Possible addition to the news module?
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 11:11 am
Hi guys,
Been using CMSMS for many years now and it's a great CMS. It's main strength for me is the ease of adding, structuring, and editing a site page structure. For more frequent updates, such as news or upcoming events, I use the News module and separate the entry types with categories.
Point 1. Clients often ask for specific fields when making these kind of posts, so I was wondering if it would be possible to associate custom field definitions with a certain category? The fields that are available when making a post would then change when the user chooses a category from the drop down, much like the page editing section does when you change template. This would really enhance the flexibility of the news module. It would mean that the user could have custom fields that are specific to the category they are posting to, making for a more bespoke admin area.
Point 2. This could be part of a wider discussion... if the site admin had control over all of the fields that were available in making 'news' posts, the 'news' module would be incredibly versatile, such much so that it could probably be renamed 'posts'. Here's what I mean:
Let's say that when the user creates a news category, they get complete control over which content fields are available when making posts to that category... even down to 'summary' and 'content'. If you start with a blank canvas you could use this module for ANY kind of regular post. You could make a category that has no summary or content fields - just a series of checkboxes, or a two simple text fields and a drop down menu with definable options.
It's all about making a more bespoke feeling site that you can hand over to a client without having to say "you make all regular posts through the news module - just type what you want in the summary and content fields". Most of my clients don't have much design sensibility and the more you can tailor the system to their specific needs the better, eg. adding upcoming events via the news module would require custom fields for 'title', 'price', 'time', 'location' and 'description' in that order, and adding a news post to the site would require the standard 'summary' and 'content' fields.
I suppose this is basically just an idea for a new module altogether, but I'm a pretty shabby developer and wouldn't be able to tackle it myself! Anyone got any thoughts on this?
Been using CMSMS for many years now and it's a great CMS. It's main strength for me is the ease of adding, structuring, and editing a site page structure. For more frequent updates, such as news or upcoming events, I use the News module and separate the entry types with categories.
Point 1. Clients often ask for specific fields when making these kind of posts, so I was wondering if it would be possible to associate custom field definitions with a certain category? The fields that are available when making a post would then change when the user chooses a category from the drop down, much like the page editing section does when you change template. This would really enhance the flexibility of the news module. It would mean that the user could have custom fields that are specific to the category they are posting to, making for a more bespoke admin area.
Point 2. This could be part of a wider discussion... if the site admin had control over all of the fields that were available in making 'news' posts, the 'news' module would be incredibly versatile, such much so that it could probably be renamed 'posts'. Here's what I mean:
Let's say that when the user creates a news category, they get complete control over which content fields are available when making posts to that category... even down to 'summary' and 'content'. If you start with a blank canvas you could use this module for ANY kind of regular post. You could make a category that has no summary or content fields - just a series of checkboxes, or a two simple text fields and a drop down menu with definable options.
It's all about making a more bespoke feeling site that you can hand over to a client without having to say "you make all regular posts through the news module - just type what you want in the summary and content fields". Most of my clients don't have much design sensibility and the more you can tailor the system to their specific needs the better, eg. adding upcoming events via the news module would require custom fields for 'title', 'price', 'time', 'location' and 'description' in that order, and adding a news post to the site would require the standard 'summary' and 'content' fields.
I suppose this is basically just an idea for a new module altogether, but I'm a pretty shabby developer and wouldn't be able to tackle it myself! Anyone got any thoughts on this?