what is the article_image field for?

Bloke · 2015-07-01 09:24:35

hcgtv wrote #292410:

Right there, in the backend, copy/paste the appropriate code from your Pages or Forms and write up a short explanation, send it away.

That’s not as crazy as it might seem at the outset. It’ll depend on how easy it ends up being to alter the documentation. The current wiki does give people the power to make changes directly, it’s just that comparatively few do, and there’s no nice link between the admin side and the docs. We want to change that.

We could perhaps use this opportunity to alter the tag builder and make it more useful. Instead of merely popping up that box to enter the fields, how about a link to the docs for that tag somewhere too, either alongside the tag in the builder list, or in the popup (whatever form that ultimately takes). Or even a link like the one you mention to submit a code example from that tag builder panel. It would mean opening up the Tag Builder first and finding the tag you want to add the example for, which is a minor annoyance. But a dedicated button in the UI for an incidental feature doesn’t feel like a good use of real estate. Might be wrong.

It’d be nice if it was possible for people to edit the docs themselves to add examples instead of sending to a moderated queue. The latter does give more control, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. Perhaps if it was easy to edit, the inclination might be there. My guess regarding the reason it’s not done much currently is because the entry barrier for mastering MediaWiki syntax is quite high. Looks a bit scary when you see the code behind it, although those familiar with Textile would probably be less intimidated.

When adding examples, there’s room for the little things helping out. Like if your example uses other tags, the list of “other tags used in this example” with links to the relevant tag doc pages can be scraped automatically, adi_form_links stylie, and added to the markup for you. I did wonder if an adi_form_links-esque plugin that scraped tags from your current Page/Form and showed you a list of those in use might be neat. The links would click through to the docs. The downside to that approach is that you only get to see the docs for tags you know about or are in use already, not those that you might want to use but don’t know about. That’s where the Tag Builder is handy, but as it’s not a complete tag reference, and the categorisation of tags isn’t always obvious, its appeal is diminished somewhat.

The idea of better docs integration is a core component of the admin-update branch and this kind of thing ties in nicely with that ethos, so let’s bust this topic into the Feature Requests area and hash out a good way to improve things for the entire admin-side help system. I have ideas, for one. Phil has ideas. I’m sure others have ideas too and it’d be good to get feedback in this area now, as work has begun on it.

I think Phil’s keen to use jQuery UI dialog boxes for help popups — ideally not modal so you can continue editing alongside. If nothing else, popping up the tag builder should allow you to reposition the cursor in the textarea and reinsert the current tag if necessary without having to close the tag builder panel, move the cursor and open it again.

For on-screen overview help (e.g. “The Pages panel allows you to…”), I quite like dockable drawers concept, but they take up more space and make the UI area smaller as you are viewing the docs. Plus they’re less flexible in terms of allowing you to position the popup out of the way while still referring to it while editing. But for a birds-eye overview of the entire function of the panel — like how it fits in with other building blocks — I think the drawer system that slides down to reveal that one piece of documentation from a little ‘help’ link near the menu bar (or something) is quite nice. But I ain’t no designer so I’ll leave that decision to those that have the chops, and will implement whatever is deemed necessary.

Bloke · 2015-07-01 09:41:20

Destry wrote #292409:

That’s exactly the kind of example, nearly word for word, that should be in the respective Tag Reference page.

Added, at least to the next gen documentation, not the current wiki.

hcgtv · 2015-07-01 12:11:20

Bloke wrote #292427:

We could perhaps use this opportunity to alter the tag builder and make it more useful. Instead of merely popping up that box to enter the fields, how about a link to the docs for that tag somewhere too, either alongside the tag in the builder list, or in the popup (whatever form that ultimately takes).

I have the Template Tags site open in a tab whenever I’m making changes to one of my Textpattern installs. I recently turned off comments at the tag site, comments were a way for users to contribute examples, but none were ever submitted in the almost 5 years the site has been running. My how time flies.

I would love popup help on a tag, maybe make it configurable so we can link to whatever version of the tag reference we would prefer.

Bloke · 2015-07-01 12:25:16

hcgtv wrote #292434:

I would love popup help on a tag

I expect we can do pophelp on the tag builder list (and/or in the ensuing popup maybe). I’ll look into adding that.

maybe make it configurable so we can link to whatever version of the tag reference we would prefer.

The pophelp routine fires a pluggable_ui() callback now (event: admin_help, step: the unique name of the widget/label), so any plugin can intercept and redirect the markup to deliver custom content. The second part of the puzzle that’s yet to be slotted in is a way to take content back from the callback and inject it into a template for viewing.

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#13 2015-07-01 09:24:35

Re: what is the article_image field for?

hcgtv wrote #292410:

#14 2015-07-01 09:41:20

Re: what is the article_image field for?

Destry wrote #292409:

#15 2015-07-01 12:11:20

Re: what is the article_image field for?

Bloke wrote #292427:

#16 2015-07-01 12:25:16

Re: what is the article_image field for?

hcgtv wrote #292434:

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