Looking to create, deploy, and manage a dynamic website without all the fuss of programming? ExpressionEngine gets you up and running in no time. It’s a flexible content management system that’s becoming very popular with top web designers.

Throughout these screencasts, veteran web developer and ExpressionEngine guru Ryan Irelan incrementally builds a full-featured newspaper website with ExpressionEngine. You’ll learn how to get started with ExpressionEngine, light up your existing static content, and add must-have publishing features.

You can follow along with each twist and turn as Ryan adds new features to shape the application over time. You’ll also see how he troubleshoots problems that crop up along the way. You’ll not only learn how to use ExpressionEngine from start to finish, you’ll also see ways to streamline your design process.

  • Watch the application preview (2 mins, QuickTime) that highlights the website Ryan builds in these screencasts.
  • If you’re new to ExpressionEngine, check out the free installation episode (34 MB, 8 mins, QuickTime) which shows you how to install ExpressionEngine so that you’re ready to go.

Buy all 10 episodes, and you get approximately 5 hours of guided instruction by an ExpressionEngine expert!

Building a Dynamic Website with ExpressionEngine
Code • Discussions • FAQ
  • Download and watch DRM-free episodes when and where it's convenient for you
  • You get both QuickTime and iPod/iPhone formats, and Theora Ogg format for select topics
  • Only $5 per episode!

Buy Now

All the episodes in this screencast series have been released.

 

Episode Contents

  • Episode 1: Templatizing the Front Page

    We’ll start by converting the static front page of our newspaper website into a dynamic template powered by ExpressionEngine tags. You’ll learn how to:

    • create new sections, templates, and template groups
    • create custom fields in field groups
    • use tags to dynamically generate content
    • create statuses and status groups, and use them to filter content
    • limit results
  • Episode 2: Adding a Comment Form & Embedding Content

    We’ll finish up the front page by linking in the detail view for articles. Then we’ll add the ability for readers to submit comments. You’ll learn how to:

    • create forms
    • embed templates inside other templates for easier maintenance
    • use conditional statements
  • Episode 3: Organizing Content in Categories

    We’ll create category archive pages to get an overview of all content in a category. Then we’ll organize the website around hierarchical categories of content for improved navigation. You’ll learn how to:

    • create new category groups and categories
    • link categories in the navigation bar
    • use conditional statements
  • Episode 4: Linking Main Navigation & Building an RSS Feed

    We’ll link all the main navigation items and finish up by building an RSS feed. You’ll learn how to:

    • light up navigation sections
    • build an RSS feed
    • clean up your URLs (remove the index.php)
  • Episode 5: Adding Static Pages using the Pages Module

    We’ll use the Pages Module to add an About and Mission Statement page to the site, and we’ll also build a form with a file upload to create obituaries. You’ll learn how to:

    • install, configure, and use the Pages Module to create static pages
    • configure the file upload preferences
    • create a form that allows uploading a file
  • Episode 6: Building a Stand-Alone Entry Form (SAEF)

    We’ll build a stand-alone entry form that allows members to submit letters to the editor without using the control panel. You’ll learn how to:

    • add custom section field groups and fields
    • create a stand-alone entry form using the entry_form tag
    • use status fields for workflow of submitted entry forms
    • use conditionals to handle users who aren’t logged in
  • Episode 7: Publishing a Podcast

    We’ll add podcast publishing support into the ExpressionEngine control panel, so it’s easy to publish podcast episodes that are compatible with iTunes. You’ll learn how to:

    • install and enable an ExpressionEngine extension
    • upload podcast media in a user-friendly way
    • create an iTunes-compatible podcast RSS feed
  • Episode 8: Adding Membership to a Site

    We’ll add membership functionality to the site using the EE Member Module so content can be restricted to logged-in members. You’ll learn how to:

    • restrict content based on member group and logged-in status
    • disable access to templates based on member group
    • create a custom login form
    • add a drop-down form field
    • advanced uses of conditionals
  • Episode 9: Creating Relationships Between Entries

    We’ll create relationships between entries in different sections, so we can organize articles based on the print edition of the newspaper. You’ll learn how to:

    • create a custom relationship field
    • use the reverse related entries functionality
    • use the dynamic parameter in the weblog entries tag pair
  • Episode 10: Adding Search Functionality

    We’ll add search functionality to the site using the EE Search Module, so site visitors can search articles and other content on the site. You’ll learn how to:

    • implement a Simple Search Form
    • create a search results page with pagination
    • use the auto_path variable to properly link up search results
    • create a custom page for a search with no results
    • add and customize an Advanced Search form

Audience

These screencasts are designed for web designers and developers, and no programming experience is required.

About the Episodic Style

Watching developers work is like getting inside their head. Just by sitting beside them as they work, you can learn a bunch of tricks to help improve your workflow. And when experts do their best work, it's usually not a linear process where everything is planned out in advance and works the first time. Building applications is more organic than that. It's like watching a series of programming episodes.

These episodes were designed to help you learn in a significantly different way than reading through the books. In fact, screencasts complement the narrative in books by showing you how it's done using elements of time and motion. Seeing is believing!

We currently have a few episodes to start the "season", and we'll release new episodes over time (generally every week or two). Source code is available for each episode, including all of the work that has been done up to that point. So, you can pop in to episodes out of order and have the code you need to get started. We don't know exactly how many episodes there will be for any given series. If you've purchased an episode in a particular screencast series, and your account is configured to receive e-mail announcements from us, we’ll send you an e-mail when new episodes are released for that series.

About the Screencaster

Ryan Irelan is a web developer, author and sometimes consultant. He’s the Senior Web Developer at Airbag Industries, an Internet consultancy firm. He has helped build, customize, and deploy more than two dozen ExpressionEngine sites. He’s also the co-author of The Business Podcasting Book (Focal Press, 2007).