[geeklog-devel] Config GUI issues

[Blaine Lang]

Mark R. Evans wrote:
> THEME -> MENU ELEMENTS
> This should be a drop down of allowed values. If I put 'Home' in 
> there, nothing happens, but if I enter 'home', it will place the Home 
> link in the menu. Since this is a static list of valid values, make it 
> a drop down. This will cut down on support issues.
>
> TOPICS AND DAILY DIGEST -> TOPIC SORT METHOD
> This should also be a drop down selection. There are only 2 valid 
> options for this field. Again, makes it more user friendly and will 
> cut down on support issues.
Agree this would be better and will look at extending the UI Javascript 
methods to add a select type element for the 'Add Element' feature. This 
may have to wait to see if we move the config manager to use AJAX as now 
the DHTML has to be more generic. The 'Add Element' is a generic UI JS 
function and this would require it be unique to add a select that has a 
unique set of options. Easy to do with AJAX but not sure I want to break 
the UI code now to add this feature.
>
> TOPICS AND DAILY DIGEST -> WHAT'S NEW
> If possible, use something besides seconds for the time entry, use 
> minutes or hours and convert on save. Seconds are very confusing, it 
> is difficult to know just how long is 172800 seconds. But, something 
> like 48 hours is pretty clear.
I think the change would need to be made to the COM_whatsNewBlock as we 
have no specialized handlers in the config class. We can certainly make 
the setting be hours and change the COM function - Dirk?
>
>
> USERS AND SUBMISSIONS
> I don't think this is the right place to set the advanced editor 
> options. I would create a new tab for editor specific items.
I would prefer we not create any more tabs as the core->menu was already 
longer then I wanted. We need to ensure the menu does not wrap on 
narrower browsers. Using the dropline menu has regained space but if we 
do any more significant restructuring it would be something considering. 
This option effects more then just the editor so it may be better placed 
on the Site Tab - thats easy to do.
>
> Actually, I think the entire organization should probably be revisited 
> and mapped a little differently. I understand this was the format of 
> the config.php file, but if you are planning on improving the overall 
> configuration, a better organization might be worth looking into.
I've looked at the organization a few times while trying to see if I 
could eliminate one of the tabbed sections to reduce the size of the 
Core->submenu and it may be just that I've been using GL too long and 
it's the config optons are too familiar now to me but I am not seeing 
any clear restructuring. I think it's actually far easier to find a 
setting now then it ever was in the config.php

>
> CONFIGURATION -> THEMES
> Why not make the Theme field a drop down, there is already a function, 
> COM_getThemes() that returns a list of available themes. This would 
> make it a bit more user friendly and keep someone from mis-typing a 
> theme name.
Possible but would require extending the class or adding a new config 
value type. Worth considering if there are more config settings to use 
that feature.


Blaine