Improving TXP Image Management

KurtRaschke · 2006-03-02 21:11:41

> mary wrote:

> That is what Textpatter is for: general discussion, not necessarily Textpattern-related. This will be more obvious after the forum upgrade.

Forum upgrade? Care to enlighten us?

-Kurt

squaredeye · 2006-03-02 21:18:58

Man, my thread has been utterly abductified. :)

M

jameslomax · 2006-03-02 21:54:49

I use bas_image for single image posts, Mary’s img_popper for multiple image handling, and aba_image_import for multiple image upload. I think the functions of those 3 plugins would be a good basis for improving the default txp image handling, and ideally would be integrated in some form into the txp code. However, there’s one function which is not currently covered, its very important, and Worpress already has it: single image upload/handling from within or on the same admin page as the post you are making. Its very important – its very clumsy, if you have to open new browser windows or navigate around txp for such a simple function. We need a nice plug in like Mary’s or Bastians, but we also need a more efficient upload facility. In this respect, Wordpress is much better. In fact I’d go further and suggest that this could be a great plug in request, taking txp forward in another evolutionary leap.

hakjoon · 2006-03-02 22:06:37

ma_smith wrote:
I talked to Patrick (Hakjoon) about incorporating images (buttons) for styles that would give an image a .left for float : left and (margin: auto for center and .right float right for upm_img_popper, and I think he may incorporate them?

What I thought of was to maybe have little image alignment pictures that when selected would insert a class you previously specified (so people can make the classes as semantic as they want). That way the end user has nice friendly visual things to click but the designer has full control over what gets spit out.

Maybe it could even be opened up to attach many images to many classes giving you all sorts of controls.

However I do not want to start throwing everything and the kitchen sink into img_popper. I think it will make it completely unwieldy. I’m hoping good requirements can be gathered and then perhaps the interface can be re-thought out to accommodate most needs.

In my opinion img_popper works pretty darn well but its already pretty loaded. I don’t want to break it by throwing everything in it without really thinking about how it will all fit together.

Oh and Matthew rocks for really getting the ball rolling on this.

Last edited by hakjoon (2006-03-02 22:07:19)

Bastian · 2006-03-02 22:08:18

Sorry, but i don’t know the word abductified, so i hope that doesnt mean: This thread is closed.

Some month ago, i started to update bas_img_selector.

I never finished it, but my plans so far:

Instead of open a new window, i planned to use AJAX and display the selector in a div on the write screen.

As you can see there are three tabs : Selector, Styler, Upload
The content of these tabs is loaded by AJAX on request.

Selector

On the left side of that tab there is the bas_img_selector.

On the right, you can managed multiple images.
On top there are thumbs of all current images, stored in the _article-image_-field.
Under the thumbs you can enlarge on thumb.

Styler

On that tab the user can choose out of differnt styles. These should be stored in forms
For example a form could include Lightbox, another one a css gallery or just float:left.

Upload

To options should be here: Upload from desktop and copy from web.

Again, i did never finished this and the work is not far advanced.

Because a lack of time, i’m not able to finish that on my own.
But i would co-operate.

squaredeye · 2006-03-02 22:37:04

Bas,
I’d be stoked to see what you and Hakjoon can do together on something like that Bas, though Mary noted in an earlier thread (forget where), that we would be advised to work on the implementation of some core functionality over trying to come up with the ultimate plugin? Bas, would you be willing to upload your thoughts to the WIKI? Or send me an email with screenshots from all of the tabs and a thorough explanation?

James Lomax,
Of course upload and posting are just one part of this picture, and yes I agree uploading should be possible via the “write” tab. Help us think of solutions and problems:) For instance: If you have upload on the write tab, should you also have multiple image upload from the write tab? If so, should you have options for styling all of the images differently? Can you see how it starts to get bloated? We need to see some ideas in action. Why don’t you submit a Wordpress section to the WIKI article ? Or take the screenshots and do a write up and email me with it?

I’d personally like to see some work on DavidM’s suggestion of using the txp:image tags the way we currently use the txp:article tags sounded fantastic to me. I’d really like to see that one worked out from a technical point of view and/or have some “troubleshooting” type of folks start figuring out how that might be implemented if it proved worthy of the core?

I don’t know what’s best for the Dev team though? To see a plugin that works impecably and to implement it into the core, or to see a welll thought out schema with diagrams and illustrations and such and then they can work out the coding? Anyone care to weigh in on that? Mary?

Hakjoon, I utterly agree with you about img_popper. Too unwieldy and it’s a tank. Oh and thanks for the warm-fuzzy, does this mean I owe you one less beer :P

squaredeye · 2006-03-02 22:41:46

PS.
One of the things that Alexandra posted in the WIKI was about ModX’s use of folders to help manage images better. Anyone want to think up a scheme around this? What happens if someone has a site with 1000 images? Sounds cuckoo, but consider something like screenspire, which has a ton of images. To navigate that amount of images in TXP currently would be ludicrous (note the reference to spaceballs

Mary · 2006-03-02 22:43:50

Not a plugin. For one thing, there really is a limitation with what plugins can do, so to convert a plugin takes more work than to build-in the functionality from scratch. Diagrams, illustrations, specific use-cases (who’d want it? photo bloggers? other bloggers? business/portfolio sites? what’s the current limitation(s)? and so on).

squaredeye · 2006-03-02 22:59:52

Mary,
Great. Exactly what I wanted to know. That’s where I will (personally) focus.
As a forum administrator, how do you recommend to get the community to weigh in on those three topics in a clean and deliberate way?

I hope to point people toward the WIKI, but not that many people are getting signed up in order to edit.

Is it worth it (considered good practice?) to start a new organized thread? Along these lines:

———————————————————————————————————

TXP Image Limitations / uses / and YOUR solutons

(clear set of instructions) Please use this thread in the following manner:

I use photos in my

personal blog in the following manner
client sites in the following manner
to create image galleries on this kind of site

These are what I think are limitations in the current TXP system of handling/posting images

limitation one
limitation two
limitation three

I would like to see the following functionality

upload from write tab (detailed explanation) with graphic if possible?
implimentation of the kind of functionality found in Mary’s/Hakjoon’s img_popper plugin
- with an additional place to set my cup (cupholder) :)

I would like to help think through the implications of such functionality in this way

cheerleading squad
round of drinks for people who give a crap

—————————————————————————————————

Whattya think? Other suggestion? Best approach?

Matthew

Last edited by ma_smith (2006-03-02 23:00:39)

Mary · 2006-03-02 23:18:06

I would say hash it out in the forum, but as discussion goes along add to the wiki about it. (Particularly if say some kind of stalemate gets reached over one thing or another. Then you could state there a summary on the difference of opinion and the reasons involved, then move on to another aspect rather than have the conversation cease.)

A straight feature list as part of the discussion is only really helpful if you can state the reason(s) for wanting x, y or z; don’t anyone assume it’s obvious. Try and look beyond what you personally would look for; imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes.

What you guys have already been doing is good. You can point out other software, but in context: “Here’s what ___ does, and this is why I love/hate it”.

I think it best to not start another thread, then we end up with split efforts. You can always have a forum’s moderator or any admin rename the thread. A situation where I can see starting a new thread would be one where the conversation gets severely hijacked (not only does PunBB not have the ability to split topics, it’s rarely able to be done in a clean and non-confusing way). At that point start a new thread, then “report” the original one so someone can move it to the Dead Letter Office.

neutrino · 2006-03-03 00:34:23

> ma_smith wrote:

Man, my thread has been utterly abductified. :)

Sorry Matt. ;(

As a forum administrator, how do you recommend to get the community to weigh in on those three topics in a clean and deliberate way?

I hope it (the forum) will have polls.

Last edited by neutrino (2006-03-04 23:03:02)

hakjoon · 2006-03-03 02:41:47

Bastian,

That looks awesome. I started playing with tweaking img_popper in a similar fashion. Using tabs to separate the functionality some. I’d love to co-operate on something if you want.

I really want to try to flesh out the upm_image tags though. I think they fill a huge void in image manipulation and if anything be done as a plugin and then rolled easily into the core they would be it. Also I think if they are separate from img_popper other plugins might take advantage of them instead of us always re-inventing the wheel.

Bastian · 2006-03-03 02:58:01

hakjoon,

>I’d love to co-operate on something if you want.
Yes, i will. In good times and in bad times :)

I would suggest:
I merge my work to an plugin, that handles that AJAX-Tab loading and then we see how to go on.

Edit: typo, english don’t likes me

Last edited by Bastian (2006-03-03 02:59:56)

squaredeye · 2006-03-03 05:36:15

I hereby announce the marriage of Hakjoon and Bastian who henceforth shall develop plugins for better or worse, through thick and thin, whether ill or well… Now you may kiss, well the plugin!

Bastian, Thanks for the addition to the WIKI.

Neutrino, how does one get a poll going?

Mary, if you are still following this, would you be willing to rename the entry to this post? I think it would best be called : TXP Image Limitations / uses / and YOUR solutions? Any objections, suggestions?

I will edit the main post to include the suggested structure. If those of you who are following this now are willing to begin following the gist of those instructions, I think we may get somewhere. I will be updating our findings/thoughts on the WIKI for further documentation and hopefully, at some point, implementation.

Hakjoon, does this sound kosher to you?

Thanks all,

Matthew

Mary · 2006-03-03 09:55:15

The topic has been renamed, and also moved to a more appropriate location.

Last edited by Mary (2006-03-03 09:55:28)

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

#16 2006-03-02 21:11:41

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#17 2006-03-02 21:18:58

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#18 2006-03-02 21:54:49

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#19 2006-03-02 22:06:37

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#20 2006-03-02 22:08:18

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#21 2006-03-02 22:37:04

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#22 2006-03-02 22:41:46

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#23 2006-03-02 22:43:50

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#24 2006-03-02 22:59:52

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#25 2006-03-02 23:18:06

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#26 2006-03-03 00:34:23

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#27 2006-03-03 02:41:47

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#28 2006-03-03 02:58:01

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#29 2006-03-03 05:36:15

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

#30 2006-03-03 09:55:15

Re: Improving TXP Image Management

Board footer