Greg's got it and I'd also point out that panels also provide some additional functionality that may cut down on the number of blocks that you have:
* You can add an individual piece of content (node) to a panel without having to make a block out of it. * You can rename (retitle) an existing block. (e.g. random image) easily with a panel.
Basically if I wanted blocks to appear across the the site, or be configurable by the user (e.g. hidden unless user says so) I'd do them in themes.
If I wanted to make an entry or home page that had some blocks on it that didn't appear on other pages on the site, I'd use panels.
Dave
-----Original Message----- From: support-bounces@drupal.org [mailto:support-bounces@drupal.org] On Behalf Of Greg Holsclaw Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 11:55 AM To: support@drupal.org Subject: Re: [support] Layout question
The panels module lets you reuse blocks in a sense that they are not tied to a particular region, as when used from the blocks admin page. You can also then copy the panel, and adjust as needed to further the section pages that you mention.
Greg
-----Original Message----- From: support-bounces@drupal.org [mailto:support-bounces@drupal.org] On Behalf Of Bruno De Bondt Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 11:27 AM To: support@drupal.org Cc: delux256-drupal@yahoo.com Subject: Re: [support] Layout question
Hi Dave,
Yes, via a couple of ways. First I'd recommend that you examine the Panels module which can be used to place blocks on a page with a
variety
of layouts. It's probably the easiest way to get a "boxes" look that you're talking about.
Also I'd recommend you look at one of the themes that supports custom theme regions, and model your new theme after that. You can make your own regions in which you can place blocks. This way will require some knowledge of theme development and the customization of php code
within
the theme.
Is there any of the above options that you would recommend over the other?
On www.indymedia.be, I built our front page using my own regions and placing blocks in them. This works great, however leads up to a great number of blocks. This number will increase even further, because we would like this "boxes" lay-out on sections' pages as well. Would the other method (using panels.module) be more efficient? Or wouldn't this make a big difference ('cause you might need the same amount of blocks)?
Furthermore, could Drupal encounter problems when it has a great number (say +100) of blocks defined?
Thanks, -- bruno
Dave
-----Original Message----- From: support-bounces@drupal.org [mailto:support-bounces@drupal.org]
On
Behalf Of Jeff Lanzarotta Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 6:58 AM To: Drupal Support Subject: [support] Layout question
Hello,
At the top of the Drupal site there are several colored boxes that are always on the top of the main page. I would like to implement several boxes like this on my site, but the contents of these boxes would be driven off separate modules which pull their data from various
database
tables.
Is this possible?
Thanks.
-Jeff
-Jeff