plugins with visual representation/screenshots?

iblastoff · 2006-07-01 16:49:38

im sure this has been brought up before and i sound like a broken record but..

i think it would be nice to have a very simple, default visual representation/screenshot of what each plugin can do. perhaps that could be mandatory when users submit their plugins or something? many of the plugins on textpattern.org have a very vague description. for example ‘up_image’ just says “A more powerful image display.” i know there is a thread right above me discussing this plugin, but it seems to mainly discuss users who are already using it. also the first post describes something about the plugin being split into separate plugins, all of which, to a new user (aka me), really doesnt help at all!

i have looked through these forums and definitely came across examples/demos of a few plugins, but they were all sporadically sewn throughout this board and i am finding it difficult to narrow down exactly which plugins i would want to use for my needs. if each plugin on the plugin page had a little thumbnail image linking to a larger screenshot or something, that would be beyond helpful!

i realize many users just say “just install the plugin and try it yourself.” i would if i had a decent visual example to know what im getting into!

Last edited by iblastoff (2006-07-01 16:52:30)

hcgtv · 2006-07-01 17:14:01

I would agree, we can have a shot of the plugin running on a site and the admin interface if there is any.

Look before you try kind of thing, like the templates have.

placenamehere · 2006-07-01 21:17:34

screenshot of what?

Sure it may be useful for some admin side pugins, and I don’t want to poo poo the idea all together… but the majority of the plugins I use regularly do little more then add tags with either no interface or using the same tag builders every other tag uses….

akokskis · 2006-07-02 02:06:47

placenamehere wrote:

screenshot of what?
Sure it may be useful for some admin side pugins, and I don’t want to poo poo the idea all together… but the majority of the plugins I use regularly do little more then add tags with either no interface or using the same tag builders every other tag uses….

I’d like to agree with this. All the plugins that I’ve written have no admin side interface, and they just give one another tag that does something useful. I don’t really see what a screenshot of one of my plugins would do, but maybe that’s just me, being the author of the plugin, not any given user.

colak · 2006-07-02 06:38:57

What I would like to see is something much simpler:

Some plugin authors include a text in the encoded plugin. In the text I would like to see

The min txp requirements (I think that a lot of authors do that already)
The Letest txp (sub)version tested on

As txp grows old plugins break so by stating that min requirements : txp4.03 means nothing after a while.
I always had this problem with all software so this is not just a txp issue.

Mary · 2006-07-02 17:05:30

Screenshots are useful for the plugins that “do” something visually, and have neen used on txp.org before. No one’s making them, that’s all.

hcgtv · 2006-07-02 17:42:16

Or in lieu of screenshots, you can have a Textpattern install with the plugins that create something visual on the front end. A sort of live preview, cause sometimes screenshots may not do a plugin justice.

hakjoon · 2006-07-03 15:14:59

Anyone have any thoughts on how to actually include screenshots_ in the plugin help? I have one that could use this but I’m not sure how reference the images. Can I run a deserialize() in the plugin help section to have the images be serialized content in the plugin itself? Haven’t tried that yet.

Mary · 2006-07-03 20:37:15

base64 encode your image (although you can do this yourself with PHP, it’s easier to just use a premade tool like this). Check my file packets plugin to see how I did it for the little paper clip graphic it uses.

hakjoon · 2006-07-03 20:47:29

DOH! I meant Base64. That’s a handy tool I’ll have to check it out, thanks for the link. I’ll check out file packets.

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

#1 2006-07-01 16:49:38

plugins with visual representation/screenshots?

#2 2006-07-01 17:14:01

Re: plugins with visual representation/screenshots?

#3 2006-07-01 21:17:34

Re: plugins with visual representation/screenshots?

#4 2006-07-02 02:06:47

Re: plugins with visual representation/screenshots?

#5 2006-07-02 06:38:57

Re: plugins with visual representation/screenshots?

#6 2006-07-02 17:05:30

Re: plugins with visual representation/screenshots?

#7 2006-07-02 17:42:16

Re: plugins with visual representation/screenshots?

#8 2006-07-03 15:14:59

Re: plugins with visual representation/screenshots?

#9 2006-07-03 20:37:15

Re: plugins with visual representation/screenshots?

#10 2006-07-03 20:47:29

Re: plugins with visual representation/screenshots?

Board footer