Developing workflow - simple

There are a number of different workflows you can use when developing and customising websites on the Neto by Maropost platform. This is a simple workflow which takes you through the step-by-step process that you'll need to get started.

Requirements

Before you get started, this simple workflow requires the following:

FTP Access

You will need FTP access to be able to edit the template files for your website. Find out how to get FTP access here.

Code Editor

  • For OSX/Linux users, we recommend Atom
  • For Windows users, we recommend VS code

FTP Client

  • For OSX/Linux users, we recommend Transmit
  • For Windows users, we recommend Filezilla

With that being said, you're not restricted to any particular software suites when working with the Neto Platform.

Start A New Project

Once you have all of the above requirements in place, you can begin setup.

Step 1. Install Skeletal Theme

To ensure your new theme is using the most up to date theme code all custom themes should be built from our base template, Skeletal. In order to install the latest version of Skeletal, complete the following steps:

  1. From the Neto dashboard, navigate to Webstore > Theme editor.

  1. Hover over Skeletal theme and click the Install button.

    If Skeletal is already installed, you'll need to click the arrow next to "Edit Styles" and click the Reinstall button. This is to ensure you're building on a fresh copy of Skeletal.

Step 2. Set up your FTP client

  1. As mentioned above, you will need FTP access in order to safely edit the files using a code editor. If you don't already have an FTP account for your website, you can request one here.

Providing you do have access, you simply need to setup a new account in Transmit, Filezilla, or your preferred FTP application, and connect:

  • Protocol: SFTP
  • Server: sftp.neto.net.au
  • Username: myusername
  • Password: ***

  1. Once connected, navigate through your site's filesystem to the template/s you want to edit.

    For example, to make changes to the header template, navigate to /httpdocs/assets/themes/skeletal/templates/headers/template.html To edit any of the themes CSS styles, the stylesheets are located under: /httpdocs/assets/themes/skeletal/css

  2. In your FTP client, right-click on the file you want to edit and open with your chosen code editor. You can now make the necessary code changes and save the file. If you're using Transmit, it will have automatically uploaded. Otherwise, you may need to manually upload the file in your chosen FTP application.

  3. In order to see the changes, ensure the skeletal theme is set as your active theme and refresh your website's cache. This can be done from any page in the control panel, by clicking the 'Refresh caches' link in the sidebar.

Want to name your theme? At any point rename the skeletal folder under /httpdocs/assets/themes to your preferred theme name. This should not contain any spaces or special characters, use dashes - or underlines _ for spaces if needed. If you do this locally and upload the new theme folder you will now have your new theme as well as the previous skeletal theme which can be handy for very basic version control or theme history.

When a theme folder name changes, this will reflect in the control panels Webstore Settings and Theme Editor, set your new theme name as the active theme or use the nview={theme_name} URL query to see the new theme in your browser (if all you've done on this occassion is change the theme folder name, there won't be any visible changes yet).

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