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Simpler Add Article Page?

Started by Chair, April 22, 2010, 05:02:43 AM

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Chair

I'd like users to be able to write their own tutorials, but not have to do it through the TP Article manager.

When they click the link that says "Submit a tutorial!" (I already have the link up) they are redirected to a page that contains the following:


  • A Title field
  • A BBC Text field (for the article), with BBC buttons at the top
  • A Submit button
  • And possibly a method of saving drafts

It is much less confusing for them... so, anyone up to do this?

ed_m2

sounds like a custom form & custom db query to me....

Chair

would it not be possible to use query strings to submit the information to each field in the normal article manager and then have it submitted? Just a quick disguise page or something?

IchBin

Sure it's possible. But what about all the other settings related to the articles? You still have to set all those settings, even if you aren't showing them to your users. If you'd rather them only see a post page like what you describe, why not just have them post the tutorials in the forum?

Freddy

I think you might be underestimating your users ?  If they can work out how to use a forum surely if they spent a little extra time, they could work out how to post an article ?

Chair

I'm only trying to neaten it up and make it look more professional... And because I'd rather have the forums a separate part of the website, for discussion only. I'm releasing the site as a commercial digital art site, and that's why I want things very particular... sorry If I'm just being a nuisance

Freddy

You are not being a nuisance at all, I was just sharing my thoughts  :)

JPDeni

Quote
would it not be possible to use query strings to submit the information to each field in the normal article manager and then have it submitted? Just a quick disguise page or something?

I don't know if it would be possible, but it would not be the best way to go. The better way would be to just submit the information directly into the database. As IchBin said, you would have to have data defaults included in your code for all of the other fields that you're not including on your form.

This would be a major project.

ianus

Greetings!

To be honest, this was the first thing that crawled into my mind after I have seen how much fields I have to mark/unmark while creating an article.

It is possible (and necessary) of course, but could lead to cluttered pages.

When I assume that all articles inside a category should have the same look and feel, than a lot of options could be ââ,¬Å"defaultââ,¬Â.

Letââ,¬â,,¢s start with the ââ,¬Å"Query Titelââ,¬Â. Iââ,¬â,,¢m not sure if it is an good idea to offer this field to the ââ,¬Å"normal authorââ,¬Â.

Next is Display. Should be the same throughout a category to look nice so a ââ,¬Å"default for this categoryââ,¬Â ââ,¬â€œ setting could be helpful.

Now the Details. Way to much to choose ââ,¬â€œ and remember.
If I want to show / donââ,¬â,,¢t show always the same details, most times (even) I have to open up an former article and look what I have un-marked.

A ââ,¬Å"Create default Article (for this category)ââ,¬Â function (after creating default settings by admin) could be very helpful.
I agree that this tend to be kind of major project, but will force workflow (imho).

ZarPrime

The subject of this topic (Simpler Add Article Page?) is not really indicative of what would be involved to accomplish what has been discussed.

I can see where an Admin option for each category to set defaults for that category would be a nice feature.  However, as you say, this would be a big feature that would take a lot of thought before it could be implimented.

IMHO, the functionality that you suggest is not something that would be a necessity for everyone using TinyPortal.  For this reason, adding this functionality to the TinyPortal core would be unnecessary for most people and would obviously mean a much larger TinyPortal.  That being said, I can see where an Advanced Article Module for TinyPortal might not be a bad idea.  A Module of this sort could replace the simpler functionality of the current Article system built into the TP core.

So what would you want this Module to accomplish?  You've already mentioned a few things that you would like to see but in order to build a Module, a lot of thought would need to be put into it.  You would first have to figure out what you want to do with articles and categories that you can't do with the current system.  Not only would the Advanced module need to do what the current system does, but be able to add addional functionality.  So, the first thing the Module would need to do is turn off the current article system and make use of it's own functions.

The advantage of a Module like this is that it could be added to TP just like any other Module.  Any Module like this should be written to take advantage of hooks within the TP core code and it must be able to be added to TP without affecting how the TP core works.  There are currently only 2 Modules that come with TP, the Downloads Manager and the TP Simple Shout.  The Review Module is another one that is available though I don't know what the current status of it is.

There would need to be quite an extensive discussion undertaken before anyone could begin to author such a module.  Everything would need to be discussed.

For instance, besides what you have mentioned, it would be nice if each category would first need to have a setting for what Membergroups could create articles in the category.  This is already available on a global basis for all categories.  For instance, if you have a membergroup called "submit bbcarticle in cat1", that group can be given the permission to "Can submit BBC articles" globally but this can not currently be limited to individual categories.  In other words, if you have 3 categories that you want to allow bbc articles to be submitted to (cat1, cat2, cat3), any member in the "submit bbcarticle in cat1" group can now submit articles in all 3 categories.  By having this as a permission setting on a per category basis, the Admin could decide that anyone in the "submit bbcarticle in cat1" group can only submit bbc articles in cat1.  Likewise, any member in the "submit bbcarticle in cat2" could be set to only allow that member to submit bbc articles to cat 2.  So, each category would have a checklist of Membergroups that could submit articles to that category.  Of course, any group could be given multiple permssions.  For instance, members in the "Global Articles" group could have permission to submit bbc articles in all 3 categories.  All of this could be decided by the Admin when each Category is created.  OK, so now this has taken care of who can write bbc articles to each category.

So, since this topic is already in the Modules Board, which is certainly the right place for it, let the discussion begin.  Only after everything has been discussed can one of our coders, or someone else, make a decision as to whether this is a project that they would like to undertake.

ZarPrime