BlueBeyond Custom ModX Template with Lightbox Gallery
A couple weeks back the BlueBeyond.com.au blog was relaunched on it’s new template. Today the project was completed with the rest of the site going on a new semi-matching Custom ModX template, complete with MaxiGallery Lightbox Photo Gallery, which will eventually completely replace Des’ Flickr Gallery.
To showcase a few of his photos on every page, with links to the galleries, we used the MaxiGallerySolo snippet in the sidebar.
Des wanted room to grow the site in a very flexible way apart from the blog, and ModX is a great match for him. The navigation system is a flyout, which allows for compact and understandable site hierarchy and easy navigation from one area to the next. The nav is further beefed up by the addition, on inner pages, of a breadcrumb trail navigation above the content. The beauty with ModX is that navigation is pretty much any way you wish it, whether you want to only show one level deep or twelve levels deep, and just about any way you could wish to configure it that’s do-able with css and/or scripting. The search is ajax enhanced and displays appropriate links right below the searchbox within the page you search from.
Des will have complete control over positioning of all elements within the columns and in the content area without having to touch the template. This is done by the use of chunks and template variables, modx features that adds a lot of flexibility in site structure for clients, without them having to call the webgeek to move stuff around for them. Des will also be able to edit a lot of site areas from directly on the site when he’s logged in, via use of the Quick Edit function and template variables.
Extending ModX functionality is, though sometimes confusing for the beginner, so flexible that it makes accomplishing complex mashups very easy, and without the conflicts so endemic to programs like Joomla and others.
Do you have a need for a site you can extend in many ways and edit it yourself without having to call the webgeek? ModX might work well for you, and a custom ModX Skin is more reasonable than you think. Let’s talk.
[tags]ModX Custom Template, MaxiGallery, Lightbox, Ajax enhanced search[/tags]
