Draft block layout for LondonCommons.net 2

Sidebars: both on the right side.  The right-most sidebar will always be visible, and be used for blocks that we always want to display.  The inner sidebar will be for specialized blocks, ones that are only displayed in special cases.  The inner sidebar should not be displayed at all if none of its blocks are to be displayed on a particular page.

Only the outer sidebar should be visible for the front page.

Some of these blocks would have to be created with views.  One or two might not be possible with current versions of modules.

Outer sidebar:

Upcoming events
Login block (unless we use a corner login/out link)
Tag cloud
New/Active posts <- display # of new comments for signed in?
Latest Poll?
Latest Image?
RSS feed blocks

Inner sidebar:

For blogs:
Recent comments in my blog
Featured blogs
Recent blogs
Active blogs (with new comments link for signed in)

Search:
Faceted search blocks

Groups:
(lower weight than other inner sidebar blocks so they float higher)
Groups details
Group Events
Group notifications
New groups/Active groups

Chat
Chatroom who's online  (maybe edit module to force these links to open in new window)
Chatroom active chats?

Image/Albums
Add acidfree items
New albums
New images

Audio: trev can figure this out

Profile
My crew's latest posts
My groups
List of current user's signups
Bookmark  block?
Who's online
Invite a friend

Events
List of current user's signups
Group events (does it work outside of a group?)
Events posted to by my crew?
Events signup'ed by my crew?

Books:
Book navigation
Recently updated book pages
List of top level books?

5
Average: 5 (2 votes)

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Thomas Czermak's picture

agreed. If people want they

agreed. If people want they can post whatever links they want in their groups mission statement or they can post it in a blog entry. If you want to do something fancy with your mission statement just let us know or talk to someone who knows html.

Another thing. Is there a way to make the mission statement a sticky . So that it sticks to the top of the page.

When we work out the layout of specific group's page we might want to consider if there's a way of positioning certain things like mission statements in blocks. Anything we can do to make the page stand out a little while offering group related info immediately to the eye.

I'm going to look up php snippets while I'm here at work.

Thomas Czermak's picture

actually, sorry I didn't

actually, sorry I didn't realize that mission statements are already stickies. I'm currently looking for a php snippet that would allow the mission statement to be displayed in a block. That way, with the new region that I'm creating above both the column and sidebars we could have a group page appear with the mission statement as a banner like I've shown in my other posts.

I could also do this by adding the snippet into the custom-page.tpl.php.

 

 

Thomas Czermak's picture

Ya, can't say I like the

Ya, can't say I like the draft much. Like I said before, I want to move toward page specificity, and steer away from a general purpose layout.

I could put in a third sidebar or another region to the right but I wouldn't want it displayed at all times or for more than one section. Nor do I want any of the block regions to be displayed at all times. It's really quite half-ass design.

For profile, for instance, I actually imagine a wide left sidebar, displaying user picture and contact info with blocks related to buddies, etc, and then the center column could display user generated content (pictures, audio and blog teasers). No right-sidebar.

For groups and whatnot I'd actually aim for using a panel. I've been consulting with others who design for drupal, like Marcus, and the whole sidebar thing is really something you want to move away from and start to use panels, custom block regions and template pages. What you find is that people just tend not to pick up on information in the sidebars since they don't break up the flow of content and usually appear where most lazy designers put their ads.

I'd only ask that you think of page specificity and variation a little more. We can use an extra sidebar but it would probably best suite a specific purpose/page.

Nice stab at it though Smile.

Jeff P.'s picture

side bars

1) will there be links to other local independent media?

2) dont know if this applies but having an updates block/reminder section that is dedicated to the signed in user (or have something appear as soon as they sign in). It would have all new information relevant to that users' account that s/he uses for communication purposes. ie. new group info updates, inbox notification,  new contacts added etc., possibly people who are online that you are able to privately chat with etc. A one stop, easily accessed, shop for personal updates and information.

"Participatory democracy postulates low energy technology. Only participatory democracy creates the conditions for rational technology." Ivan Illich
http://radicalblogs.org/lpps

Jeremy McNaughton's picture

using profile for one stop user specific updates

I think what makes the most sense to me is for the profile page ("my account") to be the spot to check for updates related to yourself.  We can have links to new posts in your groups, new private messages, new comments on your blogs all displayed in your profile.

Then we can make "my account" the first page you go to when you sign in.  So all you have to do to check for personal updates is sign into your account.

We could also make a block perhaps that has all of those kind of personal updates, and include it in the "always displayed" category.  Maybe it could be turned off by default.  I think we'd need extra modules (views fusion?) to get all of the different kinds of personal updates into one block. 

Thomas Czermak's picture

1) will there be links


1) will there be links to other local independent media?

 

There should be a way to let group organizers to show links they want. That's a good idea. They ought to be able to make perhaps a block with links or at least have an input to place links somewhere on their group page. I'm usually not in favour of allowing regular users make blocks (because they usually screw up and leave out a </>) but we could do this by permission.

There's got to be a module that might handle this. I look into this later, if trev hasn't already.

 As for your second question: notifications can be put anywhere but they don't include everything you mentioned. And the only way to add those things would be to program them ourselves and I'm not there yet with my php. I'll look it up on drupal.org tonight though. Maybe there's a snippet.

Trev McNaughton's picture

not going to happen

thats is not an option.  Allowing blocks to be made by users will become a site admin nightmare, and will never happen.  Not even with a module.. not an issue of </>'s, its an issue with the blocks page, is nearly unmanagable as it is..

HOWEVER...

as I stated above, there already is a block that has links to other media in london.. it doesn't show by default as each user has to turn it on themselves. Infact there are a bunch of these blocks that are turned off by default.. I'll do a quick HOWTO on turning blocks on / off per user right now and later have a book page in the docs about it.

  1. scroll to top of page
  2. locate the "you are signed in as **** view | edit | logout" part at the top right
  3. click on the link titled "edit"
  4. after the page loads, scroll down to the part of the page that says "block configuration", its located right below the avatar upload section of the page
  5. there are checkboxes for each block that can be turned on / off
  6. the media one is the second one in the list..

This will show or hide the blocks the user wants to see when they are logged in.. and does not effect other users.. This is a close to user's own blocks as we're going to get...

.

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Jeff P.'s picture

thank-you for the step by step

It will help me navigate that process. What I was really getting at is that I figured the LC would still be in the business of supporting other, unconventional, online media sources. By only making it an option for signed-in users to turn on, it doesn't seem like the LC is interested in supporting other groups (which we know is not true). I'm not accusing anyone of wrongdoing, I just thought the premise of online solidarity was still a priority.

I understand (actually I really don't - you nerdsLaughing) how limited you guys are with what is possible. So I look forward to whatever you guys sort as the most 'one-stop' account update service that you are able to create.

Yes, I was referring to an instant messaging system. but, i guess that will have to wait.

"Participatory democracy postulates low energy technology. Only participatory democracy creates the conditions for rational technology." Ivan Illich

http://radicalblogs.org/lpps

Trev McNaughton's picture

blocks

jeff, currently there are blocks from other media sites availible to the user.  These have to be turned on by the user themselves, through the user edit pages.  

As for the other question, I'm not entirely sure thats possible.  however, most updates are shown through the notification messages near the top of the page.   As well, logins will take the user directly to their profile page..  in the future the profile page will be a bit more developed, but not for a few months more as its quite the task on its own.  Buddylists or "crews" as they're called now, will be enhanced after the beta is removed.. so once beta is done, we'll begin testing for the next round of upgrades..

The private message chat you mentioned, do you mean like an instant messenger style, or like an email style.. the email style is already good to go.  however, the instant message style we tested back in the summer needs to be reviewed again for bugs and server load, so don't expect that too soon (though it is coming.. I'm excited)..  

.

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Rachel Ayres's picture

media block

As I was saying in another thread.. (apparently not the appropriate one.. oops)

the "other local alternative media" block, is not working for me.

I have it selected and it never shows up, along with some other blocks I have selected.

Certain blocks that I have selected seem to appear only selectively.

i.e. the "new users" (which I find particularly useful)

anyone know what's up with that?

-r.

Thomas Czermak's picture

notifications can be put

notifications can be put anywhere you want them.

Trev McNaughton's picture

stay where they are

I realize this, but if you try to change it for one, all of them go with it.. so lets keep it where it is... where its nice and visable.. thats why drupal has them where it has them.. 

.

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Thomas Czermak's picture

Ya, well I wouldn't

Ya, well I wouldn't necessarily argue as to where to put themTongue out. Myself, I find that they work best toward the top of a page. It only makes sense that way to me considering that's where the page loads first. I'm just saying that I can do it if need be.