[wiki] Lists / conditionals page

Bloke · 2009-04-14 22:11:00

Els and I have drafted the long-overdue Lists and Conditionals page in the Tag Basics section. But I think the title is a tad misleading. We’ve sort of interpreted it in the way that we think makes sense to newish visitors who have clicked the Tag Basics link from the textpattern.net front page, and have read the Self closing vs container tags part. Can anyone with admin rights please come up with a better title, or suggest a way the content can be altered to reflect what the Title was originally intended?!

Does the article hit the mark? Is it too simplistic? Too complicated? Right message? I couldn’t find any page that delved into the lists/conditionals thing in any great detail elsewhere (though it probably exists) so it seemed fitting to dedicate a page to it. Dunno now.

I’ve also merged Escaping tag attributes into Parsing tag attributes because the two were very similar topics and splitting them just seemed a tad arbitrary. Unless someone can think of a better way of explaining it or breaking it up into more chewable chunks, as far as I’m concerned the ‘escaping’ page can be deleted.

EDIT: Are there any more “tags basics” concepts that are missing that we could add a page about?

Last edited by Bloke (2009-04-14 22:12:14)

masa · 2009-04-14 23:03:53

Bloke wrote:

Els and I have drafted the long-overdue Lists and Conditionals page in the Tag Basics section.

I’m probably not able to provide unclouded feedback here as I’ve been using Textpattern for too long – although I’m nowhere near your or Els’ level – but it certainly is well written.

I was wondering though if there is like a higher-level chapter e.g. Creating Lists that your article lives under?
Just thinking that there are many different items users might want to create listings of: sections, categories, articles, images etc.
Since conditionals are almost always helpful under those circumstances, the article should be referenced from there, too.

The title could be Taking Advantage of Conditionals When Creating Lists

By the way, the work done on Textbook is excellent!

Bloke · 2009-04-14 23:24:48

masa wrote:

there are many different items users might want to create listings of: sections, categories, articles, images etc.

True. I only chose category because it, ummm, was kind of the first thing that came into my head!

I was hoping to get across the fact that all lists are the same underlying process:

detect the type of list you want to make using a conditional
make the list with the article tag
use a form or container to display the contents

But perhaps the article doesn’t go far enough or isn’t explivit enough? Maybe there is a need for one of each kind of list. Or maybe at least one more example: perhaps adding another nested conditional? Didn’t want to scare people off :-)

It seems there’s probably a balancing act between not enough info and being super-explicit to write one article per list type. If there’s need for a higher level doc then I’m sure someone with suitable rights can create it. The Semantic model is rather good at explaining how things fit together. The companion Forms explained too. Perhaps there should be a “Lists explained” article in the ‘Semantics’ topic (off the front page) that would take some of the generic stuff I’ve just written and expand upon it? Then the “Lists and Conditionals” (or whatever it ends up being called) could be an extension of this, with concrete examples instead of trying to do it all in one article?

Last edited by Bloke (2009-04-14 23:26:10)

els · 2009-04-15 18:47:40

Bloke wrote:

But perhaps the article doesn’t go far enough or isn’t explivit enough?

One thing to consider (I think): Tag Basics has to end somewhere, probably where Tutorials starts? I realize that’s easier said than done, how to define the borders of basics…?

Bloke · 2009-04-16 08:59:14

Els wrote:

Tag Basics has to end somewhere, probably where Tutorials starts?

True. It’s gonna be a fine line; has it been crossed anywhere in the current ‘basics’ articles? Should some of the content be tamed or moved into a tutorial-style article? And should I learn how to correctly type ‘explicit’ before committing a post? ;-)

Last edited by Bloke (2009-04-16 08:59:31)

Destry · 2009-04-18 23:02:07

I’m very sleepy (my 15-month and 3-year olds kicked poppa’s ass tonight), and only scanned the article, but as titles go, what about: Creating Lists with Conditional Tags (?) Seems pretty direct and clear.

Also, the article has two sections, and the first is clearly identifies a specific kind of list… Displaying Category Lists. What if we changed the header for the second section to Article Navigation Lists and Their Differences. The idea being to remain consistent with the specificity of list types.

As for organization, I think the Tutorials category would be a good location for expanding on this topic (and any other topic when it’s not clear where else to do it). The Tutorials category can be sub-categorized to refine topic groupings.

Sorry I’ve been scarce. I“m preoccupied with a number of external projects, including co-coordinating France’s first conference on Content Strategy in Paris next spring, rebranding the STC France Chapter (with amazing logo help from another one of our Txp cohorts — more horn blowing on that later), and a long-due redesign of wion.com…just to name a few things in the digital side of life.

Keep up the great work.

Bloke · 2009-04-18 23:24:09

Destry wrote:

…as titles go, what about: Creating Lists with Conditional Tags

Fine by me. Just need to find someone with relevant privileges to change it, and delete the old Escaping tag attributes page. That someone evidently isn’t me, unless I’ve missed an option in the wiki interface somewhere…

What’s the official protocol for getting the attention of someone to do it (besides badgering via e-mail!)

Destry · 2009-04-19 13:34:46

I guess that someone was hakjoon, nora (recently) and myself, since all the language reps folks have been moved to a new group for such.

But the sysop group (effectively wiki front-end editors) now includes you and Els.

You can see your stack of power listed here in Special:ListGroupRights. Don’t be shy or hesitant. Nobody is looking over your shoulder. As far as I’m concerned, you guys have shown time and again your abilities to be wiki editors for the needs of this community.

Bloke · 2009-04-19 14:02:26

Destry wrote:

But the sysop group (effectively wiki front-end editors) now includes you and Els.

Brilliant, thanks. Updated. I did a quick “what links here” check on the old page and have also updated the 3 pages that linked to the old article.

I’ve also removed the Escaping page from the Tag Basics Topics list, though I’ve not actually deleted the page yet until we’re sure there’s nothing in it we’re precious about.

Thanks for allowing us to do this. Promise I’ll be careful :-)

els · 2009-04-19 16:58:12

Destry wrote:

But the sysop group (effectively wiki front-end editors) now includes you and Els.

Oh, the Power! :)

Thanks, I too will behave…

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#1 2009-04-14 22:11:00

[wiki] Lists / conditionals page

#2 2009-04-14 23:03:53

Re: [wiki] Lists / conditionals page

#3 2009-04-14 23:24:48

Re: [wiki] Lists / conditionals page

#4 2009-04-15 18:47:40

Re: [wiki] Lists / conditionals page

#5 2009-04-16 08:59:14

Re: [wiki] Lists / conditionals page

#6 2009-04-18 23:02:07

Re: [wiki] Lists / conditionals page

#7 2009-04-18 23:24:09

Re: [wiki] Lists / conditionals page

#8 2009-04-19 13:34:46

Re: [wiki] Lists / conditionals page

#9 2009-04-19 14:02:26

Re: [wiki] Lists / conditionals page

#10 2009-04-19 16:58:12

Re: [wiki] Lists / conditionals page

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