The glossary is a link under each field that shows the formatting buttons, in the publish page.

Hi PXLated,

** A little off topic ** When you build a custom publish form that doesn’t include the URL title_field and your client edits the name of the post, do you go in and change the URL title for them later? Because right now, the URL title doesn’t auto update just because the entry title has changed. I can’t remember the specifics right now, but I know that caused some fun issues with one of my sites a while back. These days I’ve gone back to leaving that one in the publish/edit pages.

** On Topic **

OK, so I understand how you use the stand-alone-entry page for Publishing, but how do you set it up for Editing?  Once the user selects an entry in the edit list/tab (lets say to upload a photo to a previously published entry), does you custom form show up for them? If so, do you hack the edit template of the CP, or do you make it happen some other way?

Also. . . .

Lets say I use the stand-alone-entry forms. My sites would need three or four per site, so I would need about 100 of these just for this years development schedule.

Now lets say that Rick and company decides to add a whole bunch of new options to the publish page (like the comment expiration that came with the last big update) two years from now. By then I might have a couple of hundred of these stand-alone-entry forms in service and I might have a huge backwards compatibility issue in that the new features/options, aren’t available to my clients until I get in there and update those forms.

One option that comes to mind that might be in a future build, would be the ability to select a second category set to either move an entry easily to another weblog or assign it to categories in more than one weblog. That feature might require the publish page to list both sets of weblog categories side by side, and could require a different set of tags for future stand-alone forms.

Just sort of thinking out loud here. But my gut tells me that I could be setting myself up for some real backwards compatibility issues if I had to change to stand-alone entry forms as the norm.

So I’m still sort of wishing for the option to choose the new, or the ‘Classic’ format within the CP.

When you build a custom publish form that doesn’t include the URL title_field and your client edits the name of the post

Actually, I only use that version when they aren’t allowed to edit. For instance, on an old band site there is a section (not open yet) “Where did you see us?” that will allow the public to enter a venue name, city, state, date. No need for editing. If editing is allowed, I include it.

OK, so I understand how you use the stand-alone-entry page for Publishing, but how do you set it up for Editing?  Once the user selects an entry in the edit list/tab (lets say to upload a photo to a previously published entry), does you custom form show up for them? If so, do you hack the edit template of the CP, or do you make it happen some other way?

I’ll bypass the control panel and use the Stand Alone Editing Form so there will be an Edit button right on the weblog page for those that meet either the member id or member group requirements. I haven’t actually done it yet on a live site. There’s a couple problems that will be solved here shortly with 1.3. At least that’s the rumor, I haven’t had time to check that in the beta yet.

My sites would need three or four per site, so I would need about 100 of these just for this years development schedule.

Remember that the form brings in all the stuff (fields) automatically so most (if not all) would be dupes from your masters, simple copy/paste…as long as you are not customizing the look/feel of those forms.

Now lets say that Rick and company decides to add a whole bunch of new options to the publish page (like the comment expiration that came with the last big update) two years from now. By then I might have a couple of hundred of these stand-alone-entry forms in service and I might have a huge backwards compatibility issue in that the new features/options, aren’t available to my clients until I get in there and update those forms.

They aren’t going to have access to the new features until you update EE and teach them the new stuff so you will always have a workload with any update. Using the expiration date as an example, it would be simply copying/pasting that new variable into the publish templates. Not nearly as time consuming as a lot of other things will be. If you are saving the templates to files, it’s probably just a multi-file search replace.
Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of different factors to consider and my method may not work for everyone.

One option that comes to mind that might be in a future build, would be the ability to select a second category set to either move an entry easily to another weblog or assign it to categories in more than one weblog. That feature might require the publish page to list both sets of weblog categories side by side, and could require a different set of tags for future stand-alone forms.

It’s almost impossible to speculate on the possible complications. But in these two examples, I would guess the Stand Alone forms would be the least of your update chores and complications.

Just sort of thinking out loud here. But my gut tells me that I could be setting myself up for some real backwards compatibility issues if I had to change to stand-alone entry forms as the norm.

Could be, hard to know. Once 1.3 is released, try them out and see what works. The more I can keep the average poster out of the CP, the better. Most only need two things, publishing and editing. :-)

Glossary might be a misleading term—the glossary is html and formatting specific.  For example, you can hit

to receive © in your text.  Or,

to use an em dash (—) in a sentence.  “expanded formatting” might be a better term than glossary.

Brilliant, Rick and team!

Can’t wait for the release!

Some major rethinking appears to have gone into the Control Panel, particularly the Publish and Edit sections, which is great, as these are the ones that get used most once a site is built. I pat myself on the back for choosing this good peoples and software.

PXLated - 26 June 2005 05:57 PM

but is there a way to switch the look of the admin panel back to the 1.2 variation?

If you click on the “MY Account” tab in the 1.3 CP it displays with all that fancy expanding/contracting. If on the other hand, you click the “Your Control Panel” link (like at the top of these Forums), it’s different and closer to what was in 1.2 (as I recall, I’ve modified all my member templates so much that I now have nothing to actually compare to).

Worse comes to worst, I can just hardcode the thing in each of my installs.

That’s an ugly process…at least it was for me

Looks like I’ll have to go through that, then. I was specifically talking about the page you see when you’re in the control panel and click on the “Admin” tab. (ie, System Administration). I’m fine with the other pages in the control panel - it’s the System Administration page that I’m not wild about. I don’t use it too often, so can forget which options are where. Click on “Show/Hide all” on that page…and all that wasted white space…

Tchah well, I’ll muck with the code. Which file(s) will I need to edit, Rick & Co.?

Seems like each of those category groups (Site Admin, Members and Groups etc. . ) could be made to display in two columns and that would shorten the ‘show all’ page by about 45%. That page did seem much more compact in 1.2.

As others, I really don’t like the new Publish section. Surely it’s more beautiful, but it’s less practical: more clicks, more risk of forgetting to set an option. I prefer to have all the stuff on a single page wherre I can have a global view of all the options.

Fabien - 28 June 2005 01:15 AM

As others, I really don’t like the new Publish section. Surely it’s more beautiful, but it’s less practical: more clicks, more risk of forgetting to set an option. I prefer to have all the stuff on a single page wherre I can have a global view of all the options.

I do a lot of CMS entries, and the new publish page works very well.

But so does the MetaWeblogAPI functionality. I use wBloggar with it on Windows XP, and you gain the ability to pick multiple categories when posting.

The Admin page is the one that’s going to take getting used to with everything rolled up view wise.

Remembering where all the items are.

But - you have the abiity to make tabs on the fly for the items you use all the time.

I have two tabs here, one to take me to the forums configuration page, and one for Search and Replace.

the MetaWeblogAPI functionality

Haven’t tried that yet. What are the limitations?
Seems I read that the APIs work great for a blog but are very limited if you have custom fields, etc. Could you fill us in?
Thanks!

1.

Sue - 28 June 2005 05:17 AM

and you gain the ability to pick multiple categories when posting.

I don’t gain anything; I always had this possibility.

2.

Sue - 28 June 2005 05:17 AM

you have the abiity to make tabs on the fly for the items you use all the time.

I don’t appreciate to have to do something to get a convenience that was existing in the previous release.

Fabien - 28 June 2005 07:27 AM

1.

Sue - 28 June 2005 05:17 AM

and you gain the ability to pick multiple categories when posting.

I don’t gain anything; I always had this possibility.

2.

Sue - 28 June 2005 05:17 AM

you have the abiity to make tabs on the fly for the items you use all the time.

I don’t appreciate to have to do something to get a convenience that was existing in the previous release.

In wBloggar, I didn’t have the ability to pick from a list of categories. Not the EE CP. That’s always been there.

As far as the rolled up items go, It’s easier on my laptop which is at 1024x768.

The ability to add tabs is a wonderful. Most of the items in the Admin tab I don’t use. But the ones I use all the time, I want to have a single click to get to them. *That’s* what my clients are going to find the most useful.

YMMV - Your milage may vary.

I had already understand that it was easier for YOU.
But let me say that it’s not really my problem.

Fabien - 28 June 2005 08:28 AM

I had already understand that it was easier for YOU.
But let me say that it’s not really my problem.

That’s fine. But please keep an open mind until you actually start using the product. Hopefully soon.