Introduction
Issue #3: X-Powered by Craft CMS
This month Craft 2 got a hefty update with the release of version 2.4. Craft sites now contain headers with "X-Powered-By: Craft CMS" so it will be easier to spot a Craft-built site in the wild. Plus P&T continues to release Craft 3 updates.
Got suggestions for next issue? Comments? Please use the contact link in the footer.
Enough talk. Let's get to good stuff.
Craft Link List
Tools, tips, and fundamentals
Introduction to Craft CMS via Tuts+
For people new to Craft, Tuts+ has got you covered with a new introductory tutorial on Craft. Strangely, they've got it categorized in the Wordpress section, but don't let that throw you off. Many people mistake Wordpress for a CMS. ;-)
tutsplus.com
Using Macros in Twig and Craft
Macros are basically functions in Twig. Mijingo explains it all in another one of their excellent posts on Craft fundamentals.
mijingo.com
Master the Elements
This chart was referenced in Ben Parizek's slide deck mentioned earlier. It's a handy cheatsheet that compares the native Craft CMS Element Types and what makes them unique.
straightupcraft.com
Install Craft HappyLager for Windows / WampServer
Jeroen Kenters shows how to get the Craft demo up and running on Windows.
github.com
GitIgnore for Craft CMS
Gitignore.io creates .gitignore for specific project types. The version in the link above was referenced in Craft's Slack channel.
gitignore.io
What are the best practices for using the {% cache %} tag?
The Craft Stack Exchange site had a good, uh, exchange about caching. Be sure to check out the 2nd answer here and its code snippet on changing your cache preference based on environment.
stackexchange.com
Perfecting your technique
Craft Plugin Development Course
First up is a new course on Craft plug in development by Ben Croker. I went through it in a day and, although I'm already a plugin developer with Pic Puller for Instagram, I gained a lot from the course.
Since its release, Ben has added a new video on converting plugins to work with Craft 3. You can watch that episode for free here. If you're interested in getting up to speed on Craft plugin development, get the whole course. Highly recommended.
mijingo.com
Content Strategy And Building Websites With Craft CMS
Ben Parizek gives an overview of how different types of content fit into the content structures in Craft: singles, channels, structures, etc.
Also see the Master the Elements link in this newsletter below for a link pulled from this slide deck.
straightupcraft.com
Integrating Mustache templates into Craft's Twig templates
This one gets a little heady, but Happy Cog has a post on integrating Mustache templates from Pattern Lab into Craft templates. You might want to check out another Happy Cog post, Working with Pattern Lab, if you go down this rabbit hole.
happycog.com
Making Craft sing with Varnish and NGINX
If the previous link seemed heady, get ready for another one. You may want to bookmark it though. This post is a companion to the CacheMoster plugin in this issue's Plugged In section. (As a bonus, you'll also encounter the TWIG function "spaceless" in this post. That was a new one for me.)
github.io
Setting up a DigitalOcean Droplet for Craft
Digital Ocean is reliable and inexpensive server provider but you do need to set up and maintain your server yourself. If that sounds fun to you but a bit intimidating, check out Clearfire Studio's walkthru and get geeky.
clearfirestudios.com
Template Organization in Craft, aka, Context-focused Templating Systems
This deck is from Craft Summit 2014 but it is still relevant. Anthony Colangelo digs into the Twig docs for the include function and shows how to create a context-focused templating system.
speakerdeck.com
Performance optimization in Craft CMS
Patrick Pohler walks through the optimization of a Craft site and includes a reusable checklist use at the end of the article. These tips apply whether you're working Craft, EE, or another CMS. (It could even apply to Wordpress.)
patpohler.com
Plugged In
Backup Pro
The venerable ExpressionEngine add-on by mithra62, Backup Pro, has now arrived for Craft. Backup Pro even syncs your backups remotely because sometimes things don't go as planned.
mithra62.com
Button Box
Super Cool has a free plugin that helps you customize your control panel for your users.
supercooldesign.co.uk
Field Manager
Field Manager helps make it easier to manage your fields and field groups by allowing you to clone individual fields or groups of fields. It also works with Button Box mentioned above.
github.com
Super Table
Super Table is a Craft CMS field type that allows you to create powerful tables. Use native Craft field types in your tables, including Assets, Users, Entries and even Matrix. Also supports many third-party field types.
github.com
Popular
Sometimes it is a popularity contest, at least amongst your entries in Craft when using Andy Heathershaw plugin.
What can it track with this plug-in?
- Most popular entries (e.g. top 5 posts)
- Least popular entries (e.g. bottom 5 posts)
- Most popular tags (by usage, e.g. top 10 tags)
- Least popular tags (by usage, e.g. bottom 10 tags)
Time Ago In Words
We've got 2 takes on time in this issue. First up, Blue Mantis helps you get fuzzy logic for timestamps with Time Ago In Words. Provide the timezone as a reference point for your time calculations in the plugin set up page.
{{ tweet.created_at|timeAgoInWords }}
Time Diff
Patrick Harrington also tackles the time problem with Time Diff. It adds the Twig time_diff filter capability directly into Craft allowing you to render the difference between a date and now.
{{ post.published_at|time_diff }}
Redirect Manager
Let the client manage redirects themselves from the control panel. (Unless you really enjoy fiddling with .htaccess files or happen to be on NGINX.)
github.com
CacheMonster
Keep your cache warm, permanently and optionally integrate with Varnish.
supercooldesign.co.uk