[drupal-devel] [feature] New block to show info on page author

Tue Apr 12 23:54:11 UTC 2005

Issue status update for http://drupal.org/node/20115

 Project:      Drupal
 Version:      cvs
 Component:    user.module
 Category:     feature requests
 Priority:     normal
 Assigned to:  Anonymous
 Reported by:  nedjo
 Updated by:   Boris Mann
 Status:       patch

Dries: please do not pre-suppose your own ideas of how "most" websites
are built. Drupal blocks are going to be the primary way that
non-technical users are going to access this type of feature.

What I would suggest, is that the content of this block is also made
available through a theme call. Then, advanced users can re-use it
wherever they want.

Boris Mann

Previous comments:
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April 6, 2005 - 21:34 : nedjo

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/user_content_author_block.patch (2.62 KB)

It would be nice to have a quick way to display information about page
author/posters.  The attached patch creates a new 'Author info' block
for the user module, which (if enabled) displays only when a node is
being viewed, showing the user name (as block title), picture,
signature, a list of up to four recent posts (plus 'more' link, if
tracker module is enabled, and user has posted more than four times)
and link to contact author (if contact module is enabled and user is
set to accept contacts).  The general idea: get a feel for the author
at a glance, without having to load the full user page.

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April 7, 2005 - 07:08 : samo

I really like this.  Thank you!

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April 7, 2005 - 08:15 : syscrusher

I haven't had time to try the patch yet (though I will try to do so as
time permits), but +1 on the concept. This would be really useful to me
on one of my main sites. Giving more visible credit to contributors is
IMO a Very Good Thing, because it subtly encourages more such
contributions.

Just one question: Would it be feasible to implement this as a module
that hooks the block, user, and node APIs, rather than as a patch to
user.module? It would decouple the code, keep user.module smaller and
easier to maintain, and eliminate the need to persuade the core team to
accept this into core.

Thanks for a great idea, and I look forward to trying out the code
soon.

Scott ("syscrusher")

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April 7, 2005 - 22:17 : nedjo

Thanks for the comments.

"Would it be feasible to implement this as a module that hooks the
block, user, and node APIs, rather than as a patch to user.module?

"
Yes, thanks to Drupal's modularity and good set of hooks, this addition
would be possible as a stand-alone module.  But I'm thinking this may be
a common enough desire - on a par with the existing user.module blocks
(who's online, who's new) - to justify core inclusion.  In any case, I
don't favour a separate module for each tiny bit of functionality (and
I already have enough modules on my hands!).  If there isn't support
for core inclusion, I suppose the option would be rolling this into
another user-related module; perhaps Bèr's userposts [1] would be a
candidate.

"It would ... eliminate the need to persuade the core team to accept
this into core.

"
I hear you.   In my case, it's more than a year, many hours of coding,
and 10 or so patches later and I've yet to see one make it into the
core.  Not quite sure why I keep trying, but I guess I keep thinking
maybe some day I'll get lucky!
[1] http://drupal.org/node/10593

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April 7, 2005 - 23:14 : Dries

Looks like a nice patch worth including into core.  Some suggestions:

1. theme_item_list() takes an optional $title.  No need to emit a title
yourself.  Even better to use node_title_list().  Take a look at
forum_block().

2. Often the signature won't be as nice a real bio.  I fear that this
patch will lead to weird signatures, or, weird bios.  I don't know but
it might be a good idea to introduce an about field to complement the
signature, and to use that instead.

3. $output .= $links; looks like dead code.

4. if ($account->contact) does not guarantuee that the contact module
is enabled.  It can be (temporary) disabled.

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April 8, 2005 - 04:46 : syscrusher

nedjo wrote:

"
But I'm thinking this may be a common enough desire - on a par with the
existing user.module blocks (who's online, who's new) - to justify core
inclusion.
[...]
I hear you. In my case, it's more than a year, many hours of coding,
and 10 or so patches later and I've yet to see one make it into the
core. Not quite sure why I keep trying, but I guess I keep thinking
maybe some day I'll get lucky!

"

Given Dries' comments, I think you just did. :-) If Dries thinks this
belongs in core, that's good enough for me. I certainly will use it, so
no complaints from here if it comes bundled with Drupal core.

Great work!

Scott ("syscrusher")

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April 8, 2005 - 09:12 : Dries

You probably want to add a link to the user page (user/x) using
format_user().  Actually, from the user page, you can both contact the
author or track his contributions.  Take a look at how Blogger does
this: http://www.evhead.com/2005/04/sara-mosaic.asp.  They hired some
of the best usability experts for that so why not learn from them? 
Less links is better IMO.  Every Drupal page already has plenty of
links as it stands.

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April 8, 2005 - 19:38 : nedjo

Thanks for the tips and suggestions.  

I agree that too many links are clutter, and a single "view my profile"
would do in most cases.  Still, e.g., a quick list of recent posts might
be useful here.

I also agree that use of the signature here would be problematic.  One
option would be a separate patch to add an "about" field (and maybe
also a "full name" one) to user.module.

Another option would be to use the custom profile fields here.  I'm
thinking of an approach that would have a set of block configuration
checkboxes for elements to display in the block--the ones I've included
(picture, recent posts, etc.) and then each of the defined profile
fields.  That way, the user info displayed could be easily customized. 
Of course, this would depend on admins installing profile.module and
adding profile fields.

Thoughts on which of these two approaches would be better?

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April 9, 2005 - 05:13 : syscrusher

I think definitely the best option is to allow the site admin to select
from among the custom profile fields. It's easy to determine if
profile.module is installed, and since that module is now part of core,
it's reasonable to assume that it most often will be. Use of the profile
fields also can "fall back gracefully" to just the minimal data, if
profile.module happens to be disabled.

FWIW, I agree with the person who suggested that the "recent posts"
might be a little too much for within the block. How about offering an
option for that info: (1) list of posts in the block, (2) link to the
user's existing recent posts page (from user.module), (3) none of the
above. A three-way selection rather than a checkbox would accomplish
this.

Great work, btw!

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April 12, 2005 - 11:34 : Dries

Quick thought: on most websites, the author information block is shown
below the article.  It is probably worth keeping this in mind as people
will most certainly ask for that.