface of koha OPAC but I don't know where to start. I just don't want to change the logo and headers. I really want to customized my whole OPAC website (change the codes etc). I tried to change the css and tmpl files but I can't see the results. The manual provides little info. I can't understand what the wiki on koha template style guide. Can anyone help? I really don't know where to start. How do you change the interface of koha? What files do I have to change? thanks in advance
2009/5/4 Melanie Saldua <reilied00@gmail.com>:
Hello,
I know I'm flooding the mailing list but I have another question. I want to really modify the interface of koha OPAC but I don't know where to start. I just don't want to change the logo and headers. I really want to customized my whole OPAC website (change the codes etc). I tried to change the css and tmpl files but I can't see the results. The manual provides little info. I can't understand what the wiki on koha template style guide. Can anyone help? I really don't know where to start. How do you change the interface of koha? What files do I have to change?
Hi Melanie, I would strongly recommend against changing files unless you are prepared to maintain the changes with each new version of Koha. Instead I recommend reading http://www.myacpl.org/koha/?p=160 And the rest of the great posts on Owen's blog. Chris
Hi Chris! I really need to change the files since the "higher ups" wanted a complete change of the koha interface. I did try some of the things in the blog that you mention. I still need a complete change though... On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Chris Cormack <chris@bigballofwax.co.nz>wrote:
2009/5/4 Melanie Saldua <reilied00@gmail.com>:
Hello,
I know I'm flooding the mailing list but I have another question. I want to really modify the interface of koha OPAC but I don't know where to start. I just don't want to change the logo and headers. I really want to customized my whole OPAC website (change the codes etc). I tried to change the css and tmpl files but I can't see the results. The manual provides little info. I can't understand what the wiki on koha template style guide. Can anyone help? I really don't know where to start. How do you change the interface of koha? What files do I have to change?
Hi Melanie,
I would strongly recommend against changing files unless you are prepared to maintain the changes with each new version of Koha. Instead I recommend reading http://www.myacpl.org/koha/?p=160 And the rest of the great posts on Owen's blog.
Chris
2009/5/4 Melanie Saldua <reilied00@gmail.com>:
Hi Chris!
I really need to change the files since the "higher ups" wanted a complete change of the koha interface. I did try some of the things in the blog that you mention. I still need a complete change though...
Well as long as you are aware you are building a rod for your own back :) What I would do is create a branch in your local git checkout, and change the files there, and then try to keep them up to date. There is probably very very little you can't change with jquery that you can change by editing the templates but if that is not an option the you will need to edit the files in koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl. Again I must warn you that unless you are committed to keeping them up to date you will make it very hard to upgrade. Chris "the warning you about templates police" Cormack
You are right! It's so hard to change the entire interface of koha. I can't even get my logo up. I can't seem to find all the css files for the files. And there's so many inc files I can't track them. I really have to study them. I do hope someone have solve this problem of mine. It would really be great to change the overall look of koha. :) On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 2:56 PM, Chris Cormack <chris@bigballofwax.co.nz>wrote:
Hi Chris!
I really need to change the files since the "higher ups" wanted a complete change of the koha interface. I did try some of the things in the blog
2009/5/4 Melanie Saldua <reilied00@gmail.com>: that
you mention. I still need a complete change though...
Well as long as you are aware you are building a rod for your own back :) What I would do is create a branch in your local git checkout, and change the files there, and then try to keep them up to date.
There is probably very very little you can't change with jquery that you can change by editing the templates but if that is not an option the you will need to edit the files in koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl. Again I must warn you that unless you are committed to keeping them up to date you will make it very hard to upgrade.
Chris "the warning you about templates police" Cormack
Melanie Saldua wrote:
You are right! It's so hard to change the entire interface of koha. I can't even get my logo up. I can't seem to find all the css files for the files. And there's so many inc files I can't track them. I really have to study them. I do hope someone have solve this problem of mine. It would really be great to change the overall look of koha. :) It is fiddly, there are a lot of files, and you have to be really careful doing it.
You will be changing include files (.inc), template files (.tmpl) css files (.css) and images as well and maybe javascript too. You hopefully won't have to change any perl (.pl) files. To understand how they all go together, you'll probably need to look at the parsed "page", and then work out from the tmpl for that "page" which includes and bits of the tmpl to change. If you can't "read" the .tmpl files (ie understand what they are doing, what bits of the database they are calling etc) you are going to have a steep learning curve in order not to break things. Start by commenting things out before you delete them. Start with the CSS, then the includes should be more "look and feel", and the tmpl will be where things are on the page, organisation of the fields etc. Then you can write up your experiences for others to learn from as well :-) Cheers Rachel
On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 2:56 PM, Chris Cormack <chris@bigballofwax.co.nz <mailto:chris@bigballofwax.co.nz>> wrote:
2009/5/4 Melanie Saldua <reilied00@gmail.com <mailto:reilied00@gmail.com>>: > Hi Chris! > > I really need to change the files since the "higher ups" wanted a complete > change of the koha interface. I did try some of the things in the blog that > you mention. I still need a complete change though...
Well as long as you are aware you are building a rod for your own back :) What I would do is create a branch in your local git checkout, and change the files there, and then try to keep them up to date.
There is probably very very little you can't change with jquery that you can change by editing the templates but if that is not an option the you will need to edit the files in koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl. Again I must warn you that unless you are committed to keeping them up to date you will make it very hard to upgrade.
Chris "the warning you about templates police" Cormack
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
-- ----------------------------- Rachel Hamilton-Williams General Manager Katipo Communications Ltd Phone: +64-4-934 1285 Mobile: 021 389 128 E-mail: rachel@katipo.co.nz Web: www.katipo.co.nz
Rachel Hamilton-Williams wrote:
Start with the CSS, then the includes should be more "look and feel", and the tmpl will be where things are on the page, organisation of the fields etc.
You can accomplish quite a lot by changing just the CSS. Compare the various versions of the same content in the CSS Zen Garden. In all cases, the HTML/templates/etc are the same, just the CSS has been changed. http://www.csszengarden.com/ I am prolly being a bit naive here as the HTML/templates themselves may have to be (re)written in a manner that meshes well with the CSS, but there is hope :) cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services Finster's Law: A closed mouth gathers no feet.
Rick Welykochy wrote:
Rachel Hamilton-Williams wrote:
Start with the CSS, then the includes should be more "look and feel", and the tmpl will be where things are on the page, organisation of the fields etc.
You can accomplish quite a lot by changing just the CSS. Compare the various versions of the same content in the CSS Zen Garden. In all cases, the HTML/templates/etc are the same, just the CSS has been changed.
I am prolly being a bit naive here as the HTML/templates themselves may have to be (re)written in a manner that meshes well with the CSS, but there is hope :) Yeah - usually when people want to change the look and feel to the extend Melanie is implying, they want to hide fields and change what's actually displaying on the page (Essentially make some changes to how Koha works) which generally means more than just the CSS.
Zen Garden is actually a pretty simple page structure wise, and definitely setup to facilitate that sort of reskining - if you wanted to change what's in the divs then you're getting closer to what you usually have to do to "reskin" a Koha. Cheers Rachel -- ----------------------------- Rachel Hamilton-Williams General Manager Katipo Communications Ltd Phone: +64-4-934 1285 Mobile: 021 389 128 E-mail: rachel@katipo.co.nz Web: www.katipo.co.nz
I really need to change the files since the "higher ups" wanted a complete change of the koha interface. I did try some of the things in the blog that you mention. I still need a complete change though... Make sure that you send a memo (or whatever makes it an "official" warning in your organisation) to your higher ups, and get them to sign off on it, that they understand that they will be committing to spending
Hi Melanie, the same amount again (time/money), every time they want to upgrade Koha, and sometimes even when you just need to patch it - or they will be "stuck" in this version of Koha. Do this to cover your own butt! Then you need to allow yourself a good 30-40 hours to change templates, and be prepared that you might end up unexpectedly breaking the OPAC and need to start again. It can be done, and is usually fiddly rather than difficult, but just make sure you won't get the blame for Koha costing more to maintain in the future than they have likely budgeted/planned on. We do customisations like that for small corporate libraries sometimes, and typically it means they don't upgrade often (if ever) between major website redevelopment projects. Good luck Cheers Rachel
On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Chris Cormack <chris@bigballofwax.co.nz <mailto:chris@bigballofwax.co.nz>> wrote:
2009/5/4 Melanie Saldua <reilied00@gmail.com <mailto:reilied00@gmail.com>>: > Hello, > > I know I'm flooding the mailing list but I have another question. I want to > really modify the interface of koha OPAC but I don't know where to start. I > just don't want to change the logo and headers. I really want to customized > my whole OPAC website (change the codes etc). I tried to change the css and > tmpl files but I can't see the results. The manual provides little info. I > can't understand what the wiki on koha template style guide. Can anyone > help? I really don't know where to start. How do you change the interface of > koha? What files do I have to change? >
Hi Melanie,
I would strongly recommend against changing files unless you are prepared to maintain the changes with each new version of Koha. Instead I recommend reading http://www.myacpl.org/koha/?p=160 And the rest of the great posts on Owen's blog.
Chris
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
-- ----------------------------- Rachel Hamilton-Williams General Manager Katipo Communications Ltd Phone: +64-4-934 1285 Mobile: 021 389 128 E-mail: rachel@katipo.co.nz Web: www.katipo.co.nz
Oh yeah, I was changing the css files on the installation folder. Silly me... I'm now trying to change the right ones. :) On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 9:54 PM, Eric Bégin <Eric.Begin@inlibro.com> wrote:
Melanie,
What concerns me about your email is the following
I tried to change the css and tmpl files but I can't see the results.
Are you sure you are modifying the right files? You have to modified the installed version of the files, not those in the install directory. Are you modifying the active language?
Other than that, you can create yours own mycss.css file and set its name in the OPAC » opaccolorstylesheet syspref.
I placed mine in the prog/en/css/
To make sure this file is loaded, check the source of an OPAC page and your file should be includes as a stylesheet.
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/opac-tmpl/prog/en/css/mycss.css" />
An additional note over all the warning other gave about maintaining the modification: you'll have to maintain every languages that you are using, which is not a really a problem if you only use a single language.
Eric
Melanie Saldua wrote:
Hello,
I know I'm flooding the mailing list but I have another question. I want to really modify the interface of koha OPAC but I don't know where to start. I just don't want to change the logo and headers. I really want to customized my whole OPAC website (change the codes etc). I tried to change the css and tmpl files but I can't see the results. The manual provides little info. I can't understand what the wiki on koha template style guide. Can anyone help? I really don't know where to start. How do you change the interface of koha? What files do I have to change?
thanks in advance
------------------------------
_______________________________________________ Koha mailing listKoha@lists.katipo.co.nzhttp://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
Everyone gave you great tips - but they forgot to point you to the manual that is a must read before getting started :) http://sites.google.com/a/liblime.com/koha-manual/ --- Nicole C. Engard Open Source Evangelist, LibLime (888) Koha ILS (564-2457) ext. 714 nce@liblime.com AIM/Y!/Skype: nengard http://liblime.com http://blogs.liblime.com/open-sesame/ 2009/5/4 Melanie Saldua <reilied00@gmail.com>:
Oh yeah, I was changing the css files on the installation folder. Silly me... I'm now trying to change the right ones. :)
On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 9:54 PM, Eric Bégin <Eric.Begin@inlibro.com> wrote:
Melanie,
What concerns me about your email is the following
I tried to change the css and tmpl files but I can't see the results.
Are you sure you are modifying the right files? You have to modified the installed version of the files, not those in the install directory. Are you modifying the active language?
Other than that, you can create yours own mycss.css file and set its name in the OPAC » opaccolorstylesheet syspref.
I placed mine in the prog/en/css/
To make sure this file is loaded, check the source of an OPAC page and your file should be includes as a stylesheet.
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/opac-tmpl/prog/en/css/mycss.css" />
An additional note over all the warning other gave about maintaining the modification: you'll have to maintain every languages that you are using, which is not a really a problem if you only use a single language.
Eric
Melanie Saldua wrote:
Hello,
I know I'm flooding the mailing list but I have another question. I want to really modify the interface of koha OPAC but I don't know where to start. I just don't want to change the logo and headers. I really want to customized my whole OPAC website (change the codes etc). I tried to change the css and tmpl files but I can't see the results. The manual provides little info. I can't understand what the wiki on koha template style guide. Can anyone help? I really don't know where to start. How do you change the interface of koha? What files do I have to change?
thanks in advance
________________________________ _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
_______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
Don't worry. I already knew that there's a manual. It did help me a little but I still want to get my hands on the source codes. I'm currently changing the interface of my koha. It's a lot of work and requires a lot of patience in searching for the styles and stuff. On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 6:57 PM, Nicole Engard <nicole.engard@liblime.com>wrote:
Everyone gave you great tips - but they forgot to point you to the manual that is a must read before getting started :)
http://sites.google.com/a/liblime.com/koha-manual/
---
Nicole C. Engard Open Source Evangelist, LibLime (888) Koha ILS (564-2457) ext. 714 nce@liblime.com AIM/Y!/Skype: nengard
http://liblime.com http://blogs.liblime.com/open-sesame/
Oh yeah, I was changing the css files on the installation folder. Silly me... I'm now trying to change the right ones. :)
On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 9:54 PM, Eric Bégin <Eric.Begin@inlibro.com> wrote:
Melanie,
What concerns me about your email is the following
I tried to change the css and tmpl files but I can't see the results.
Are you sure you are modifying the right files? You have to modified
installed version of the files, not those in the install directory. Are you modifying the active language?
Other than that, you can create yours own mycss.css file and set its name in the OPAC » opaccolorstylesheet syspref.
I placed mine in the prog/en/css/
To make sure this file is loaded, check the source of an OPAC page and your file should be includes as a stylesheet.
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/opac-tmpl/prog/en/css/mycss.css" />
An additional note over all the warning other gave about maintaining the modification: you'll have to maintain every languages that you are using, which is not a really a problem if you only use a single language.
Eric
Melanie Saldua wrote:
Hello,
I know I'm flooding the mailing list but I have another question. I want to really modify the interface of koha OPAC but I don't know where to start. I just don't want to change the logo and headers. I really want to customized my whole OPAC website (change the codes etc). I tried to change the css and tmpl files but I can't see the results. The manual provides little info. I can't understand what the wiki on koha template style guide. Can anyone help? I really don't know where to start. How do you change
2009/5/4 Melanie Saldua <reilied00@gmail.com>: the the
interface of koha? What files do I have to change?
thanks in advance
________________________________ _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
_______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
participants (6)
-
Chris Cormack -
Eric Bégin -
Melanie Saldua -
Nicole Engard -
Rachel Hamilton-Williams -
Rick Welykochy