easier access to modules, themes and widgets
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Nicolaas Thiemen Francken - Sunny Side Up
Jul 26, 2009, 11:20:37 PM7/26/09
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Hi SSers
During a recent meeting of the WA Chapter of SSers, it was muttered that access to modules, themes and widgets on www.silverstripe.org could be improved. I am putting this to this group to test the idea and offer my help in making it better.
As far as I know, you can only view these ten at the time. This makes it slow to "browse". With browsing I mean - check item A, view all the other ones to see if there is anything better, view Z, compare A with Z, go through K-Q to find out what other solutions there are, etc.... The problem is that all of this has to be achieved by traversing a myriad of index pages.
I reckon it would be nice to have:
1. a simple list of names (+links) with A - Z modules/themes/widgets
2. a previous and next button on each modules/themes/widgets
3. ability to choose the number of items per page (e.g. 10/50/100) - if that would not blow the bandwidth.
After that, it might also be an idea to add a function for collecting favourites and saving them under your user account.
Some may also like the idea of merging of supported and non-supported modules, identifying one or the other with a nice bright sticker or so.
I would be more than happy to help with the source code.
Nicolaas
Cam Spiers
Jul 26, 2009, 11:28:34 PM7/26/09
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I say awesome! Your suggestions would help a lot. I'm not sure if I would use the favourites functionality though.
Regards,
Cam
Regards,
Cam
Will Rossiter
Jul 26, 2009, 11:44:22 PM7/26/09
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A couple more ideas that I think would work quite well and would love to hear peoples feedback on:
* Recently Updated Modules / New Modules lists on the main modules page (and widgets / themes etc). Often I use this on other websites to see what other people are using or recent development that is happening etc.
* Some nicer way of relating modules to other modules. We now have a situation with things like Spam Protection where Mollom and Recaptcha sit ontop of the spam protection module so a really clear way of seeing this relationship I think would be handy. Categories or Tag support might make this work better.
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Skype: will.rossi
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Wellington, New Zealand
Pete Bacon Darwin
Jul 27, 2009, 3:47:50 AM7/27/09
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I would take a look at these sites for inspiration: http://drupalmodules.com/ (great functionality but a bit messy) and http://djangoplugables.com/ (good looks but less functionality). If there is an open api to access the info about the Silverstripe modules then it might be best to abstract the module search tool out into a community website that can also aggregate modules not hosted by the Silverstripe team.
Pete
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11:07:00
DesignCity
Jul 28, 2009, 11:59:19 PM7/28/09
to SilverStripe Development
Good first meeting Nicolaas!
I certainly agree with Nicholaas' sentiments here. Looking for the
module you want or even browsing is cumbersome with multiple pages and
a rather unstructured layout. I'd like to see a more compact, succinct
and scannable layout for modules - currently it's rather impossible to
scan the page without having to dart about and read half of the text.
I'd be more than happy to help with the front-end design as needed.
Re: Sub-modules
You almost want the Spam Protection modules to be sitting underneath
(visually and structurally) Spam Protection itself - they don't just
require the SP module, they are literally extensions of this module
(as opposed to say the way ImageGallery relies on the functionality of
DataObjectManager). This would also group related extensions, so you
would see all the options for spam protection in one place, without
having to scroll through 5 pages. Perhaps we need to be able to set
the 'Parent' module or something, which would allow for distinct
visual styling?
Re: Supported/Unsupported
I never really understood the difference between these. Some
'supported' modules aren't updated as often updated or as stable as
some of the 'unsupported' ones. Perhaps it would be more useful to
know when the last major release of the module was - that way you will
instantly know that, for example, the Gallery module is older than
ImageGallery, without these two seemingly interchangeable modules
being in separate sections. As Nicolaas suggests, badges like new,
updated etc would help distinguish between modules that are receiving
updates and those that aren't. We're all intelligent enough to see the
difference I think.
Re: Relating modules
It seems we have enough modules to warrant a list of sections -
perhaps this is accomplished with a limited set of 'tags' that can be
applied to a module so that the modules can be viewed by 'sections',
if you will. The functionality of Drupal Modules website suggested by
Pete Bacon Darwin seems maybe overkill given the relatively low number
of modules we currently have available? It would be great, but I don't
think the value/development time ratio is high.
</rant>
M :)
On Jul 27, 11:20 am, Nicolaas Thiemen Francken - Sunny Side Up
I certainly agree with Nicholaas' sentiments here. Looking for the
module you want or even browsing is cumbersome with multiple pages and
a rather unstructured layout. I'd like to see a more compact, succinct
and scannable layout for modules - currently it's rather impossible to
scan the page without having to dart about and read half of the text.
I'd be more than happy to help with the front-end design as needed.
Re: Sub-modules
You almost want the Spam Protection modules to be sitting underneath
(visually and structurally) Spam Protection itself - they don't just
require the SP module, they are literally extensions of this module
(as opposed to say the way ImageGallery relies on the functionality of
DataObjectManager). This would also group related extensions, so you
would see all the options for spam protection in one place, without
having to scroll through 5 pages. Perhaps we need to be able to set
the 'Parent' module or something, which would allow for distinct
visual styling?
Re: Supported/Unsupported
I never really understood the difference between these. Some
'supported' modules aren't updated as often updated or as stable as
some of the 'unsupported' ones. Perhaps it would be more useful to
know when the last major release of the module was - that way you will
instantly know that, for example, the Gallery module is older than
ImageGallery, without these two seemingly interchangeable modules
being in separate sections. As Nicolaas suggests, badges like new,
updated etc would help distinguish between modules that are receiving
updates and those that aren't. We're all intelligent enough to see the
difference I think.
Re: Relating modules
It seems we have enough modules to warrant a list of sections -
perhaps this is accomplished with a limited set of 'tags' that can be
applied to a module so that the modules can be viewed by 'sections',
if you will. The functionality of Drupal Modules website suggested by
Pete Bacon Darwin seems maybe overkill given the relatively low number
of modules we currently have available? It would be great, but I don't
think the value/development time ratio is high.
</rant>
M :)
On Jul 27, 11:20 am, Nicolaas Thiemen Francken - Sunny Side Up
<nfranc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi SSers
> During a recent meeting of the WA Chapter of SSers, it was muttered that
> access to modules, themes and widgets onwww.silverstripe.orgcould be
> Hi SSers
> During a recent meeting of the WA Chapter of SSers, it was muttered that
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