This document will attempt to show you how renderers work and how to create your own to make a website render the way you want it to.
The first step is to decide that you really need to write code to do what you want to do. There is a chance that the software already does what you want. Take a look at what Text-To-HTML options exist for you. If it is a style issue, it might be addressed by a variable listed there.
If however, this is a structural issue (eg, you don't like the navbars provided by HtmlTemplateRenderer) then you'll probably have to write some code. If you think that your extension is generally useful, please email support and tell me about it. I might be willing to write it for you if I get the chance to extend the capabilities of the system. That way everyone wins. But, if this is something specific to your site, and not terribly reusable, read on...
The second step, assuming you get this far, is to decide if your change requires an extension to an existing renderer (eg, modify the navbar supplied by HtmlTemplateRenderer), or if it requires an entirely new renderer (eg, something like XsltRenderer).
Lets say you hate the navbar supplied by HtmlTemplateRenderer. Customizing it is pretty easy and involves these steps:
Lets say you want to write XsltRenderer, not that I have a clue about XSLT... Creating a new renderer is fairly easy:
A renderer is dirt simple. It simply needs to define the method render, which takes an array of input, and returns an array of output. Other than that, you are free to do whatever you want.
GenericRenderer has a few utility methods. First, GenericRenderer instantiates an instance variable called @result. You need not use it at all, but the utility methods do. GenericRenderer also provides the following methods:
Other things to remember: