Re: Draft block administration UI spec

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Chad Kieffer [mailto:chad@...]
Sent: Monday, 29 June 2009 2:46 PM
To: Chris F-2
Cc: gallery-devel@...
Subject: Re: [Gallery-devel] Draft block administration UI spec

 

Chris, Kevin, thanks for feedback.

 

On Jun 28, 2009, at 9:04 PM, Chris F-2 wrote:

 

> If you allow a block to be displayed in multiple areas, is there a 

> way for a

> block to say "only display in sidebar if im not displayed in 

> content"? Or

> another might be display in both. If you create a module where a theme

> blocks a certain location, you may want an alternate location to be

> displayed? Would this logic be better handled in the module through 

> code or

> through the admin UI?

 

Initially, at least, I doubt that we'll allow duplicate block 

placement. I can see, however, how this might be required at some 

point. Perhaps, at some point, block duplication through the admin UI 

would be allowed. I'll defer how this is handled to Bharat and Tim.

 

======

 

So this will be handled on the admin side and not internally in the module? I guess that should be ok. I guess also if you place it twice in the admin (eg left and right side bar), then it should display as the admin has set it up that way, even if it is duplicated.

 

> Are blocks always square shaped by nature? (as in a full sized div). 

> If you

> would like to place icons directly above an image for example, would 

> you use

> a block or not? Just thinking in addition to this - maybe the 

> creation of an

> "icon" block that is displayed directly above an image that other

> modules/blocks can add their icon to the list?

 

Blocks are rectangular in shape. Blocks are not intended to be placed 

within the album or photo content region. I'm not sure what you intend 

to do here by placing icons.

 

======

 

What I was thinking here, was whether blocks are always square styled "widgets" or whether you can use them for other functionality?

 

Such as where you already have a set of icons being "view full size", "return to album", "view comments" and "view slideshow". Adding a block that contains another set of icons defined in a module that is placed in a different area.. for example 'content' just above the photo. That way I can add a block with the icons "view other sizes", 'view exif', etc.

 

Any reason why they can’t be included in the content region? I might decide to make an ‘exif’ block that will be displayed under the image. Or a ‘view comments’ block or a ‘forum url list’ block.

 

> In terms of zones/views (home, album, photo, etc). Are you able to 

> define

> custom zones? If i created a page for example that is called exif 

> which is a

> full screen representation of the exif details of an image - how 

> would i

> define a block to show on this page?

 

I'm using the term region, rather than zone. If a module or G3 core 

provides a view then yes, it would have regions. Regions are defined 

across all views, you cannot assign a region to just one view.

 

=====

 

How will these regions be defined? Will there be an admin for these if one wanted to add a new region (for example "footer2")? I assume there will be a bit of code that goes into views to define each region? What if I were to add a region that didn’t exist in one of my views?

 

> In terms of writing a block module, will there be data passed easily 

> to

> this? Eg album/photos, is there easy access to both of those bits of 

> data?

 

Not sure I understand what you mean here. Modules can provide blocks. 

What do you mean by a "block module"?

 

====

 

By this I mean simply a module that just provides a block with content in it and nothing else. Rather than a module that has a whole lot of other functionality other than blocks.

 

> I guess also in the calling of a block module, the location will be 

> passed

> through to it so it can display differently depending on location - 

> will

> this be the case?

 

No. My thinking is that blocks can be added to views, ordered within 

template regions, and that's it.

 

====

 

Reason I was thinking this, is my block might display differently in different regions. For example if it was in the right side bar I'd use a vertical list. If it was displayed in the footer I'd use a horizontal list.

 

Or would this be defined in the module itself.. that the block will only “fit” into certain size regions? (ie only side bars, or only header and footer)

 

> Also i'm guessing that for this bit a lot of the internal 

> functionality in

> g3 can be exposed as block modules to allow turning this on/off, 

> changing

> location and easy customisation by authors if the block doesnt 

> exactly suit

> their needs.

 

The template system in G3 already allows theme developers to override 

a module's default block template within the theme (http://gallery.menalto.com/node/88326#comment-311328

).

 

=====

 

For this I wasn't thinking display/html/css, more functionality and content.

 

Take for example the existing functionality on the right hand side of a photo called "photo info”. This currently displays “title”, “name” and “owner” of the active photo.

 

If this internal functionality was created as a block, I could easily take the code and modify it for my needs. I could for example create a module called “photo info 2” that displays “title”, “name”, “image size”, “image type”. I could then disable the g3 photo info block and display my own there instead.

 

Popular tags is a candidate for this, well as available rss feeds.

 

I’m thinking everything should be replaceable/movable in the side bars.

 

> Chad Kieffer wrote:

>> 

>> Hello,

>> 

>> I've posted a draft block administration UI spec on the codex and 

>> have

>> added a link to this spec in the related Trac ticket. The UI takes

>> queues from both Wordpress and Drupal block admin interfaces.

>> 

>> Feedback is welcome.

>> 

>> http://codex.gallery2.org/Gallery3:Block_Management_UX

>> 

>> thanks,

>> Chad