[ic] New User

Paul Jordan interchange-users@interchange.redhat.com
Sat Apr 13 13:34:01 2002


> Hello all.  I am new to interchange.  I have been running a small
> development/hosting business for a few years and am fairly good at
> working my way around a server.  I like the looks of Interchange a lot.
>  Pretty darn powerful on first glance, but it appears to be quite a lot
> to try to learn by the seat of ones pants.  Are there any good primers
> around that would help me devour Interchange and get up to speed so I
> can start setting up a few store fronts?
>
>
> Thanks,
> David
>

Hi Dave

I probably went in knowing less than you. The key is don't rely on UI. UI is
good for some things like nontechnical interaction, and changing settings. I
suggest download to your results.html and flypage.html.

Open them up in your fav editor and look at the code. It is all html! Then
you will notice the ITL, but ITL is designed to be very intuitive. Then you
may or may not have perl in there doing little custom things, but that is
completely optional. You store can be fully functional with html and ITL.

Of course you will want to add doodads that possibly use perl, there are
alot floating around in the archives, and you can hire Red Hat, or other
qualified consultants that may be on the list.

What I am saying, is that once you look at the code for a few pages (from
foundation) esp. results + flypage, it becomes apparent how easy it could
be. BTW there is alot of code in those pages, and all other pages that are
just there to spark the possibilities. Alot of pages can really be stripped
down, and still not lose functionality. So just take your mouse, and the
space bar and separate it all up, and you will see how simple the code
really is. Another good thing to do to really get yourself into the groove
would be to design your own templates. You can do this from UI. You can
Alternatively download (eg:) templates/noleft and look at that. It will show
how to design a simple top,middle,bottom page, with the middle being the
variable. It will call regions, they are in templates/foundation/regions/.
Look at those too!

I designed a fully+ functional store without knowing anything! Then the
little add-ons, I either searched for and copied, modified, or hired a
consultant if it was out of my range.

The single most powerful thing to know that will let you do anything you
want, is perl. learn it. I am going to.

You will also want the docs, available from red hat, I think there are 8 of
them.

Paul

PS, did you know doodads was in MS spellcheck!