Improving TXP Image Management

jonlandrum · 2010-02-26 16:30:04

philwareham wrote:

I think the best situation (not even sure it’s possible) would be a plugin that takes the original filename (which is stored in the database anyway at upload) and use that as an alias applied onto the html output. Users could even change that filename without breakage – as the image is still (for example) 431.png in the actual system. That would keep everyone happy – and as it’s a optional plugin it would not affect the core performance, but the functionality is available if someone wants to use it.

Second.

jameslomax · 2010-06-11 18:46:28

So what is actually HAPPENING?

This conversation has been going on for 4 years! A year or two ago, I checked in again and said what is happening.

I’m doing it again now. There’s no point just making good suggestions – many have, including me, more than once.

Is TXP image management going to improve? As I’ve said several times, why has this been taking so long?

maverick · 2010-06-11 19:22:08

Hopefully the wording of your post conveys more of an attitude than you actually have. It almost comes across like a flame post (my opinion only).

You are aware there is movement on the “image” front?

Images Are Now First Class Citizens

Granted the focus was parity in terms of tags.

It was a significant change. Now perhaps, with those changes in mind, you’d like to re-suggest the next steps you see as most valuable?

masa · 2010-06-11 19:32:55

I think, what James is referring to, is the way images are displayed/handled in the Images tab.

I would love to see a more compact, multi-column layout with the ability to edit certain properties like file name, alt text and caption right there, without the need to “open” each image individually.

Then I’m not a programmer, so I don’t know how complicated this would be to implement.

masa · 2010-06-11 19:38:21

maverick wrote:

You are aware there is movement on the “image” front?

Images Are Now First Class Citizens

These improvements are of course very much appreciated.

masa · 2010-06-11 19:49:38

One more thing…

I would be happy to fund development in this particular area, as I’m sure others would, too. I’d rater see it in the core than a plugin, but any improvements would be welcome either way.

maverick · 2010-06-11 19:52:28

I apologize if my reply seemed brusque. I realize that the changes were more on the display side, and the quest is for improvements on the back end.

I also know that some major changes have happened in the last year.

Sometimes being a developer is a thankless job. No matter what you do, and how many people are pleased, you have those who get snarky because you didn’t get to this or that improvement, or you didn’t do it the way they wanted, etc.

I figure that if I’m not submitting patches (and I’m not – I lack the skill set), then I don’t have the right to be critical of those who can. They are volunteering their time, and I’m the lucky recipient of work they freely share.

I’d rather encourage rather than discourage the devs. After a tense spell a while back w/ a lot of criticism about the future and features of Txp, it seems we’ve had a more positive atmosphere on the forums. I’d hate to see that get derailed.

fwiw

Mike

Last edited by maverick (2010-06-11 19:54:57)

masa · 2010-06-11 20:06:58

Don’t worry, Mike.

maverick wrote:

I’d rather encourage rather than discourage the devs. After a tense spell a while back w/ a lot of criticism about the future and features of Txp, it seems we’ve had a more positive atmosphere on the forums. I’d hate to see that get derailed.

I couldn’t agree more – I still get all delirious about the revamped tag parser introduced back in 4.0.7/.8 :)

jameslomax · 2010-06-11 20:08:49

I am not a “flamer” at all and several here know me – or they used to 2/3 years ago – as a regular and trusted member of the forum. Allow me then to be human maverick and don’t deride me. I’m a human being with feelings maverick – not a robot.

I think frustration with this situation as I briefly referred to it is both understandable and legitimate. We are talking a span of years and alongside that, probably most of the good ideas have already been made. That is not the same matter at all as being critical of anyone.

Point is, the topic is way overdue and its legitimate to point out all the good suggestions have probably already been made – a year, two, three, or even four years ago.

Last edited by jameslomax (2010-06-11 20:11:24)

Bloke · 2010-06-11 20:55:18

James et al

I understand your frustrations in this regard. The Images tab pisses me off no end.

The front-end tag stuff was phase one. That’s now out of the way and (99%) functioning well with one tiny bug left to fix. I felt image management in TXP could not move forward properly without that in place.

On the Images tab itself, me and a few cool significant others have actually made the first steps towards a complete change in workflow. I used the very rough alpha version for a week and fell in love with the concept to the extent it pained me to go back to what we have now. I’d share it with you but I’d have to kill you afterwards :-)

Suffice to say it’s grid-based and you can view key parameters near each image. You can switch between traditional list and grid views as you see fit and it remembers your preference automatically. You can still use the multi-edit tools to effect mass-changes. Part 2 was to figure out how to allow you to alter individual items without visiting the Edit screen. Never got that far before I got sidetracked by other things, but I don’t think it’s that tricky. Time will tell.

You still have to go to the Edit tab to make significant changes because we can’t put everything in a grid or we end up with only two icons on a page, which defeats the purpose! The amount of information displayed vs the screen real-estate it takes up is a balancing act.

Side-by-side with this I’ve been tinkering with the admin side classes and IDs, altering things to support the transition over the next few versions of TXP. That’s all but done as far as I’m concerned and I’m waiting for the consensus on whether what I put together is workable. Serious work on the Images tab can’t go forward until this is done and dusted.

Since it’s been so long and patience only goes so far, here’s a sneak peek of the Edit tab (excuse the position of the Upload buttons for now: not finalised that bit in terms of CSS) :

It’s still using the Classic theme. The (possibly) scaled-down image on the left is clickabe to the full-size version. No lightbox or anything, just a raw link for now. The image edit flow is much, much nicer to use without the huge image at the top of the screen. You wouldn’t believe the difference this simple alteration makes.

But there is a downside. All this comes at a cost; and the cost is the loss of plugin compatibility. Specifically, you can kiss goodbye to EBL_image_edit (among others). I’m not willing to make these changes in the next version of TXP without a migration path for this plugin in place because it’s too widely used.

When the changes are nearing completion and we have a suitable back-end series of classes/IDs I intend to approach TheEric and figure out the best way to go forward. Once he’s on board and we’ve tracked down any other similar killer plugins that might be affected by the changes, the final phase can start: putting this stuff into the core piece by piece. But I suspect it won’t be in 4.3.0. It’s more likely to be a TXP 5 thing because of the backwards compatibility aspect.

I hope that’s kind of helped set the scene a bit and explain the painful slowness of this feature set. It’s not a Yes here it is, it’s not a Nothing’s happening, but it’s not a No either. I said I’d do it, it’s coming along but there are more pieces than just the Images tab that need juggling.

Since I came on board around six months ago I’ve been ferreting away behind the scenes with a bunch of incredibly talented people figuring out the way to take TXP up a gear. If I could make time between that, the various site redesigns going on, my day job, site building, my plugin support and my home life to post more often I’d keep you all updated more regularly. Sadly I’m stretched a tad at the mo and the thing that’s taken a back-seat is the updates. I already don’t sleep, and the sweat shop staff are tiring of my Draconian methods.

Please bear with us and don’t give up hope just yet :-)

thebombsite · 2010-06-12 09:19:22

Is that image meant to link somewhere Stef?

Bloke · 2010-06-12 09:29:55

thebombsite wrote:

Is that image meant to link somewhere Stef?

No. It’s just a screenshot of my dev site.

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

#361 2010-02-26 16:30:04

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#362 2010-06-11 18:46:28

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#363 2010-06-11 19:22:08

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#364 2010-06-11 19:32:55

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#365 2010-06-11 19:38:21

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#366 2010-06-11 19:49:38

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#367 2010-06-11 19:52:28

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#368 2010-06-11 20:06:58

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#369 2010-06-11 20:08:49

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#370 2010-06-11 20:55:18

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#371 2010-06-12 09:19:22

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#372 2010-06-12 09:29:55

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

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