Meteotemplate 11.0 Passion Fruit

Hi guys,

first of all I would like to wish all of you who celebrate Christmass Merry Christmas and also happy new year to all of you.

As a little present from me you get a new version of the template – Meteotemplate 11.0 Passion Fruit. This version includes some minor bug fixes, but most importantly – one major new thing – the menu. The menu was something that was bothering me for quite some time. The problem was that it was quite complicated to customize it and once you did you were no longer able to use the default menu.

Well now this is all different. Wouldn´t it be nice if you could create/delete menu tabs via the control panel directly? Set tab icons, insert your own links, set the link order, tab order just be dragging and dropping the tab in the browser, insert separators, headings, custom icons, or even a flashing “new” text next to newly added items? If the answer to these questions is yes then you will like version 11.

Update this time is very simple, however it might take you some time to actually create your new menu. After you update the template you will need to set up the menu the way YOU like it.

Before we move on let me emphasize one absolutely crucial thing – IT IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL THAT YOU READ THE INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT HOW TO USE THE MENU IN THE UPDATED WIKI PAGE!

Custom menu

The menu looks similar to the original one, but now you can rearrange the tabs using drag & drop, rearrange the links, use your custom icons, insert separators, insert flashing “new” symbol next to new items just be including “(new)” string in the link etc etc. After you finish the update process (copying the new files), you must go to the wiki, which now includes updated section about the menu and includes detailed instructions how to proceed. I have also included examples to make it easier for you.

SVG icons

Another major change is that I have converted all the icons from PNG to vector SVG objects. This update does not yet implement this, for now, only the menu will use this, however, in the next version update I will probably update all the pages, and this now also allows me to start updating the blocks and plugins and change the original PNG icons to these new SVG ones loaded from the template.

What are the advantages of using SVG over PNG? First of all speed, the SVG sprite loads much faster than the icons as PNG. Second, the icon can be enlarged indefinitely, it is not a raster object, so when you make it larger, it will still look sharp and not be pixelated. And last, it behaves as a font, which means I no longer have to include each icon in two versions (black, white). I can simply set any color to the icon, even based on your color scheme set for the template (blue, red, green….). In the future when I update or create a new block, it will use these and no icons folder is necessary.

Server Check

This is something for new users, in the main settings right at the top is now a new function which allows you to check that your server supports the most important functions necessary to install Meteotemplate. If you are already using the template this probably will not have much effect, but I have also included some improved debugging features in the settings files, so everyone can benefit from this.

Bug Fixes

I have fixed several bugs in various parts of the template (station pages etc.).

Update process

The update process is very simple. Just open the update package and copy the new files or replace the existing in the corresponding directories, there are also some new folders (eg. admin/menu, or css/font etc.).

Update your footer, header AND also the menu.php, all three files must be updated for this to work. You can also delete the subMenuLoader.php in your template root folder, it is no longer used. This will reset your current menu, but you can then set up your new one, which will all be the way YOU like it and settings saved in a separate file so you will not lose this whenever you update the template again in the future. The original menu will NOT work any more.

Once you are done with the copy/replacing go to your control panel, open the main settings and just click Save (you do not need to change anything). This will also update your current config.php and add some extra debugging functions, which will make it easier for me to help you if you ever need any help or encounter any errors.

Last it is now time to finally set up your new menu.

Go to the wiki:

http://www.meteotemplate.com/web/wiki/wiki7GB.php#menuSection

And carefully follow the menu setup process step by step.

 

And that´s it 🙂 I hope this further enhances the customization possibilities of the template and allows you to really create a page that looks exactly the way YOU like it, without needing to know how it all works in the backend or ever seeing the code as such! You can already see the new menu in the DEMO, which has been fully updated to version 11.0.

Enjoy!