A suggestion for the next version

[merlowe]

I would suggest that for the next version release of CMS Made Simple, two features can be added

1 - A filter for the content pages

2 - An ordering by numbers in content Pages and also during a content item view.

CMS Made Simple already has some of this ordering capabilities, but it could also add more options like in Joomla.

Most people find it easier to use if they visually see it and at times may not realise they have to first click a button to access the feature.

FILTER FOR LONG LISTS

Mosts sites, you will see when you want to filter, there is a field that allows you to type in a term, then select "filter" so as to view items with the typed keyword.  This also applies to email message lists to quickly find an email message.


STRUCTURE LEVEL SELECTION

Then sorting, given that the site consists of a tree structure, it would help if there was a dropdown to enable a site with a lot of content to be easily managed.  


So, when someone selects an item in the structure, only items below that tree structure are displayed (and i believe in user group settings, users can be set to view items only below a given tree structure).  This way, if someone is working on a large site and has access to all structures, the user doesn't have to keep scrolling up and down a whole long list as the selected structure level is retained in cache till the user clears it or logs out of that session.


REORDERING USING NUMBERS - ENABLES MULTIPLE REORDERING

This could be done on the page view list, with a field next to each item where a number can be entered to re-order items that are on the same level.  So if one wants to order 20 to 60 pages that are on the same level, instead of dragging one by one which is a hussle, the person just has to number the items based on the desired order and then click the button in the toobar "Save Order" and all altered page numbers are re-ordered with a page refresh.

ORDER BY

Also, items or a level could be selected and an option selected from the list to determine how items are ordered.  In teh dropdown list would be these options which would initiate the function upon the selected values or level(s)
- Reverse order  (useful when one wants to change order)
- By date created
- By alphabetical order (A-Z)
- By alphbetical order (Z-A)


these features will become quite important if small sites with a lot of content are to find it easy to administer such content.
All it needs is an additional toolbar and attached functions that already exist, to act upon the content, since there are functions that exist
- to filter content
- to order items alphabetically, reverse order or by a passed parameter


So, the main additional features in the form of a toolbar would be


Keyword _(Filter)   |   Select level_ [Dropdown]  (Go)   |   (Save Order) | Order By_[Dropdown] (Go)