Setup needs better organization

mindstorm · 2014-07-27 02:44:14

When I set up a web site, most gallery settings will be the same from page to page. A few items will very definitely change on every page -- but those are scattered all over creation in the setup screens???

Specifically, here are the ones I have to change on every page:

Meta: Keywords (scroll down a large screen in Site Info to reach it)
PHPlugin location (when in different sub-directories) - 5 fields down from above
Identity heading - several screens of scrolling down to reach
Identity subheading - 8 fields below heading above
Album Title - under "color palette"?? Requiring scroll back to top, close "Site Info" and open this
Album description -- good, it is the next field
Album thumbnail -- again good, it is the next field
Page Copy - not too bad, only a few lines down, and whether it shows could conceivably change per page too

All the other fields are set once for a web site, then kept consistent from page to page.

I would REALLY like a way to have just those fields gathered onto a single pane together. Not sure if it is possible to have the same control in more than one place, but if so, then perhaps having a 'frequently changed' panel that duplicated just those fields? Even better, have some mechanism by which we can decide which fields get mirrored into this new panel, since I am sure there are other people that would want one or two more (or fewer) fields there.

Matthew · 2014-07-27 03:38:20

http://ce4.theturninggate.net/docs/doku … _templates

rod barbee · 2014-07-27 06:06:16

but if so, then perhaps having a 'frequently changed' panel that duplicated just those fields?

keep in mind that Matt is limited by what the Lightroom SDK will allow him to do. Lightroom doesn't have a "frequently changed" panel

No doubt if Matt put the fields you mentioned in different places, displacing other fields, someone would complain about that too. But the more you use the plug-ins, the more you'll get used to using them.

It also helps if you put the right hand panel in the web module into Solo Mode. That will eliminate much of the scrolling if you have more than one pane open at a time.

Album Title - under "color palette"??

Many of us really appreciate the fact that this is where it is. That way we can customize text for the page and the title field (which also will need customizing) in one place.

mindstorm · 2014-07-27 06:24:46

Yeah, I know he is confined by the SDK. I was hoping there was a way to duplicate controls though.

Assuming that is possible within the SDK (iow, two control boxes changing the same variable), then it would be possible to add one more panel that would have these "frequently used controls" in one place.

also, I am guessing it is a SDK limit, but I would really like to close all those sub-panels that I never use. Typography, etc is something I look over once and then leave alone, but I have to scroll through it constantly.

As far as getting to know the tool, that really is a problem. I used CE3 years ago (might have even been CE2?). I set up my web site with it... then nothing changed for a year until I decided to go back and add another page.

autoindex no longer worked for me, and I gave up and created a manual page instead (the table based home page you poo-poo'd earlier ). I couldn't even get the gallery to work again, so I ended up going to a different vendor with a different setup for the new pages I was adding.

The point is that there is a fairly steep learning curve with TTG. For those of us that use it to set up a web site and then ignore it for several months before wanting to change our gallery, that curve is often too steep to climb a second time. Some easy organization and general UI tweaks could make that "coming back" a lot easier.

Matthew · 2014-07-27 13:24:51

I've spent a lot of time in CE4 organizing the UI in a reasonable manner. The entirety of the Site Info control pane, you should do once, then close it and never have to open it again. The green heading titles are meant to be easy to see, so that you can quickly find the section you're looking for. And many control groups contain links directly to relevant documentation.

mindstorm · 2014-07-27 13:31:44

But I need to go into Site Info for every single gallery page in my web site?? I need to change:

Meta: Keywords (scroll down a large screen in Site Info to reach it)
Identity heading - several screens of scrolling down to reach
Identity subheading - 8 fields below heading above

I set the keywords appropriate to the page, not the site. The Identity heading and subheading are what displays at the top of each page, and I certainly don't want that the same on every page?

It seems the only way I could bypass the Site Info would be to use one set of keywords for the entire site, and not use page headers or subheaders. Those are items I think need to be grouped with the Album description, since they both change more-or-less in sync. Though the actual text for each field is different, they are both reflections of the content of the current page -- rather than of the site as a whole.

Matthew · 2014-07-27 14:37:14

Then I'd say you're using the tools in a non-standard way, which is absolutely your prerogative to do, but I can't redesign the plugins because you're usage of them is different than the way I'd intended them to be used.

Meta: Keywords, I wouldn't waste my time with. They served a purpose in antiquity, but I'm not aware of any functional purpose they serve now. I'd make them generic and applicable to your site at large, then I'd never touch them again. Or I'd just leave it blank, because they really are pointless these days.

The Identity settings are meant to identify your business, not your gallery. For identifying the gallery, you have the text content and image settings in the Color Palette control pane.

mindstorm · 2014-07-27 14:47:51

I use the Identity info stuff to say what the page is about. It gives the header to tell the user what he is reading, before he has to delve into the paragraph of text.

Perhaps there could be a title block for the paragraph descriptor then?

I definitely did not realize this was not what was intended. I have 29 gallery pages broken into things like art, studio, Ecuador (where we now live), travel, events and projects. It doesn't seem useful to repeat the same header on all 29 (and growing) pages?

Oh well, tomorrow I tackle the blog portion. I have 5 years of blog entries on SquareSpace that I am migrating to this site. Hope it all works...

Matthew · 2014-07-27 15:00:07

Like I said, the "same header on all pages" is meant to be your site or business title. In web-design, the masthead is generally used for branding. For example, here on the The Turning Gate -- well, not here; but every place apart from the forum -- our masthead displays the Turning Gate logo.

You can use it in the way that you're using it, but that's not the intent. So going back to the thread's title, "Setup needs better organization", I would argue that setup is organized perfectly well for its intended implementation, and that you're judging it based on a separate set of parameters than those on which it was designed.

I don't think a title block is necessary for the paragraph descriptor. The input accepts Markdown and HTML formatting, so you can easily create a title, subtitles, etc. that way. For example:

## This is an H2 title

And this would be a paragraph.

Rather than locking people into a rigid pattern of Title & Paragraph, we use Markdown-enabled fields so that you can do whatever you want in that area. You can learn the essentials of Markdown formatting in about 5-minutes, or use a Markdown editor for a more word-processor-like experience, then copy-and-paste from there to Lightroom.

Markdown info:
http://ce4.theturninggate.net/docs/doku … 4_markdown

Community @ The Turning Gate

#1 2014-07-27 02:44:14

Setup needs better organization

#2 2014-07-27 03:38:20

Re: Setup needs better organization

#3 2014-07-27 06:06:16

Re: Setup needs better organization

#4 2014-07-27 06:24:46

Re: Setup needs better organization

#5 2014-07-27 13:24:51

Re: Setup needs better organization

#6 2014-07-27 13:31:44

Re: Setup needs better organization

#7 2014-07-27 14:37:14

Re: Setup needs better organization

#8 2014-07-27 14:47:51

Re: Setup needs better organization

#9 2014-07-27 15:00:07

Re: Setup needs better organization

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