GETTING STARTED

General Workflow

The general workflow for creating site in EZGenerator usually involves the following steps:

1. Create new project for your site

Each project represents one website. Each project has its own contacts database to store, for example, site subscribers (see Contacts module); and catalog database to store news articles, products, collections etc. (see Catalog module).

You add project using the New Project Wizard in File Menu.

You remove project using the Manage Projects window in File Menu.

Please, note that we have a Video Tutorial available on this topic. You can check it out at EZGenerator Tutorials.

2. Use Project Settings window if you haven't filled in all required data for your site while creating, or if you need to change it

Site name, keywords (used for search engines indexing), site description and basic layout settings are accessible in Project Settings window. You can always change these settings at later time in the project.

Please, note that we have a Video Tutorial available on this topic. You can check it out at EZGenerator Tutorials.

3. Add web pages and content to your site

Now, after New Project Wizard has generated the site skeleton for you, you can start working in the Web Module to create your site content, and to modify the site structure if needed, adding more individual pages inside it. There are several page types that you can add to the project. Some of them are simple static pages, while others are generated based on the data filled in the Catalog and Contacts databases, or are dynamically generated by php scripts. For a detailed description of the page types available in EZGenerator, see Page Types.

The relation between the available database information and a page is performed by special macros, inserted in your pages (for more information, see Macros).

Please, note that we have a Video Tutorial available on this topic. You can check it out at EZGenerator Tutorials.

4. Test and upload your site

Simply select Publish from menu in the Web Module and your site is instantly generated and uploaded to the specified location. You can also test your site offline or upload it to the free test account that is available to all EZGenerator users. To check your upload settings, while in Web Module, go to Extra menu, select Project Settings, and then choose the Upload tab.

Please, note that we have a Video Tutorial available on this topic. You can check it out at EZGenerator Tutorials.

Advanced Setup

Advanced users may prefer more customized workflow and a custom database structure to suit their particular project needs. EZGenerator allows you to customize many of the program's functionality. Here are a few steps you may follow if you want to customize your website project:

Editing the database fields and layout

You can adjust Main Screen layout and database field types for both Contacts and Catalog modules, so that the database format and layout to suit your particular needs (see Adapt Screen & Database).

Insert your contacts information

Insert all contacts you may need in the Contacts module. You can import contacts from other databases as well (alternatively, you can parse text or e-mail messages with specific structure).

Create a catalog with items for listing

You can use Catalog module to define all kinds of enumerable items you might need, listed in the site (news articles, products, collections, reviews etc.). You can use different categories for the articles to separate them in the site (see Using Multiple Catalogs).

You can use a database field as a filter, so you can use the items for several different purposes in the separate lists.