I am new here and would like to know if i must use css for templates

I am new to modx and I would like to know if I can use tables only for the templates. Must I use css? I dont know css and whenever I try, I end up messing up a lot of things.
I downloaded modx and installed it. I tried creating my own template in dreamweaver and copy the html into the textarea as the manual said but all images are missing. How do I call the images in the template? How do i reference the images? are there tags for that. Do I have to load the images in a particular folder? I need help please. I think this will work for me having read the comments from people here. Hope to hear read someone soon

i HIGHLY suggest you learn css.

http://www.w3schools.com/css/
http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/stylesheets/

i suggest these books also.
http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-HTML-CSS-XHTML/dp/059610197X/sr=8-1/qid=1160616869/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-9462700-7832114?ie=UTF8
http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Standards-Voices-That-Matter/dp/0321385551/sr=8-1/qid=1160616881/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-9462700-7832114?ie=UTF8

For images, upload your images in assets/images/ folder and add them like:


You can use tables to build your website, there is no restriction upon using tables with MODx, but CSS and XHTML is nicer than tables

Good luck.

zi

google these for css tutorials, as recommended in the modx designer guide...

W3Schools Tutorial
Eric Meyer’s css/edge
glish.com CSS Layout Techniques
A List Apart
Left Justified
CSS Zen Garden

- couple of dittos there from earlier post.

or for a great head start, check out the easy read tutorials from www.westciv.com...some onsite are free, others cost a few quid but as a css newbie i found ’em superb.

good luck.

Don’t worry, if you really aren’t comfortable with CSS, you can use tables and inline tags all you like. MODx won’t limit you.

If you have images that aren’t showing, the best thing to do is look at the "view source" from your browser and see where the HTML says it thinks they are. Then look in your site (either FTP or with the Manager’s file manager) and see where they really are, and correct your HTML source (document or template or chunk or whatever).

Thanks everyone that replied my post. ZI and sottwell, thanks a lot to you guys. The tips you gave worked. Yes I viewed the source from browser as sottwell adviced and saw the wrong referencing and then I used the code that ZI provided to link the images and it has taken shape. Its now time to start learning the other features and functionalities . About learning css as ollythebuilder and Zscot said, i will try that again. Thanks for the links also. I just find out that I like seeing where I am placing things, which is what tables do for me. When I tried using some css codes I found sometime ago on a site, I had to spend all the time looking for where things went wrong cause there was always an issue with the way it was displaying.

I must say am happy with the reception I got here from the community with this my post.

Well, it took me two or three years before I got really comfortable with CSS layout and positioning, and even now it sometimes adds to my grey hairs trying to get things to work like I think they should, especially with IE. If you just don’t have the time or feel the inclination to learn it, tables and inline styling work just fine. Issues with accessability can be dealt with with careful choice of layout and liberal use of background images instead of using regular img tags for decoration purposes.

Quote from: sottwell at Oct 12, 2006, 08:58 AM

Well, it took me two or three years before I got really comfortable with CSS layout and positioning, and even now it sometimes adds to my grey hairs trying to get things to work like I think they should, especially with IE. If you just don’t have the time or feel the inclination to learn it, tables and inline styling work just fine. Issues with accessability can be dealt with with careful choice of layout and liberal use of background images instead of using regular img tags for decoration purposes.

You are absolutely right. The temptation is to use the available free css codes around but I suffered a lot from that(not the original coders fault though but mine) .
Especially in my region(africa), IE is the basic and main browser that people use. A lot of people havent even heard of the other browsers available except for the techies so I should be working more with tables for now and use styling for other effects like text ,etc.

CSS is like learning a new language. One of the challenges that most people find is that they think it is just extending their HTML knowledge... but it really isn’t. Having good HTML background is necessary, but CSS is really separate.

Especially if you tried things awhile (awhile, awhile) ago, understand that browsers have greatly improved in their rendering.

No, it isn’t without its headaches, and the headaches brought on my browsers, but it is incredibly rewarding once you get it... your pages get cut in half or even less of code, everything layout-wise is controlled by one document, you can make simple and even dramatic changes to a site by changing a couple lines in CSS.

You will start to see things in a whole new light, and once you start to pick it up, you’ll never go back.

Just ease into though... trying to just "go CSS" one day will be very frustrating. You have to take it one step at a time, and you’ll be running before you know it.

Understanding positioning and floats is very important, but also what causes much of the frustration that you probably experienced. The links provided will give you a good foundation.

good luck