We are pleased to say that the new Elgg support community is now open, therefore, we will be closing down the support type communities here on elgg.net. In order to keep system discussion in one place, head over to the new http://elgg.org site and post your discussions relating to installation support, coding standards, submitting plugins etc there.

This new support community will make the management of discussion much easier and more productive.

The following communities are moving to elgg.org:

1) Installation support

2) Elgg development

3) Elgg templating

4) Elgg features

I am trying to figure out how templates work and I have found my way so far in modifying most of the elements of a template.

But there is still one thing that I can't understand:

Let's say we are not happy with the sidebar blocks (on the right of the template). We want to modify them. Then we go to the template default file and we find a {{sidebar}} tag which displays all the blocks in a certain order.

If I want to modify one special block. Then it's quite easy to find the file to be edited. I make a little search in the unit dir.

But if I want to modify, let's say, the order of the blocks (or if I want to add or delete a block), then I need to figure out where the {{sidebar}} part is defined. My problem is that I can't understand where and how these components - {{sidebar}} {{location}} ... - are defined.

Any help would be appreciated

I tried to port this wonderful and fresh Template to ELGG. There is still a lot work to do until it looks exactly like the original but its a start (I would tag it as beta version) . (See it in action at My Blog)

In the originial design the Date and the number of Comments is located at different places (have a look at this). I don't know how to do that in ELGG, or even if it's possible at the moment, because there is no different placeholder for these elements.

The build in search form also doesn't work and the formatting of the Comments (and the Commentform) still needs to be done (have a look at the detailpage).

Another problem are the images. I located them on my own server, not inside of ELGG because i don't know how to do that.

If you have any suggestions or want the code feel free to send me a mail.

Although these templates obviously have to be attractive, I really don't care how original they are - i.e., if you want to take some WordPress templates and "adapt" them to Elgg that's fine with us (going under the assumption, of course, that you don't copy those templates exactly, dat being compyright infringement, and, in the words of comedian Ron White, um, "Profiling is wrong!"...?! :-)

This is a paid job, the amount of pay to be based on your experience, the quality of your work and how many of these templates you could generate before our deadline. Please contact me at conkhead@conk.com for more details -- James Peters

This release will mark a serious change in Elgg's interface - hopefully improving navigation and usability. We have been gathering user feedback for the past six month and it has all fed into this restructuring.

Here are some of the key changes:

1. New user toolbar - this follows users around, it provides a simple way to get back to your own space from anywhere on the site
   
2. The removal of dual navigation - from now on the navigation and content you see when viewing a profile or community relates to the object you are looking at - this was one of the biggest complaints about Elgg. Users found the two panes of navigation confusing
3. Development of a dashboard
4. Users can create their own sidebar content
5. Widget creator - this widget creator allows users to create specific content based on external and internal sources - the widgets can then be placed on the sidebar or dashboard
6. User defined profile fields and categories - this will harness the true power of the profile
7. Links
8. Full site admin available through a simple interface
9. User site admin area

And much more.

This short document (doc) details some of the changes and tells you how to view another profile and community to see what this will now look like.

At this stage the wireframes only work in Firefox - we will get things working across all browsers but we wanted to open up the development process as early as possible to the community.

Once all the navigation and functionality is in place we are going to be looking for some help designing a nice slick theme, so, if you know any good designers who might be willing to help out let us know!

As always - all feedback welcome!

You can login as admin or user - no details required, just click the link.

URL: http://development.apcala.com/wireframe/

I am not sure I have understood the using of templates. If I haven't installed Elgg on my server, i.e. if I am just using the blog on-line, can I customize my blog? In the presentation it was said so bu I can't seem to find any way to do it now.

Thanks for your help!