# An Informal Contest **URL:** \ **Category:** Radiant CMS\ **Created:** [June 10, 2006, 8:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/an-informal-contest/62996 "2006-06-10T08:51:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_WSLong](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/34f0e0/32.png) [@John\_WSLong](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_WSLong)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 8:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/an-informal-contest/62996/1 "2006-06-10T08:51:00Z")
Changeset 57 contains the following improvements: - Updated db/setup.rb. Option parsing has been improved and you can now select a template for your new Radiant database. - Added an export controller to make it easier to create templates. It exports your database in YAML format. Simply hit /admin/export/. [http://dev.radiantcms.org/radiant/changeset/57](http://dev.radiantcms.org/radiant/changeset/57) If you examine the db/templates directory now you will see a couple of simple YAML templates which can be used to generate the initial database for a Radiant install. I’ve included three default templates: 1. An empty template (to create a blank database) 2. A bare bones template (the same as what you have seen before) 3. A styled blog template I just finished coding option #3 today. It demonstrates a lot of the advanced features of Radiant and also looks nice. I would love to see more options for people just getting started with Radiant. If you are a talented designer and I’d like to invite you to participate in an informal contest of sorts. I’m looking for two basic templates: - A blog template - A simple company web site template Here’s the catch: you can’t use images in the design at all. (Since Radiant doesn’t have the attachments system yet it wouldn’t make sense to put a lot of additional images in the public/images directory.) If you submit a template that I like it will have a shot at being included in the core distribution. The easiest way to create a template is to setup a Radiant database the way you like it and then go to /admin/export/ to get the YAML for it. Then take the YAML and paste it into a template file in the db/templates directory. You will need to modify the generated YAML a bit, but it should be enough to get you started. – John L. [http://wiseheartdesign.com](http://wiseheartdesign.com) ---
**Author:** ![John\_WSLong](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/34f0e0/32.png) [@John\_WSLong](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_WSLong)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2006, 7:01am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/an-informal-contest/62996/2 "2006-06-30T07:01:15Z")
> The easiest way to create a template is to setup a Radiant database the > way you like it and then go to /admin/export/ to get the YAML for it. > Then take the YAML and paste it into a template file in the db/templates > directory. You will need to modify the generated YAML a bit, but it > should be enough to get you started. I’ve just finished a template, and now I am having one hell of a [not] good time trying to get the it to work. I was wondering, why not just use sql dumps for templates? ---
**Author:** ![John\_WSLong](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/34f0e0/32.png) [@John\_WSLong](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_WSLong)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2006, 9:11am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/an-informal-contest/62996/3 "2006-06-30T09:11:58Z")
Scratch that question, and answered it for myself. ---
**Author:** ![John\_WSLong](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/34f0e0/32.png) [@John\_WSLong](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_WSLong)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/an-informal-contest/62996/4 "2006-06-30T22:16:16Z")
John W. Long wrote: > Bernard Yu wrote: > > > Scratch that question, and answered it for myself. > > What was the answer? 🙂 > > – > John L. > [http://wiseheartdesign.com](http://wiseheartdesign.com) It’d be trouble for anyone trying to use a non-SQL database. Though I suppose that wouldn’t really happen that often. But for the .yml files, I’m having a hell of a time trying to get the thing to work properly and I haven’t the foggiest clue why. As it is, I’m finishing with fixing some problems I didn’t notice with the CSS print file, and I’m not looking foward to going through and making it pretty again. it keeps coming up with yaml.rb errors every other line. ---
**Author:** ![John\_WSLong](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/34f0e0/32.png) [@John\_WSLong](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_WSLong)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/an-informal-contest/62996/5 "2006-07-01T04:07:02Z")
If you make it work, it would be nice if you can post your experience, I haven’t been trying lately but I couldn’t get a template to work neither. ---
**Author:** ![John\_WSLong](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/34f0e0/32.png) [@John\_WSLong](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_WSLong)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2006, 3:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/an-informal-contest/62996/6 "2006-06-30T15:15:22Z")
Bernard Yu wrote: > Scratch that question, and answered it for myself. What was the answer? 🙂 – John L. [http://wiseheartdesign.com](http://wiseheartdesign.com) ---
**Author:** ![John\_WSLong](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/34f0e0/32.png) [@John\_WSLong](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_WSLong)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 12:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/an-informal-contest/62996/7 "2006-07-03T00:18:26Z")
Well then, I’d like to submit a (company) website template of sorts for the contest… I present [Handsome in Blue](http://radtest.enguindesign.com). It’s not just a blank template, it’s a lesson of sorts as well for those new to Radiant as well as managing websites. The [template](http://enguindesign.com/sites/radiant-template/handsomeinblue.yml) is a heavy weighing in at 41k, but it has separate stylesheets for screen, print, and handheld devices, (also has some goodies for text browsers). It uses XHTML-Strict, the CSS validates beautifully, and takes advantage of a lot of Radius’s features. * * * Excuse me while I sob like a little baby I figured it out…the hard way. I got to thinking, this is Ruby…therefore spaces matter. With that in mind, I’ll outline the structure of the yaml file. ## name: [name of template] description: [description for template] records: Layouts: 1: name: [name of layout] id: 1 content: | This is where the body of your template goes the white space must be at least one space beyond the beginning of its container, and remember no indents that’s cheating. 2: name: [name of second layout] id: 2 Content: | Snippets: 1: name: [you get the point] id: 1 content: | … Pages: 1: slug: title: breadcrumb: id: status\_id: layout\_id: [id of layout that should apply to it] parent\_id: [id of parent] PageParts: 1: name: page\_id: [id of page this part applies to] id: 1 content: | I hate myself, a lot You basically have to give the same level container the same ammount of white-space (so “layouts,” “Snippets,” “Pages,” and “PageParts” all have 2spaces, the ID numbers all have 4 spaces, etc). Hopefully I explained that well enough…once you figure it out, it’s really easy. Good luck!