Flow Diagram for CoffeeCup tools?

User 2796553 Photo


Guest
4 posts

All:
I'm a pretty complete noob - to both CC and web dev in general. One thing that I'd find very useful is a sort of flow diagram showing how all the CC products fit together: E.g.the main outputs of tool "X" are "a" & "b". You need "a" for some use case, but for others only "b". "a" is consumed by tool Y, and "b" by Y or Z, etc. etc.

Does this exist?

thanks,
JHD
User 122279 Photo


Senior Advisor
14,646 posts

Do you mean something like e.g.:

If you are a very good coder, all you really need is the HTML Editor
If, however, you want a nice responsive menu created easily, you should add in the Menu Builder.
And if you cringe over having to create forms yourself, get hold of the Web Form builder
Having trouble getting your site responsive, go for RSD (plus all the above)
etc... etc...

This kind of thing?
Ha en riktig god dag!
Inger, Norway

My work in progress:
Components for Site Designer and the HTML Editor: https://mock-up.coffeecup.com


User 271657 Photo


Ambassador
3,816 posts

No diagrams, but all the software can be used "a la carte". Take Form Builder for instance. It easily integrates with other CC software, but you can use it to create forms for use in non-CC programs as well.
The only restriction I know of is with uploading to SDrive. No non-CC PHP is allowed, and even some CC programs won't run on it (Website Access Manager).

Start with how you want to build your site and choose the appropriate app, then add on others as needed and/or wanted.
-HTML Editor (do it yourself – write your own code, no WYSIWYG)
-Resonsive Layout Maker (build a responsive frame for your site then export it to your favorite editing program – continue as you would above. Also good for quick prototypes.)
-Responsive Site Designer (Not quite WYSIWYG – some basic HTML/CSS knowledge is helpful, does not include menus, forms, sliders, maps... but anything can be inserted, doesn't have to come from CC, easily create a responsive site.)
Practical additions to all of the above would be the Form Builder, Menu Builder, and Direct FTP (if you don't want to use the built-in option). But they're not necessary if you prefer to create your own forms/menus.
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User 2796553 Photo


Guest
4 posts

Thanks, Inger and paintbrush, for your replies.

I don't really need descriptions of the functionality of each product, like Inger's examples - that's covered pretty well in the product descriptions. So I know basically what they do.

What I really want is to understand the "plumbing" -- how they are connected together. Do all of the tools independently create css and html, so effectively they all feed independently into HTML editor, which is the aggregation point? Or is there a chain of export/import operations, e.g. create menus in Menu Builder, export/import into Layout Maker, then re-export a layout into Site Designer, then export (something?) to HTML editor...

I intend to build a complex site with deeply nested menus that will change every time the content does. I want to be able to visualize the (work)flow; the work processes and the filetypes that are produced and consumed by each tool, for typical creation/maintenance tasks and a bit about how one controls what gets overwritten vs. retained.

best,
JHD
User 122279 Photo


Senior Advisor
14,646 posts

If you are using RLM (P), you will also want the HTML Editor to add the contents. The Layout Maker creates the necessary css files for the actual layout, but if you want to tweak it in the Editor after export, you will have to make a custom css file.
If you go for RSD, you probably also want the Editor for the custom html you might want to add. And here you also will want to create a custom css file.
The menu Builder and the Web Form Builder come with their own css files which will have to be exported and then added to the main site, whether it is being built in RLM, RSD or the HTML Editor.
Ha en riktig god dag!
Inger, Norway

My work in progress:
Components for Site Designer and the HTML Editor: https://mock-up.coffeecup.com


User 38401 Photo


Senior Advisor
10,951 posts

Each tool is a separate entity in that they all produce their own code to work with, the exceptions to this would be the HTML Editor which although it "can" produce code for you for some things, it's usually used to be able to edit the code that is given by the rest.

You would basically export the code from the various programs such as Form Builder, Menu Builder, Photo Gallery etc. and these programs will give you the files and the code you need to put into the HTML of the pages involved.

If you're using something like RSD then there are different ways to enter the code within the program using the tools in there to do so. You wouldn't have to wait to put things like this into the page. If you're using RLMP then you'd need to wait until you have your Layout how you want it before inputting the code for your menu and forms etc. I usually put the code somewhere safe for adding later. I tend to input it into a page to test the forms and menu and such to make sure, and since I export many times in RLMP for testing I do add the code into the tests periodically to make sure all fits and works in those pages.

For the most part, they are all separate entities that add to the whole site once used. They are all fairly easy to learn to use though other than RLMP and RDS which take a bit of learning to get it, but not horrible.

You do mention about deeply nesting your menus, not sure if you mean many many sub menus or just deeply nested in the page(s), but if you are talking about many sub subs you won't be able to do this with the CC Menu Builder. Not sure if they plan to give us the reigns and let us do lots of sub subs or not, but right now you can only do one level down and no further. You can add as many sub menus as you like so far as I know, but that's as deep as it can go.

Hope that all helps :)

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