Could we have the admin tool automatically write the .htaccess files? There's a fix for flickering images on hovering elements in PC IE that could go in there as well:
We could, as long as we are sure that no one has any rules already in there. Not sure we could do it reliably when someone is already using .htaccess rules, since ordering can be important. For instance, my htaccess is about 70 or 80 lines long.
Along these lines, though, I would like to see the system handle some of these things itself, at least through config options that then runs pre-defined snippets. For instance, why must we tell new users that they need to include tags such as GetKeywords and GetDescription in their templates?
Seems like we could simplify a lot of things for beginners if we had some predefined tags for templates:
{{Header}}
{{Menu}}
{{Leftside}}
{{Rightside}}
{{Content}}
{{Footer}}
The {{Header}} one could include the [[GetKeywords]], [[GetDescription]], [[DoBaserefFix]], etc.
The {{Leftside}}/{{Rightside}} could be placeholders for the concept that you and I discussed the other day, Ryan.
Use of these would be completely optional but would supported "out of the box", so to speak, so you could have a fully functional site with a template that just looked like:
<html>
<head>{{Header}}</head>
<body>
{{Menu}}{{Content}}
</body>
</html>
I have several more thoughts on this-- for instance, we really need a stock CSS template that ships along with a big selection of CSS stylesheets that can be downloaded and installed without ever needing to see the template (ala Wordpress). Using something like the above + the placeholders, a newbie could customize their site by just checking some boxes in the site config.
Basically, I would really like to include a means to harness the power and completely hide it from the end user. Someone who knows what they are doing can do anything they like but the clueless can do everything they can imagine, too, only the system will grow with them.
Does that make any sense? If you are interested in discussing this further, let me know-- I've spent the last three years working with over 5,000 church customers (generally computer clueless volunteers), so I definitely have some experience and thoughts on how to simplify things.
On the otherhand, maybe we only want to target developers and leave it up to someone else to make a version/mod/addon that knocks things down a couple of notches on the scary tech chart?
(Also: sorry for bringing this so far off topic.)
MODX Staff
MODX Staff
