[CMS] Site Structure - Sections and Categories

[fonty]

Hi, I have some questions on site structure.

I'd like to have a front page blog that gets fed content from all the sub-sections. I can see that this can be done with 'Content From: Include Sub-sections'. I like this way of doing things - all content is automatically promoted to the front page. I do however want to be difficult on occasions and not have an article promoted to the front page as the blog is news and there may be sub-section content that I want to add to the site without it being front page news.

Is fudging the publish date the only way to do this?


Also, are there plans to create independant sections. As I see it all sections need to stem from the master section. I may have this wrong as i'm relatively new to VB but I would have thought it would be more organic to allow independant sections.

My other question is why are categories being displayed without specifying which section they are parented to? I have categories with the same name and when I publish an article there's no way of knowing which category to choose. I'm using the year as a category for each section I have- when it comes to publishing my article I see 20 '2010' categories.

Lasty, is it possible to modify category layouts?

Cheers

[Edwin Brown]

In your second paragraph- yes, currently fudging the publish date is the only way to do that. There have been a number of threads on this topic, and if you look at Fabian's recent post you'll understand that when or if it happens depends on how the community prioritizes it.

Currently there are no intentions to create independent sections

I think your "category" question is regarding the edit screen. If you are using a recent version, click the "Everything" link just above the category box and you'll see a hierarchical list of categories that should make your selection easier.

Categories don't have layouts. Categories inherit the layout of the section they are in. So you can't modify category layouts but you can have categories with different layouts.

[paulnicholson]

How can I create a link section? I want the section not to exist, but rather the submenu option to go somewhere else. Most of the sections would be CMS section pages.

My first need is to create a Chat subsection that links to the forum for that state. But visitors must go through the articles first, because they require paid subscription. I will hide the Forum button in the navbar. Chat will be the only way to get to the forum. My site is for middle aged people, which is why i have had to move from phpbb3. Everything needs to be clean and simple.