Tutorials – Learning Composr

Tutorials

Aggregate Content Types

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
April 30th 2013
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Expert
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

How to set up complex content types, by linking standard Composr types/structure together.

Taking a More Detailed Look at Composr Catalogues System

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
July 31st 2013
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

Composr's inbuilt catalogue system is a very useful tool and can be used for a wide range of tasks relating to the display of information on your Composr website.

Choosing how to publish

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

Details on different publishing features available in Composr, and their advantages/disadvantages.

Advanced news

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Regular
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

Details on some of the more complex features available for news, including blogging and syndication.

Providing downloads

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

You can make large files available to your visitors using the Composr downloads system. Read about it.

Using the if_in_group in Composr

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
January 31st 2014
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

We give an example of showing different content to different usergroups.

Explaining the Composr Quiz Module

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
June 30th 2014
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

Quizzes in Composr have multiple purposes. For example, collecting data, fun, giveaways and competitions.

Add a New Poll to Your Composr Website

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
June 30th 2013
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

Adding a poll to a community based site is probably one of the most common tasks you will need to complete. Polls can be a fun addition or used as a more important vote for an award or something similar.

Providing galleries

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

A gallery system is provided for the storage, organisation and viewing of images and videos. Read about it.

Catalogue field references

Rating:
By:
ocProducts
Added:
December 31st 2019
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Expert
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

This tutorial shows some advanced usage of catalogue field references. It will show you how to create a reference from one catalogue to another, and then extract individual fields for display.

How to Add an Information Block to Composr

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
March 31st 2013
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

Composr websites, like most websites are made up of information. Composr achieves this through displaying a range of content blocks.

An Overview of Galleries in Composr

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
October 31st 2013
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

Like many other key elements of popular websites, Composr Galleries are included as a core feature of the CMS. The Gallery in Composr supports both Images and Videos.

Advanced galleries

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Regular
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

We go through some of the advanced features in the gallery system, such as batch importing, and personal galleries.

Add a Survey to a Composr Website

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
June 30th 2013
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

Surveys make up an important part of many website types. They can be used to obtain feedback and information from your community members. A business can get important feedback.

Adding an Image Slider to Composr

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
August 31st 2014
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

Many websites now make use of sliders to convey information to their visitors. It's incredibly common especially in the world of eCommerce as it allows several items to be displayed neatly together.

Comcode and the attachment system

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
August 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

Create dynamic effects and display rich media, without having to write any XHTML, CSS, or JavaScript.

Using blocks

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

How to add dynamism and inline content to your pages, using blocks.

Catalogues in Composr

Rating:
By:
ocProducts
Added:
April 30th 2015
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Regular
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

If you want to create your own mini-database, a Composr catalogue will allow you to do it. This tutorial steps you through with some examples.

Authors

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

Find out how authors are different to members, and the tools available to you to create and manage them.

SU and the if_in_group tag

Rating:
By:
Allen Ellis (ocProducts)
Added:
April 8th 2023
Media type:
Video
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

How to switch users under your admin login, and how to customise page contents based on usergroup membership.

A Detailed Look at the Composr Calendar System

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
September 30th 2013
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

The Calendar in Composr has a wide range of different options which can be used for a wide range of purposes. As you can create many different event types, it allows you to use this for just about any purpose from displaying a list of fixtures for a sports club, a range of tour dates for a band or even a personal diary.

Embedding a Google map

Rating:
By:
Allen Ellis (ocProducts)
Added:
April 8th 2023
Media type:
Video
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

Tutorial showing how to embed an HTML widget (Google Maps in this case) into a Comcode page.

Setting Timed Content for Composr and Your Arvixe Webhosting

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
April 30th 2013
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

This tutorial explains how to set up Cron, and therefore scheduled postings, on a real webhost (Arvixe in our example).

Searching your website

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

Find out how Composr's search engine can make it easy to search all the content on your website at once.

Advanced provision of downloads

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Regular
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

We go through some of the advanced features in the downloads system, such as batch importing, and download selling.

Configure the News Display in Composr

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
November 30th 2013
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

This tutorial explains how the main_news block can be configured to show different formulations of news.

Set Up a Workflow in Composr

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
October 31st 2013
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

For larger enterprises and companies the ability to have multiple levels of sign off for website content can be important. This is covered by the workflows addon (which out-of-the-box supports only galleries, but is extendible.

Setup a Wiki in Composr

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
August 31st 2013
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

Wikis are great for large community driven websites for sharing information. This tutorial provides some basic information on Composr's Wiki+ system.

WYSIWYG editing

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Regular
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

This tutorial provides some advanced information on the WYSIWYG editor, for those wanting to push it to the limit.

Adding standalone pages of content (via Comcode)

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

How to add new pages, using Comcode. It couldn't be simpler to do: Comcode pages almost look like plain text.

Integrating a YouTube Channel to Composr

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
September 30th 2013
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

Composr offers an addon to be able to display videos from a specific YouTube channel on your website. This tutorial shows how it works.

Set a Recurring Event in Composr

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
September 30th 2013
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

Composr has an inbuilt calendar system which is quite straight forward to use. The calendar system also allows for repeat event and for quite complex recurrence sequences.

Custom structured content (via catalogues)

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

The catalogue system lets you set up your own databases on your website.

Advanced Comcode

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Regular
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

Some of the more advanced aspects of the Comcode system explained, for those who already know the basics.

Finding Your Way Around the Composr Admin Zone

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
March 31st 2013
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

One of Composr's biggest strengths is its large amount of features. However, to a new user the Admin Zone may initially look a little overwhelming. This tutorial is a brief walk through it.

Releasing news & running a Blog

Rating:
By:
Allen Ellis (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

How to use the news system for website news, press releases, blogs, or any other kind of article.

Running a calendar/diary

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

How to create a community calendar, or let your members maintain online diaries.

Adding New Page Options in Composr

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
July 31st 2013
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

Adding a new page is one of the most common tasks you will need to do with any website. This process is quite simple and explained in this tutorial.

Build a Download Library in Composr

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
October 31st 2013
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

Composr offers a fully equipped and well-rounded system for uploading your files and sharing them to your website visitors.

Quizzes

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

How to add competitions, surveys, and tests.

Setting Up Classified Ads on Composr

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
May 31st 2014
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

Depending on the purpose behind your Composr website, it may be you will want to generate revenue from your site. Classified ads is one way to do this.

Converting a Composr Gallery to a Carousel

Rating:
By:
Steve Jarvis and Chris Graham, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
February 28th 2014
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

A task which I do on most sites I build with Composr is to convert the existing gallery block display so it displays as a carousel. This tutorial shows how.

Practical page editing (a walk through)

Rating:
By:
Jim Davidson, Sponsored by Arvixe hosting
Added:
October 31st 2014
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

In this tutorial I show how to make some edits to the Composr front page, while crossing into many important techniques and concepts for Composr and in general.

Custom Comcode tags

Rating:
By:
Allen Ellis (ocProducts)
Added:
April 8th 2023
Media type:
Video
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Auxillary
Tags:

How to extend Comcode using Custom Comcode tags.

Custom structured content (via Wiki+)

Rating:
By:
Chris Graham (ocProducts)
Added:
July 31st 2008
Edited:
April 7th 2024
Difficulty:
Novice
Tutorial type:
Core documentation
Tags:

The Wiki+ system is Composr's equivalent to a wiki, but extended with additional features.

Need better information?

The Composr documentation is user-driven:

  • If you have found documentation problems that you'd like someone else to solve log an issue to the tracker.
  • If you'd like to contribute a chunk of documentation to go into a tutorial, also log an issue to the tracker.
  • If you want to contribute a new tutorial you can submit a link.