[development] announcment: microcontent, an attempt to make drupal basics simpler.

[Bèr Kessels]

Op maandag 09 januari 2006 02:24, schreef Neil Drumm:
> Bèr Kessels wrote:
> > * Every microcontent entry is available as a block (so this is also a
> > blocks-as-nodes module)
>
> I'd like to see that done separately via nodeapi for future-proofing
> with CCK.

This is what I initially had. But the whole point of the project got lost this 
way: Making stuff easier :)
It then needed at least an additional checkbox, some other form elements etc. 
If i look at the node creation screen i almost start crying: The collapsible 
elements seem to have given us an excuse to litteraly dump the page full of 
forms. Just open thta page w/o javascript. Its worse then a nasa rocket 
cockpit. :)

> > So the basic site setup is done trough our *content* areas. Blocks are
> > made/moderared trough our famous *content* user interfaces.
>
> I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not. Certainly is worth exploring.

Which is what I am doing. Some pro's:
* you can assign more rights to different roles. So finer grained permissions 
over block moderation
* you can use filters in mission, footer and slogan (like PHP in a footer)
* you can upload files with blocks, missions, and so.
* You can place your mission in the menu structure. 
* Blocks can have readmore links pointing to a page with the longer text 
(teaser and body)
* You can put the mission etc in a location in the handbook.

Some cons:
* Our content editing parts are not the most userfriendly pages :). Finding 
the mission nodes in there might prove a critical problem for this module
* We have named some of the "parts" in Drupal quite clumsy (historical 
reasons). Mission, is really "about us", footer indicates a placement, yet it 
really is "site details". slogan is a very odd name too. So taking this into 
a non-dedicated admin ui (the nodes) might get people lost. 
* Overhead. Loading a variable is, IMO faster then loading a node.
* Duplication. Since this is a contrib, the core methods are still there, But 
if we move this to core, we can drop the blocks table, for example.

> I'd like to remove the mission since it seems like a bit of weird thing
> to me. I'd like some more powerful control of every page.

My ultimate plan is to rename "mission" to "About us". But since the word 
"mission" is hardcoded all trough Drupal, and mentioned all around drupal.org 
i decided to do this only in DrupalCOM in the locales.

> > This, btw is Driess complete "what should be documented for noobs" list
>
> Good list, have a url for this in the archives?

It was on the documentation list. I cannot find it now (in the train, wo 
internet access).

Bèr