Sidebars and Layout Restrictions.

[TDBF]

Can you please remove the sidebar and Layout restrictions that you enforce on us throughout the community software.

I want the ability to place sidebars in the places where you purposely put restrictions on us (For whatever reason is beyond me?). Sure I can create a plugin to do this, but why should I or can you please explain the reason for limiting us in such a manner?

Also, changing the layout to remove feature such as the navigation confuses my users and I get complaints that the site is broken because of this.

Please, seriously think about removing these restrictions and allow us to decide where we should place Sidebars, this would make myself a happy camper!

Thanks ?

[steve00]

On 5/4/2018 at 5:21 PM, TDBF said:

Can you please remove the sidebar and Layout restrictions that you enforce on us throughout the community software.

I want the ability to place sidebars in the places where you purposely put restrictions on us (For whatever reason is beyond me?). Sure I can create a plugin to do this, but why should I or can you please explain the reason for limiting us in such a manner?

Also, changing the layout to remove feature such as the navigation confuses my users and I get complaints that the site is broken because of this.

Please, seriously think about removing these restrictions and allow us to decide where we should place Sidebars, this would make myself a happy camper!

Thanks ?

Sorry ... sidebars are just that ... for the sides ... where else can you place sidebars ?

Unless am missing something here ?

[TDBF]

8 minutes ago, steve00 said:

Sorry ... sidebars are just that ... for the sides ... where else can you place sidebars ?

Unless am missing something here ?

I am talking about the restriction which IPS places on where you can place blocks. For example, you can't place blocks on the Calendar because IPS has coded it that way.

The code used for this is used throughout a lot of the areas within IPS code to prevent the usage of Sidebars.

\IPS\Output::i()->sidebar['enabled'] = FALSE;

I would like these removed, so the we the users can decide to use Blocks or not in all areas of the IPS suite.

[Daniel F]

There are some pages, where the sidebar just doesn't work because there's no space!
e.g. calendar view, or sites with a fix left sidebar like the ModCP and profile

 

But I agree that there are some where it doesn't make much sense and have raised an internal suggestion that we should review all places and that we could probably allow it on e.g. the terms and privacy pages.

[TDBF]

5 hours ago, Daniel F said:

There are some pages, where the sidebar just doesn't work because there's no space!
e.g. calendar view, or sites with a fix left sidebar like the ModCP and profile

 

But I agree that there are some where it doesn't make much sense and have raised an internal suggestion that we should review all places and that we could probably allow it on e.g. the terms and privacy pages.

And what if I want Sideblocks on my Calendar or ModACP? ?

Fair enough I understand your point regarding the Profile Area.

My biggest issue with Sidebars is that blocks are shown throughout the whole Application, regardless of where you originally placed them. Sidebars/Blocks are not modular enough and should be Area/Page/ specific (Featured, Index, Category and Article). If I want to place a Related Article block next to an article, I can't, as the block is shown everywhere throughout the application. This pretty much makes CMS useless as an article management system for me.

If you look at these pages, I am stuck with the same blocks on each area/page regardless of where I want the blocks.

https://www.thedarkblues.co.uk/news/

https://www.thedarkblues.co.uk/news/dundee-fc-news/

https://www.thedarkblues.co.uk/news/dundee-fc-news/mccann-marks-50th-game-in-charge-with-vital-win-r612/

Example of how sidebars should work:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/scotland

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-44031755

The blocks are placed specifically for each area of their news sections and article.

[opentype]

5 minutes ago, TDBF said:

If I want to place a Related Article block next to an article, I can't, as the block is shown everywhere throughout the application.

That would depend on the block, since the block itself might or might not react to the page it is placed on. For example: the Pages Database Filters only show on the listing view, not on the record view, since there is nothing to filter on the record view. The Similar Content block only shows on the record view, not on the listing view and so on. 
Also, you are saying, that blocks show throughout the application, which just isn’t true. 

Of course more granular control might be a perfectly valid request for certain situations. But keep in mind that it is not a simple case of “more options are better”. Other users might want to have blocks show more globally and would complain that they have to put the same blocks over and over again on every single view …