Create here [in focus]

To further expand a point I touched on at http://modxcms.com/forums/index.php/topic,29591.msg194597.html#msg194597 please let me introduce another topic.

In modx I’ve noticed an interesting oddity, when creating a new documents I have to follow site > create new doc > Edit page - find template select - select template, while at first this isn’t a big issue it could be greatly improved. Thinking about how this flows from a user prospective it seems backward for me to first create a doc and then need to select the doc type (template).

I would like to offer an alternative, if we were to have an additional top menu tab called ’create new’ we could list all document (templates) types within the pop down menu, this would speed up content entry. This could still further me expanded by adding an additional option within the template admin, if we were (as an option) able to select which templates to be created under selected parent directories this would mean that if a user selects to create ’Doc A’ it automatically gets assigned and placed within ’Folder A’.

Within the tree menu, the pop up menu could add an additional ’create here’ menu, with the list of available template types under the sub menu.

I have noticed this pattern with a number of CMS and applications and it works very well, as users are taken to the document they wish to create rather than having to first visit an edit page.

MODx by default will inherit the template automatically of the parent documents. You can also use a plugin to specify the template to be used based on a TV value of a parent document. With this in mind, you can automate the template selection process completely by structuring your templates appropriately and skipping the template choice entirely. In fact you can use ManagerManager to hide the Template selection field entirely, bypassing that entirely for day-to-day content editing chores. Granted this won’t work for some sites, but it does for most we build.

So what if you choose the wrong template the first time? You must start all over again?

Quote from: modx at Jan 13, 2009, 04:08 AM

In modx I’ve noticed an interesting oddity, when creating a new documents I have to follow site > create new doc > Edit page - find template select - select template, while at first this isn’t a big issue it could be greatly improved. Thinking about how this flows from a user prospective it seems backward for me to first create a doc and then need to select the doc type (template).

You can also right-click on a tree node and create a resource there.

I would like to offer an alternative, if we were to have an additional top menu tab called ’create new’ we could list all document (templates) types within the pop down menu, this would speed up content entry. This could still further me expanded by adding an additional option within the template admin, if we were (as an option) able to select which templates to be created under selected parent directories this would mean that if a user selects to create ’Doc A’ it automatically gets assigned and placed within ’Folder A’.

No - if you need to change the template on the fly, this creates lots of procedural problems. The cons far outweigh the pro of not having to click the template dropdown - which is a small inconvience, if an inconvienence at all.

I agree with OpenGeek - you would have to start over if you wanted a different choice. This is not optimal.

I can see ModxPowered’s point, though. From a naive user’s point of view it’s a lot more comfortable process to say, "I want to create a news article" than to say "I want to create a generic resource and assign the ’news article’ template to it."

I wonder if there’s a compromise where we could add a main menu item "Create" that would drop down a list of template names (which could be named to make it easy for the user to select what they want). Clicking on one of them would take the user to the document edit screen with the appropriate template already set.

That shouldn’t interfere with the current process in any way, since the template selection drop-down would still be there and the current way’s of creating a new resource would still work.

So what if you choose the wrong template the first time? You must start all over again?

The template selection could always remain, but I think we’d quickly find that selecting to create the correct template an intuitive process.

In modx I’ve noticed an interesting oddity, when creating a new documents I have to follow site > create new doc > Edit page - find template select - select template, while at first this isn’t a big issue it could be greatly improved. Thinking about how this flows from a user prospective it seems backward for me to first create a doc and then need to select the doc type (template).

You can also right-click on a tree node and create a resource there.

This works really nice, it would be even better if the template options were also listed as a sub menu.

No - if you need to change the template on the fly, this creates lots of procedural problems. The cons far outweigh the pro of not having to click the template dropdown - which is a small inconvience, if an inconvienence at all.

I see, so it would course additional back end issues, understood



I offer the above idea, being new to modx I’m sure that I will quickily become accustomed to new ways of working but having experienced the above steps in eZ Publish I found it very simple and effective. One of the few good points in the eZ Publish admin.

If it helps I’d happily install a demo backend admin for eZ Publish, it seems that eZ Systems don’t have any online at current. Additional screen shots can be seen at http://www.vzt.no/index.php/vzt_eng/ez_publish/funksjonalitet_i_ez_publish if its of interest.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_i5wHNRhzDM

I think it’s a non-issue completely if you have a site with structured content and it’s set up properly. Let’s say you have the following structure:

Home
|
News—Lots of press releases here
|
Articles—Lots of articles here
|
Products—Pages for your 3 products here
|
Contact

If the web developer spends less than an hour setting it up, any page you create under the News, Article or Products section would have the right template automatically. Furthermore, a site developer can add buttons to the welcome page by customizing the welcome.html template that creates a new document under those respective parent docs, and label them "New Press Release", or Article or Product. Same outcome and doable today, and you bypass the entire step of having to choose a template/document type at all.

interesting, this gets us part way.

however what would I do, if for example I have a developer client who has many developments so the site structure follows:

Home (home template)
-- Find a property (homes folder template)
---Example Development (development template)
----Plot page (plot template)

I would only like ’plots’ to be created under ’development’ pages, and ’development’ pages only within the ’homes folder page’.

Install the Inherit Selected Template plugin that allows you to specify which template is used under each container doc based on the value of a TV.