r1293: write tab, markup hooks

Mary · 2006-04-16 03:23:31

http://dev.textpattern.com/changeset/1293

The three “columns” of the page now have ids (from left to right): #article-col-1, #article-main, #article-col-2 (was named “articleside”).

The three textareas also now have ids: #body, #excerpt, and #keywords.

Armed with the new ids, I moved the inline styles for these elements into the stylesheet where they belong.

Check that your admin plugins for the write tab still work, please report any issues.

Last edited by Mary (2006-04-18 07:33:40)

Skubidu · 2006-04-16 10:33:41

Hi Mary!

I’ve got two questions:

First: Is there a chance to get rid of these “layout tables” that are used for the three column layout in the admin area?
Second (it’s a little bit off topic): Is there a chance to reorganize the write tab? I’m not talking about the face lift – the look and feel (the old tabs on top etc.) can stay the same. I’m thinking of the organisation and usability of the things in the left column (article image, custom fields) that really are hidding or things keywords (are they used by someone?!). Is there a better position for “Recent Articles” – the layout always “jumps” around if I click this link because my article titles are wider than the column…

Are there any plans?

Nils

Mary · 2006-04-16 20:57:45

Plans? Yes and no, nothing definitive (which means ideas and input are still wanted).

The above may happen (to greater or lesser extent), but definitely not in 4.0, maybe not even in 4.1 (it really depends). Things are being generally thought about/discussed/experimented with (sometimes based upon what’s discussed at the forum, other times on own initiative), but it could constitute large/significant changes, which requires great care, of course.

Skubidu · 2006-04-17 07:54:48

For a short moment, I was thinking about opening a new thread. Please forgive me, that I did not :o)

Some more thoughts on that:
I think there are some good reasons to change the html of the backend away from a table layout. Table layouts are complex, not to maintain easily and so it’s not that easy to change or add something for plugin developers. I remember that there were divided opinions concerning the admin side face lift (whether to keep the classic tab style or not) so I’ve got the following proposition:

First step: (I think we can start with that now)

Let’s create a tableless backend design that looks like the classic interface we all know.
Let’s move all inline styles into classes and id in the external CSS file.
Let’s give the user the posibility to switch the admin CSS (this would give us the possibility to create a new admin style for later versions and give the user the possibility to revert back to the classic admin theme)

Second step: (for later versions – TXP 4.1+)

Let’s create a new and more modern admin style
Let’s rethink where and how things are presented on the admin side (advanced options on the write tab, custom fields, image handling etc…) and let’s change things where is seems to be helpful.

I know that a change of the html of the backend is a significant change – some admin plugins would have to be revised (img_popper, img_selector etc…). But at some point we should start with this change because it would make things easier on the long run.

Footnotes:

There are these nice functions to create tables on the admin side (startTable() , tr() …). We could introduce some new functions to create a new admin side layout. I’m not a programmer, but I think of something like this:

<?php
pagetop('test page');
echo doLayout(
	doColumn(
		'left column',
		'main column',
		'right column'
	),
'headline');
}

function doLayout($content, $headline='') {
	if($headline) {
		$headline = '<h1>'.$headline.'</h1>';
	}
	return '<div id="container">'.$headline.$content.'</div>';
}

function doColumn($left='', $main='', $right='') {
// standard css settings
	$width_main = "650px";
	$margin_h1 = "0px";
	$margin_main = '0 0 0 0';

// columns and css
	if($left) {
		$left = '<div class="column-left">'.$left.'</div>';
		$margin_h1 = "240px";
	}
	if($main) {
		$main = '<div class="column-main">'.$main.'</div>';
	}
	if($right) {
		$right = '<div class="column-right">'.$right.'</div>';
	}
	if($left && $right) {
		$width_main = "420px";
	}

// stylesheet
	$style = '<style>
		#container {
			width: 900px;
			position: relative;
			left: 50%;
			margin-left: -425px;
		}
		.column-left {
			width: 230px;
			margin-right: 10px;
			float: left;
		}
		.column-right {
			width: 230px;
			margin-left: 10px;
			float: left;
		}
		.column-main {
			width: '.$width_main.';
			float: left;
			margin: '.$margin_main.';
		}
		#container h1 {
			margin-left: '.$margin_h1.';
		}
	</style>';

// return column layout
	return $style.$left.$main.$right;
}

?>

Just some thoughts…
Nils

Last edited by Skubidu (2006-04-17 09:47:11)

alexandra · 2006-04-17 09:25:04

I second Skubidus motion. If TXP shall stay a first class product we should get away from tables and update & revamp its admin interface.

zem · 2006-04-18 00:49:19

I think there are some good reasons to change the html of the backend away from a table layout.

Not gonna happen in 4.0.x.

By all means, submit patches for 4.1 (crockery).

The Testing forum is for 4.0.x only.

Last edited by zem (2006-04-18 00:50:03)

phiw13 · 2006-04-18 02:24:54

While I understand perfectly that a serious revamp of the interface is out for 4.0.x (and have no problems with this), there are some small things that can be changed/improved. There is lots of styling code hard coded in the php files. Most of this could be moved to the stylesheet.

Case in point (and extending Mary’s first post here), yesterday, I submitted a patch to remove the inline styling, and append a class for the textareas under the Presentation > Pages and Presentation > Forms tabs.

This has two benefits:
1. no inline styling.
2. makes it more easy to customize for people who need it

I can’t use the TXP interface at its default font-sizes (11px/10px), way to small for me. (And I’m not alone in that). But setting a larger font-size (easy to do) has one side effect: those textareas become much smaller (as in number of characters per line). Having the size set in the stylesheet makes it easier to manage/customize.

I’ll submit another patch soon for another display/accessibility issue under the Write tab, related to the two checkboxes under ‘comments’ (on/of), which only display well in English, at small font-sizes (patch to come: add a few line breaks).
See this screenshot, TXP in French. Font-size is 12px on that screenshot, still too small for me, but that is the defaut TXP stylesheet with my minimum font-size set in my browser.

Another area that could be improved: the Write tab has a tabindex specified for the three input/textarea boxes in the center column. A tabindex could be added to the submit button (I haven’t looked at the code for this yet).
I’m not a big fan of those tabindexes myself, and removed them for my own use, but I can see the point of them being there.

One more little thing that could be improved (but is almost certainly more work). Under the Write tab, the < label > is used. Good. Unfortunately, it is of no help at all for people using Internet Exploder Windows (and IE 7 has the same bug, so far) – not that I care, I’m not a IE user, but one has to live with that reality…:-). That browser requires the use of the for="" attribute and associated ID on the form control.
(test it out).

There are possibly more little things like that, things that do not require a major revamp but would improve the usability of the interface.

Philippe

Last edited by phiw13 (2006-04-18 02:26:09)

Skubidu · 2006-04-18 06:42:55

zem schrieb:

By all means, submit patches for 4.1 (crockery).

Okay, I’ll try to organize that. Anybody likes to help with it?

jamiew · 2006-06-14 15:36:59

There should really be constants plugin developers can use to access the ID’s of the admin interface, or at least a general statement that they’re Not Going to Change Ever. I’ve had to go into many a plugin and s/articleside/article-col-2/g, and with any revamp of the admin interface (I’m working on one myself) it’d be nice to know that a plugin will load something somewhere.

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#1 2006-04-16 03:23:31

r1293: write tab, markup hooks

#2 2006-04-16 10:33:41

Re: r1293: write tab, markup hooks

#3 2006-04-16 20:57:45

Re: r1293: write tab, markup hooks

#4 2006-04-17 07:54:48

Re: r1293: write tab, markup hooks

#5 2006-04-17 09:25:04

Re: r1293: write tab, markup hooks

#6 2006-04-18 00:49:19

Re: r1293: write tab, markup hooks

#7 2006-04-18 02:24:54

Re: r1293: write tab, markup hooks

#8 2006-04-18 06:42:55

Re: r1293: write tab, markup hooks

#9 2006-06-14 15:36:59

Re: r1293: write tab, markup hooks

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