Hi All
Some thoughts on the blocks management and the default menu block. (Using a 1024x768 screen size for my tests) I am just fiddling with the default menu block at the moment but have noted the following.
#1. There is a lot of screen real estate used for the Block placement filtering section when editing a block. The long column of modules is cumbersome with the default module list and would be worse one you have a lot of modules installed. Suggest a drop down list with multi select and a horizontal display list of the enabled modules. (I hate scrolling pages)
#2. In the same area the Position(s) option seems odd. Why would you place the same block twice on the one page? I would have thought that a block would only appear once on a page hence the ability to multi select in that list is not required.
#3. In the blocks listing the Deactivate button preceeds the edit option I'd prefer to see it as the first (as I guess its the most commonly used option) and separated a bit from the other deactivate and delete options. Having just had another look at the screen, I think the issue for me is that the deactivate icon is so similar to the Edit icon whereas the delete option is distinct and being 'red' we know its dangerous. The deactivate option should be in the State column alongside the Active indicator and coloured appropriately. This would achieve the same outcome.
#4. Trying to save real estate again, the block edit page has the language option below the title. It could be accommodated to the right of the title and save 3 or 4 lines of page length. (Remember I hate scrolling )
#5. A final thought, the save and cancel buttons are way-way down the scrolling screen, how about placing a second copy of the buttons at the top right of the title / language options.
#6. The access to the block position tags from the block menu is great as it saves umpteen page clicks over the .7x method of drilling into xanthia.
Enjoying the play with .8 and looking forward to going live with it.
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Tony
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Block management feedback
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Posted: Dec 04, 2006 - 02:37 PM
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Posted: Mar 04, 2007 - 07:27 PM
A little bit late, but anyway:
#1, #4, #5: this is something to consider.
#2: I'm sure if we would remove the possibility to place a block to different position, some users would cry too. Consider this: You use News as your main module and can place the login block just on top of the news list and when the user starts reading the News you can show the same block on the right side (this might need adjustments in your theme, but it would work).
#3: please use the latest code, MS3 or SVN, there have been some changes.
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Posted: Mar 05, 2007 - 07:03 AM
Using the latest SVN, am I supposed to be able to drag and drop the blocks to reorder them? I've never been able to using Safari and Firefox for the Mac.
Is there another way I haven't noticed to be able to reorder them?
Thanks,
matt
edited by: mattlt, Mar 05, 2007 - 01:06 PM
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The Peripheral Vision
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Posted: Mar 05, 2007 - 08:40 PM
mattlt
Using the latest SVN, am I supposed to be able to drag and drop the blocks to reorder them? I've never been able to using Safari and Firefox for the Mac.
Do you mean it does not work in Safari and Firefox on Mac? What exactly does not work? The drag? The drop? CSS?
Do you have any (javascript) error messages in this case? I know it works fine with IE and Firefox on XP but I don't have a Mac available here for testing. The underlying libraries (prototype and script.aculo.us) in general do work with such elitist browsers
.
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Posted: Mar 06, 2007 - 05:15 PM
Landseer
Do you mean it does not work in Safari and Firefox on Mac? What exactly does not work? The drag? The drop? CSS?
Do you have any (javascript) error messages in this case?
I mean it's not working like the permissions module. I don't see any up/down buttons like the permissions module. What is supposed to happen if javascript is disabled? Instead of turning to a hand on mouse over, the table row just highlights and the text gets selected on drag.
I am using a custom built theme. Is there any code I'm supposed to put in my theme to make it work? Am I supposed to put a certain file somewhere? It looks like the only javascript that is being loaded is for the edit/delete buttons. None of the libraries load. When I switch to the Andreas08 theme all the javascript libraries load, but it still dosn't let me change the order.
I have the Firefox Web Developer toolbar set to open the error console on any javascript errors but it never shows up in either theme, so no errors that I can see. The only other thing I could think of was that it's conflicting with the TinyMCE editor (which works great), but I took that out and still no go. Also, I tried the Andreas08 theme in IE6 XP on Virtual PC and still nothing.
The permissions module works just peachy, as it does seemingly everywhere else (pnForum). I would break out my power move if I could get the blocks working.
-- edit : Scratch that. Permissions has the same problem. The pointer does change to a hand but only selects the text. It doesn't drag and drop. I know it was working at one time though. --
Please let me know if there's anything else I should try. I may try a fresh install tomorrow for giggles.
Thanks for your time and help.
matt
edited by: mattlt, Mar 06, 2007 - 11:32 PM
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Posted: Mar 06, 2007 - 11:06 PM
Send me a Mac and I will see what I can do
Is the site available for tests? If so, please send some login details with correct permissions.
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Posted: Mar 07, 2007 - 03:32 PM
I got Permissions working and now all the javascript libraries are loading as expected (Weird encoding problems with my theme templates.)
The javascript libraries are now also being loaded in the Blocks admin, but still no dice for the drag and drop reordering even on a new, basic install using the Andreas08 theme. I should get a chance to send you login details tomorrow via PM.
Isn't there a way to reorder blocks without javascript? Like the up/down arrows in Permissions.
Thanks,
matt
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The Peripheral Vision
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Posted: Mar 07, 2007 - 11:43 PM
If you got the Permissions working with drag and drop you should get the Blocks working too.
Quote
Isn't there a way to reorder blocks without javascript?
Not yet: http://noc.postnuke.com/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=3733&group_id=5&atid=101
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Posted: Mar 08, 2007 - 12:30 AM
With this drag and drop you should have save and cancel buttons instead of saving the position on the drop.
-Lobos
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-Lobos
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Posted: Mar 08, 2007 - 01:22 AM
Lobos,
Not sure I agree. If the action was irreversible, say a deletion, then I'd agree but in this all actions are 100% reversible. If you change the order of a block you can move it back again, if you remove a block from the position you can put it back again....
IMO this is just taking 'Are you sure? Are you really, really sure?' dialogs a bit to far.
-Mark
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Posted: Mar 08, 2007 - 06:55 AM
Well yes and no, Mark.
With blocks this would be ok, but permissions are always a bit confusing - especially for noobs. So if Jimmy noob installs pn8 for the first time and has a fiddle you are going to have a support query. I made something a bit like this in one of my projects, I made it so any changes triggered the save/cancel buttons - basically this will also save on transactions to the server if you are changing losts of rules as you will only need to make one transaction. I am not sure how the save works as it is, but I have noticed that the little pauses from Ajax on a slow connection can be quite tiresome. Why not let the client take the load? This is what Ajax is for.
-Lobos
edited by: Lobos, Mar 09, 2007 - 06:57 AM
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-Lobos
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Posted: Mar 08, 2007 - 09:44 AM
Thanks to Landseer for helping me out.
The solution to my problem was to try reordering the blocks in the correct place. I thought you would do it on the main Blocks administration page (view blocks) as that's where it was done in the past (with the up/down) buttons.
You can reorder your blocks by clicking the edit button for the block position underneath the block listing. Once there you can reorder your blocks for that position or grab one from another position and drag it into the position being edited. Everything works perfectly.
Thanks again to Landseer. As promised I broke out my power move.
matt
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Posted: May 31, 2007 - 09:30 PM
Something different:
Is'nt it possible to use more than one 'custom argument' in the 'block placement filtering'?
For example I wasn't able to display a block only together with one special Pagesetter publication ('special arguments' -> tid=x,pid=y).
It was only possible to display the block together with all publications of a publicationtype ('special arguments' -> tid=x), or together with all publications with the same publication id, irrespective of the publication type ('special arguments' -> pid=x).
ingx
edited by: ingx, Jun 01, 2007 - 09:32 AM -
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Posted: Feb 09, 2008 - 05:20 AM
I've a question concerning block management too, maybe I miss something but haven't found a documentation on this new version. So the question is: how do I define for a block to NOT show up in a certain module? I want to have the master.htm to be able showing left and right colums but with some modules it looks plain bad, for those no right colum than. Do I need to write a complete new template for those modules? -
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Posted: Feb 09, 2008 - 07:59 AM
Well Horian,
you can configure in which modules show the block.
In the "Block Edit Screen" you'll see a link:
"Click to show/hide advanced block placement options"
Just after the Position select-box; click it.
In the Modules checkbox list, you can select in which modules the block will be displayed.
If you enable the News/Pages checkbox, the block will be displayed *only* in that modules.
Happy PostNuking!
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