Drag and Drop IPB

[yorkiemal]

In future will the IPB GUI become something like the Blog where blocks can be dragged around and dropped anywhere, allowing the admin or user to be able to completely customise how the board looks, plus the ability to add new blocks/modules with the same/similar features and customisation options.

Maybe this is being a little ambitious, but what Wizzy has done with the Blog Content Blocks looks fantastic and it would be cool if this could be done on IPB allowing for full customisation of the board GUI.

And also this feature I havent seen on any other Bulletin Board that I know about anyways ;)

[Antony]

Reordering the Categories would be possible...

[elj]

Would be very nice... maybe also the option to 'lock' categories from being moving - e.g. if the admin wanted a 'news' category at the top.

[.Matt]

Nice idea to be able to order how you want them to be displayed actually!

Like the admin might want the "Help" forums at the top, but members might want that at the bottom :)

[tranceandy]

Yea after seeing the drag and drop capabilities of the Blog, would be really nice to see it in IPB and the Gallery :D

[backdream]

LIke MSN Spaces? Cool.

[mcg13]

My one and only suggestion for future versions of IPB would be to make the whole customization process a lot less complicated. There are so many variables, so many pieces of code that make up IPB... even if I knew how to code CSS, it'd take a miracle for an outsider to follow exactly what you guys have written. Heck, in lurking the support boards here, I've found a helpful line of CSS code just to add a background image. Without that bit of info, buried in a support thread, I'd never know how to do it.

All of the code elements you've made available in the Skin Manager tool are completely abstract. How is anyone supposed to know the difference between td.nopad and td, .divpad? They're just arbitrary variable names that mean nothing to us. As is, the Skin Manager is just trial and error. Don't know what a variable is? Change the color and reload your board to see what it is. That's not an efficient way to manage skin customization.

I'm not trying to be critical. I've just experienced 36 totally frustrating and completely unproductive hours trying to interpret the IPB CSS code in order to give my forum a unique look and feel. There has to be an easier way. I like the suggestion of drag and drop code mentioned above.

But, at a bare minimum, there should be places where we can drop our own perfectly functional HTML code into IPB and have it work. Right now, I'm cutting and pasting my own HTML into the IPB header (I've only gotten that far!) and it's been a total disaster. Tables are inexplicably blown out, everything outside my (ipbwrapper defined) 750px table is expanded to 100%, all text is centered when it shouldn't be.

As I've run into more and more problems in the customization process, I've lowered the bar another notch to at least get some level of working modification. Unfortunately, simplifying my design hasn't helped at all. To meet deadline, it looks like I'll have to use an off-the-shelf, default skin for my forum. And that's a real shame, because IPB certainly has limitless customization potential.

But, first things first... you should start by providing us with an image (of the default skin perhaps) that details all the parts of the board so we know what you're calling them. That way we at least know the name of the piece of the puzzle we want to change.

Here are a few suggestions, just for example, of how to make an intuitive skinning interface (via dialog boxes, check boxes, dropdown boxes) we can all understand. The customization options start from the top of the board and go all the way down to the bottom.

GLOBAL ELEMENTS

- Upload background image (if any)
- Tile background image? Yes/No

- Forum width (ie, table size) = 75%, 100%, 640px, 750px, 800px, etc.
- Table border color = #XXXXXX
- Table background color = #XXXXXX
- Text color =#XXXXXX
- Link color = #XXXXXX
- Visted link color = #XXXXXX


HEADER

- Upload custom logo? Yes/No
- Logo dimensions? Height=XXX Width=XXX
- Logo alignment? Center/Center, Left/Center, Right/Center, Left/Bottom, etc.

- Logo bar background color = #XXXXXX
- Logo bar background image = Yes/No


BOARD INDEX

- Table width = 75%, 100%, 640px, 750px, 800px, etc.
- Table border color = #XXXXXX
- Row 1 background color = #XXXXXX
- Row 2 background color = #XXXXXX
- Column 1 background color = #XXXXXX
- Column 2 background color = #XXXXXX


FOOTER

- Bottom bar height = XXXpx
- Bottom bar bgcolor = #XXXXXX
- Bottom bar background image? Yes/No

- Skin selector dropdown in bottom bar? Yes/No
- Language dropdown in bottom bar? Yes/No

- Display copyright info? Yes/No
- Copyright alignment = Left/Center/Right
- Display license info? Yes/No
- IPB licensed to name = XXXXXXXX


I could go on and on with examples, but I'm sure by now you catch my drift. You guys have obviously spent a great deal of time in designing and developing a superior product. Now you should devote some time to making it easier for your customers to access some of that untapped "Power" in IPB. It should be easy enough for a total novice to use and still be flexible enough for a pro to do advanced modifications. Maybe that was your intent with the current Skin Manager, but I don't think you've gotten there just yet.

Respectfully,
Michael

http://www.killermontstreet.com/forum
http://www.biscuitbabble.com

[yorkiemal]

My one and only suggestion for future versions of IPB would be to make the whole customization process a lot less complicated. There are so many variables, so many pieces of code that make up IPB... even if I knew how to code CSS, it'd take a miracle for an outsider to follow exactly what you guys have written. Heck, in lurking the support boards here, I've found a helpful line of CSS code [i]just to add a background image[/i]. Without that bit of info, buried in a support thread, I'd never know how to do it.

All of the code elements you've made available in the Skin Manager tool are completely abstract. How is anyone supposed to know the difference between [b]td.nopad[/b] and [b]td, .divpad[/b]? They're just arbitrary variable names that mean nothing to us. As is, the Skin Manager is just trial and error. Don't know what a variable is? Change the color and reload your board to see what it is. That's not an efficient way to manage skin customization.

I'm not trying to be critical. I've just experienced 36 totally frustrating and completely unproductive hours trying to interpret the IPB CSS code in order to give my forum a unique look and feel. There has to be an easier way. I like the suggestion of drag and drop code mentioned above.

But, at a bare minimum, there should be places where we can drop our own perfectly functional HTML code into IPB and have it work. Right now, I'm cutting and pasting my own HTML into the IPB header (I've only gotten that far!) and it's been a total disaster. Tables are inexplicably blown out, everything outside my (ipbwrapper defined) 750px table is expanded to 100%, all text is centered when it shouldn't be.

As I've run into more and more problems in the customization process, I've lowered the bar another notch to at least get [i]some[/i] level of working modification. Unfortunately, simplifying my design hasn't helped at all. To meet deadline, it looks like I'll have to use an off-the-shelf, default skin for my forum. And that's a real shame, because IPB certainly has limitless customization potential.

But, first things first... you should start by providing us with an image (of the default skin perhaps) that details all the parts of the board so we know what you're calling them. That way we at least know the name of the piece of the puzzle we want to change.

Here are a few suggestions, just for example, of how to make an intuitive skinning interface (via dialog boxes, check boxes, dropdown boxes) we can all understand. The customization options start from the top of the board and go all the way down to the bottom.

[b]GLOBAL ELEMENTS[/b]

- Upload background image (if any)

- Tile background image? Yes/No

- Forum width (ie, table size) = 75%, 100%, 640px, 750px, 800px, etc.

- Table border color = #XXXXXX

- Table background color = #XXXXXX

- Text color =#XXXXXX

- Link color = #XXXXXX

- Visted link color = #XXXXXX

[b]HEADER[/b]

- Upload custom logo? Yes/No

- Logo dimensions? Height=XXX Width=XXX

- Logo alignment? Center/Center, Left/Center, Right/Center, Left/Bottom, etc.

- Logo bar background color = #XXXXXX

- Logo bar background image = Yes/No

[b]BOARD INDEX[/b]

- Table width = 75%, 100%, 640px, 750px, 800px, etc.

- Table border color = #XXXXXX

- Row 1 background color = #XXXXXX

- Row 2 background color = #XXXXXX

- Column 1 background color = #XXXXXX

- Column 2 background color = #XXXXXX

[b]FOOTER[/b]

- Bottom bar height = XXXpx

- Bottom bar bgcolor = #XXXXXX

- Bottom bar background image? Yes/No

- Skin selector dropdown in bottom bar? Yes/No

- Language dropdown in bottom bar? Yes/No

- Display copyright info? Yes/No

- Copyright alignment = Left/Center/Right

- Display license info? Yes/No

- IPB licensed to name = XXXXXXXX

I could go on and on with examples, but I'm sure by now you catch my drift. You guys have obviously spent a great deal of time in designing and developing a superior product. Now you should devote some time to making it easier for your customers to access some of that untapped "Power" in IPB. It should be easy enough for a total novice to use and still be flexible enough for a pro to do advanced modifications. Maybe that was your intent with the current Skin Manager, but I don't think you've gotten there just yet.

Respectfully,

Michael

http://www.killermontstreet.com/forum
http://www.biscuitbabble.com

I agree with you on this one for a novice of IPB the customisation can be trial and error, i've also spent many hours some disastrous trying to get the board to match in with my web site, it could do to be made simpler for newbies who wish to customise their board, some of the off the shelf skins aren't always what you want, which leaves you no choice but to customise the board yourself unless you pay for a custom customisation.
I had problems with the profile and UserCP templates I spent hours trying to get those how I wanted them to look, they still didn't end up how I had planned them to look, thats why when I saw what had been done with the blog I thought it would be a cool feature for IPB, which would make it easier to customise the board without editing the skin templates, you would just drag the component to where you want it to appear instead of editing the code to relocate it plus the user could customise it to there own style by moving elements around, might even be good for left handed people they could have the menu items on the opposite side of the board to where they are located at present.

Matt what are your views on this suggestion is it a feasable option for IPB?

[cojo]

I agree with mcg13's comments. It's obvious a lot of work has been put into the current Skin Manager, but IMO it completely misses the customer base. For a new or novice skinner, the system is overwhelming and confusing. I bet those who dare to customize end up spending many hours doing trial and error or throw their hands up and go w/ someone else's pre-built skin. For a veteran skinner, it seems the interface would be to slow for them.

I'm far from being a veteran skinner, but I know CSS and XHTML well. When customizing our board, I wanted to tear out the entire Skin Manager from the control panel. It turned what should have been a couple hours work into 15 times the amount.

Although both yorkiebar and mcg13 give good suggestions here, I would caution that one solution might not fit all. Our server's control panel offers three different skins -- complete newbie, somewhat experienced user, and a power user. Perhaps this might be overkill for a forum. The current manager adds way too much time to a task.

[Logan]

I like the idea...

[nicoo]

One idea I had:

- being able to choose which logo/image (logo4.gif) to use on a per forum basis. This is now possible to do by creating a child skin set, and upload another logo4.gif image in the appropriate folder. But it is not perfect IMO to create 10 new skins (with its new folder, skin-templates, ... ) just for displaying another image on the top of every forum ...

[Guest]

One idea I had:

- being able to choose which logo/image (logo4.gif) to use on a per forum basis. This is now possible to do by creating a child skin set, and upload another logo4.gif image in the appropriate folder. But it is not perfect IMO to create 10 new skins (with its new folder, skin-templates, ... ) just for displaying another image on the top of every forum ...

That's already theoretically possible using HTML Logic :D

[nicoo]

That's already theoretically possible using HTML Logic :D

That's true, but it would be better to have that in "Manage Forums". You can change the forums title, ..., would be nice to be able to choose the forums logo too.

Ok this is not an very important feautre, but could be usefull.

[Why Two Kay]

That's true, but it would be better to have that in "Manage Forums". You can change the forums title, ..., would be nice to be able to choose the forums logo too.

Ok this is not an very important feautre, but could be usefull.

I like the idea!

[OT] I also like your avatar ;) [/OT]