[development] Requiring node revisions

[Michael Favia]

Dries Buytaert wrote:
>
> On 07 Jun 2007, at 11:04, David Strauss wrote:
>> * Fewer site administration options
>> * Cleaner node-editing pages for node administrators
>> * Less confusion over what checking the box does: "Aren't I creating a
>> new revision of the node even if I don't check it?"
>
> The above arguments seem to be different variations of the same. ;-)
heh. i thought the same thing. ;)
>
> Node revisions is one of these things that people are not expecting 
> when they first start using Drupal as a simple blog, a forum, or 
> whatnot.  It is the kind of feature that makes them shout: "Drupal is 
> overkill for a simple $site!", for different flavors of $site.
>
> Furthermore, the most important "visual artifact" of node revisions is 
> not the "create new revision" checkbox, but the fieldset/textarea for 
> the log message that is always expanded (fixed in D6).  I argue that 
> it is mainly the textarea that is confusing and that feels like 
> clutter/overkill -- especially because the checkbox and the log 
> message are not logically grouped. The proposed change sounds somewhat 
> counter-productive because the log message textarea would become more 
> prominent (while the checkbox goes away).  Not sure if we win or loose 
> ...
This has the opportunity to simplify the interface further by placing 
the revision criteria under the content type settings. Then we can 
CONDITIONALLY place the "Log Message" textarea/fieldset in the 
appropriate content type with a simple message explaining that 
"Historical copies of this content are being stored for archival sake. 
Please summarize any changes you've made to this content." Those users 
who don't want it don't have to worry about it. This should remove the 
confusion by centralizing the decision to keep revisions and put it in 
the hands of the administrator. Please see my other post in this thread 
about how i think we could best organize the options under 
admin/content/types.

-- 
Michael Favia                   michael at favias.org
tel. 512.585.5650        http://michael.favias.org