Responsive grids : how to ?

[pierrepercee]

Many CMS now offer modules that facilitate the use of "responsive grid" for the layout. For an average user, who wishes for example to put a text next to an Image (Basic operation if any), it must do so in the souce code. This is an obstacle to the adoption of an important number CMSMS integrators whose end customers have neither the time nor the desire to learn the basics of HTML syntax or CSS.
Ideally this would work as follows:
In a responsive grid(Bootstrap,Foundation,Skeletton,960grid..) we always find rules witch define blocks in %. The webmaster could append these two lines with statement with some letters, like "cmsmsgrid". This would make it easier to interface MicroTiny linking it to the appropriate style sheet. In MicroTiny we could use buttons(inspired short codes) to create one row and the blocks.Best, we can imagine a possibility of "freehand drawing" .
Not being a developer I can't comment on the difficulty of implementation of such a system.
I am persuaded by cons as regular user and integrator of the need for its implementation as soon as possible.

[calguy1000]

That is asking your customer to understand things like web design and responsive design. Even if it is just buttons it is asking your customer to do design work. Note: even tables are difficult when trying to make a page work for both desktop and mobile displays and end up making the customer have to know more than they should.

CMSMS is made for the expert/professional web developer (the one that knows HTML, CSS and about web design and server issues, or at least is capable of learning them with a bit of googling) and for the average non-technical editor.

Your average restaurant owner/business owner who is doing content editing knows nothing about HTML or design. And shouldn't have to.

[DIGI3]

There are CMS's that use a more visual editor for the end user, but they lose out on speed, clean code, and a lot of the other things that makes CMSMS great.

As Calguy said, CMSMS is for developers who know HTML and CSS, and I'd add Smarty to that list. With Smarty, you can actually do most of what you're asking. With some basic logic, multiple content blocks, and template inheritance, you can create complex, responsive templates where the user can just add images and content where appropriate.

This is where getting creative helps. An example would be using CGSmartImage to pull the images out of the user's content, output them back as an array with css just how you want them. That's just one example, there's all sorts of ways to take the layout chores out of the hands of the content editor.

[pierrepercee]

Joomla ( Page Builder CK for example), Wordpress etc give final user a little liberty in design with third parties modules.
Who said that the generated code was not clean? In this case, you should think it is poorly developed. I see absolutely no difference between manually write the source code

Code: Select all

<div class="row"><div class="four-col">blabla</div><div class="eight-col"><img src="pathmyimage/flower.png" width="640" height="480" alt="boring flowers" /></div>
</div>

and get the same thing in 3 clics from the interface ...
The report with the speed of the system: at the margin but probably nothing essential.
Large structures can pay costly upgrade contracts: to my knowledge there are not many to use CMSMS.
For small businesses, updating is often made by an employee, you are quite right not to know HTML etc.
Allowing this man a minimum of freedom formatting seems to be an important prerequisite for a modern CMS.
After we can satisfy strong constraints (the picture is here and the text there, and that's all) but it will not be surprising to see integrators move to other CMS somewhat more permissive ...

[calguy1000]

Joomla ( Page Builder CK for example), Wordpress etc give final user a little liberty in design with third parties modules.

Yep, as third party modules. You can do that too. Would like to test it when it's done. Keep us posted.

[pierrepercee]

You could have said:
it's too long to implement
It is very complex to implement
We have other priorities
We have other problems
or even we do not want too provide powerful tools for end users, as it amounts to more or less long term to limit the role of integrators and developers
All things that users can understand clearly.
You have chosen to respond in another way, this is your course ... freedom

[DIGI3]

Essentially it's down to different goals. CMSMS doesn't target the same audiences as some of the other CMS's, or online site builders. Personally I like the method of having full control of where everything goes, and letting my content editors worry about content only. That's why I use CMSMS for most sites - but not all: there are cases where I believe other systems are the right choice.

That said, there are lots of developers looking for work, and making modules for CMSMS is pretty straight forward. Maybe you'd consider sponsoring one, or getting a few similar-minded users together to contribute? I've paid for a number of modules, they're powerful and more affordable than you might think.

[pierrepercee]

I agree with you. I suggest an improvement that seemed desirable. I do not have the skills to achieve this type of unit, this seems to be a long process, which can only be undertaken by a team of experienced developers.
I wish the debate a little more constructive and a little more open ...

[Jeff]

I wish the debate a little more constructive and a little more open ...

I hear "I want your product my way, and it is OS so I want it free".

If you want a feature Sponsor It, Calguy and the other devs don't put very few limitations on what modules are allowed.

I personally don't know what your grip is, I have setup several responsive websites, I can setup the News or CGBlog template to place the text and images in appropriate <div> for a proper layout.

Also you can add which styles you want your content editors to use in MicroTiny already.

[pierrepercee]

I wrote

I suggest an improvement that seemed desirable

and you hear

"I want your product my way, and it is OS so I want it free".

.
Unfortunately, words have meaning and unnecessary debate does not interest me !