Revolution manager layout

Hi all,

Ok can I just say before you read the below I love Modx

Right now the rant

I discovered Modx about 2 years ago and have been more than happy with it for a few reasons:
1: really easy to skin
2: loads of great addons that make websites easy to build
3: Easy to train users on to update there own website
4: it’s free.

I have been battling for the last 12 months to keep my company using Modx and the only reason I have been able to do this is because the simplicity of the manager area ( they actually think it’s confusing but when I spend 30 mins with a client they can easily update their own sites ).

My problem going forward is that I have downloaded the latest version of revolution and I actually find it a lot more confusing than the current version as everything is where the doc tree used to be and feel that this may mean I can’t fight the modx corner any more.

Is there any chance that revolution manager could have a choice of manager layouts ( IE: classic and New ) so that I can carry on fighting the Modx corner and continue to develop in the CMS I love ??

Cheers

Paul

paulp:

Some people like the new manager, some people don’t, but the good news is you can actually create any manager you want for Revolution, because all of the processors used by the ExtJS-based manager that will come with the core can be called from any Context via Snippets, Plugins, or even stand-alone PHP scripts. This means I can create a Context and build a manager interface just as I would a front-end UI in MODx, or even using plain PHP scripts by overriding the request handler class for the Context. It also means we can package up these custom manager applications we create and distribute and install them easily. As a proof of concept and example for other would-be administration interface designers, I’m working on converting the existing Evolution manager UI into an alternative Revolution manager context that will be available for download and easy installation through Extras. Hopefully I can get this done before final release of 2.0.0, get others interested in contributing their own manager applications, and breathe a little faith back into your bones.

BTW, having access to Resources, Elements, and Files from the left tree is an incredible boon to productivity once you get used to having it there.

I can pretty much guarantee that your users will *love* having the elements and files in the tree within an hour of using the new Manager and that it will also save you training time. Everything you want to edit on a regular basis is in the same part of the Manager. Users who only edit resources will never change tabs so the tree will look like it always has to them. User’s who need to edit chunks templates TVs and snippets just need to switch to the other tab, which is so much quicker and easier than the old method that it’s hard to see why they would object.

Just my $.02.

I would just like to state:

Drag/drop - reorder pages in the tree. Or drag/drop Elements straight into any field. Watch the Visual Snippet Builder do its magic.

You’ll never go back.

Isn’t there a screencast for that around somewhere? I couldn’t locate it.

Thanks for replying all,

I’m working on converting the existing Evolution manager UI into an alternative Revolution manager context that will be available for download and easy installation through Extras. Hopefully I can get this done before final release of 2.0.0, get others interested in contributing their own manager applications, and breathe a little faith back into your bones.

That sounds fantastic and just what I’m looking for, and the fact I can create my own is even better although I don’t actually think I can improve the layout as it is.

Drag/drop - reorder pages in the tree. Or drag/drop Elements straight into any field. Watch the Visual Snippet Builder do its magic.

Maybe maybe not lol, for me then yes that may be great but for clients I like to keep it as simple as possible as it saves me time having to fix things

Everything you want to edit on a regular basis is in the same part of the Manager. Users who only edit resources will never change tabs so the tree will look like it always has to them. User’s who need to edit chunks templates TVs and snippets just need to switch to the other tab,

Is that not the way it is now apart from it being tabbed across the top of the navigation ??

Also I like the way when viewing template variables, snippets, plugins etc you can see the description of each easily, with the new layout you have to hover over each one to see a description.

As I say I’m not slating Modx at all, it’s the best platform I have had the pleasure of developing with and now OpenGeek has said he is converting the existing Evolution manager UI into an alternative Revolution manager context that will be available for download and easy installation through Extras I am more than happy and really excited about the new release.

I have a question regarding Manager context.

If someone develop one manager’s layout without ExtJS, what will happen to 3rd parties that still use it.
For example Quip use ExtJS for the backend component.
Plus, Quip refer to the manager context via ’mgr’, so i suppose any 3rd parties will too.

So outside of the ’mgr’ context, most of third party plugins will need their own specific interface?

More to that, i’ve taken a look a the Manager markup and page so i can customize the default context ’mgr’.

The css refer to a single line which point to a directory in the manager, but we can’t really change the CSS’s direction for ExtJS CSS:



It has caused me issue, because i wanted to change the xtheme-gray-extend.css to ext-notheme.css

I created a directory in Manager, put all my files inside it and change what needed to be change.

But when i wanted to go back to default theme, it stays with the ext-notheme.css, even when i refreshed the page, emptied the cache of both browser and MODx, even when i reinstalled Revolution’s.

Plus, i wanted to play with the markup of the navbar a little. But processors are outside the template path and not modifiable.
It’s not a serious issue, i just wanted to try to simplify the html and avoid html errors of the navbar.

From what i understand now, i will have to create my own context if i want modify those lines? But even if that solves the problem with ExtJS and 3rd party plugin, it does not solve the fact that most official plugins will refer to ’mgr’ context?

I might have not been clear with my last reply so i’ll try to make it more brief and consice with this one :p

If i create a new Manager context, what will happen with all the official plugins?
Is there a way/hook to use them with the custom one?

Quote from: lossendae at Oct 24, 2009, 02:04 PM

If someone develop one manager’s layout without ExtJS, what will happen to 3rd parties that still use it.
For example Quip use ExtJS for the backend component.
Plus, Quip refer to the manager context via ’mgr’, so i suppose any 3rd parties will too.
So outside of the ’mgr’ context, most of third party plugins will need their own specific interface?

Yes, that is true; there’s no real way for a 3PC to forsee what the UI is for an unknown custom manager interface.

More to that, i’ve taken a look a the Manager markup and page so i can customize the default context ’mgr’.
The css refer to a single line which point to a directory in the manager, but we can’t really change the CSS’s direction for ExtJS CSS:

<!-- Not modifiable Path -->
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="{$_config.manager_url}assets/ext3/resources/css/ext-all.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="{$_config.manager_url}assets/ext3/resources/css/xtheme-gray-extend.css" />

<!-- Path to manager template -->
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="{$_config.manager_url}templates/{$_config.manager_theme}/css/index.css" />

It has caused me issue, because i wanted to change the xtheme-gray-extend.css to ext-notheme.css
I created a directory in Manager, put all my files inside it and change what needed to be change.
But when i wanted to go back to default theme, it stays with the ext-notheme.css, even when i refreshed the page, emptied the cache of both browser and MODx, even when i reinstalled Revolution’s.

This would be a good JIRA ticket.

Plus, i wanted to play with the markup of the navbar a little. But processors are outside the template path and not modifiable.
It’s not a serious issue, i just wanted to try to simplify the html and avoid html errors of the navbar.

Again, a good JIRA issue.

From what i understand now, i will have to create my own context if i want modify those lines? But even if that solves the problem with ExtJS and 3rd party plugin, it does not solve the fact that most official plugins will refer to ’mgr’ context?

Correct, at least for now.

Thanks for the clarifications.

As soon as i’ve the time to test again custom manager theme on beta-4 i’ll report any issue to Jira.