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Video Tutorial, Weblogs

Understanding Weblogs is key element in taking ExpressionEngine from a blogging application and utilizing it as a powerful, robust content management system. Take a moment to watch the Weblogs and Custom Fields tutorial.

A Weblog is Simply Information

Note: In our user guide and throughout the program you'll find the use of the word "weblog". If you are not using EE to manage a weblog then simply substitute the word "section" for it instead. A "weblog" in ExpressionEngine can be thought of as a "section" of your site.

In ExpressionEngine terminology, a Weblog is simply a container for information stored in the database. This is a very important concept, and one which may take a little getting used to, especially if you are coming from another content management system.

In most other publishing systems a "weblog" refers to everything: information and the pages that display the information. Not so in ExpressionEngine. A Weblog is only the information, separate and independent from the pages (which we refer to as Templates). There is no assumed relationship between a Weblog and one of your web pages. Several Weblogs can all live happily on a single page. Or you can have a more traditional weblog on its own page. It's your choice. This lets you organize and present information on your site with great flexibility.

Important Concept:  A "Weblog" in ExpressionEngine consists of only information (entries, comments, preferences). Templates determine how and where you display your Weblog data. How you mix and match the two is up to you.

Let's take a look at pMachine.com's home page as an example to see just one example of how Weblogs and Templates can mix and match.

pMachine.com's home page has 3 weblogs, a global header, and global footer

  1. We use a Template to control the top header and design across the entire site. If we need to alter the navigation we make a change to one Template and the entire site updates. Notice that this is not a Weblog. Templates do not have to have weblogs.

  2. The Featured Sites list is managed through a Weblog. This is an example of how a weblog can be customized. The weblog manages the name of the site, the url, and the title of the link using a customized field set.

  3. The Featured User is also a Weblog. Notice that the Featured User only displays one entry. You can control how many entries from a Weblog are displayed on a page.

  4. The News section is where we have a "traditional" Weblog using the standard Summary, Body, and Extended fields. We display a number of entries and impliment ExpressionEngine's pagination feature for easy News archive access.

  5. And finally we use a global footer Template that allows us to easily update copyright and other information across the entire site.

This is just one example of what can be done with ExpressionEngine Weblogs. Because ExpressionEngine makes no assumptions about the placement or format of a Weblog's content, you can present the content of your Weblogs on your pages in thousands of ways.

Next:  Template Introduction

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