TinyMCE cms_selflink -> ordinary link dialog integration and smarty tag handling
Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:40 am
I tried searching the forums to see if the following points has been dicussed before, but I could only find fragments here and there, so I decided to write a new topic. I'm sorry if I missed related discussions.
One of the reoccuring problems I have with end users and the editor is that internal page links are created and displayed differently from other links - the simple end user don't seem to get this concept and moreover some of them even expressed some sort of irrational "fear" of the inserted smarty code.
As a programmer I ofcourse have hard time seeing the real problem in this, but as it is a reoccuring problem I have to recognize it.
I think the main problem is that a link is a link in their minds, and the cms_selflink don't show up as other links in the editor.
I think it would make sense to move the internal page link button to the ordinary link dialog and somehow integrate it there instead. We currently have the file selection button which allows us to choose a file on the server. The internal page link could perhaps be located beside that. As an alternative to that, the link dialog could work in different modes depending on what type of link the user wants to create (url, email, file, internal page).
What do you think about this?
I guess the irrational fear of smarty code links can be seen as a general problem with smarty code in the TinyMCE wysiwyg editor. While I love the freedom it gives when integrating dynamic content in pages, it contradicts the concept of wysiwyg. Moreover the fact that the end user gets to deal with code aspects is somewhat problematic - they can "break" vital functions of the content system by deleting the smarty codes or they simply don't understand the code and thereby never really learns to use their site optimally. From the perspective of the average joe end user, this is CMS made rather advanced.
So how to deal with smarty code in wysiwyg editors? I guess direct rendering of the given code is out of question, but I think at least some sort of graphic representation instead of inline code would help alot. I'm thinking that smarty code blocks could be represented by a special design time block with the name of the tag and perhaps some icon (gears or whatever). This block could have a dedicated dialog (a bit like images and links) that wraps up the parameters in nice form inputs etc.
I haven't looked much at what is possible to do with the TinyMCE editor. I know that toolbars etc can be extended - but what about custom syntax interpreters - is it possible to make it identify the smarty tags and specially handle the rendering of those?
Anyways - this post ended up a bit mixed - I hope you get the point, and see it as constructive criticism of an already outstanding system
One of the reoccuring problems I have with end users and the editor is that internal page links are created and displayed differently from other links - the simple end user don't seem to get this concept and moreover some of them even expressed some sort of irrational "fear" of the inserted smarty code.
As a programmer I ofcourse have hard time seeing the real problem in this, but as it is a reoccuring problem I have to recognize it.
I think the main problem is that a link is a link in their minds, and the cms_selflink don't show up as other links in the editor.
I think it would make sense to move the internal page link button to the ordinary link dialog and somehow integrate it there instead. We currently have the file selection button which allows us to choose a file on the server. The internal page link could perhaps be located beside that. As an alternative to that, the link dialog could work in different modes depending on what type of link the user wants to create (url, email, file, internal page).
What do you think about this?
I guess the irrational fear of smarty code links can be seen as a general problem with smarty code in the TinyMCE wysiwyg editor. While I love the freedom it gives when integrating dynamic content in pages, it contradicts the concept of wysiwyg. Moreover the fact that the end user gets to deal with code aspects is somewhat problematic - they can "break" vital functions of the content system by deleting the smarty codes or they simply don't understand the code and thereby never really learns to use their site optimally. From the perspective of the average joe end user, this is CMS made rather advanced.
So how to deal with smarty code in wysiwyg editors? I guess direct rendering of the given code is out of question, but I think at least some sort of graphic representation instead of inline code would help alot. I'm thinking that smarty code blocks could be represented by a special design time block with the name of the tag and perhaps some icon (gears or whatever). This block could have a dedicated dialog (a bit like images and links) that wraps up the parameters in nice form inputs etc.
I haven't looked much at what is possible to do with the TinyMCE editor. I know that toolbars etc can be extended - but what about custom syntax interpreters - is it possible to make it identify the smarty tags and specially handle the rendering of those?
Anyways - this post ended up a bit mixed - I hope you get the point, and see it as constructive criticism of an already outstanding system