How to design this user interface?
Asked by
Vincentt (
8094)
October 9th, 2008
I’m currently having some trouble design a user interface of a website, so I thought I’d ask Fluther for help.
The way this website is set up is that the admin can add “blocks” to pages (i.e. little bits of content, this can be some text but also e.g. a search box). This is currently done by listing the blocks at the top of the respective pages.
However, I also have the concept of “bundles”. Bundles are sets of blocks that can be added to a page in one go. For example, the “default” bundle includes the header, login box, etc.
Now my question is: what would be an easy-to-use interface for adding blocks to bundles (without using Javascript)?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
6 Answers
Could you make an administrative interface for managing bundles that’s similar to what you have for managing pages? If you can add blocks to pages, why not add blocks to bundles the same way?
Because, when someone that is allowed to add blocks is logged in, links are displayed on top of that page that allow you to add each respective block (i.e. like this).
Since you can’t view a bundle specifically (only pages that contain the bundle), I can’t do the same for bundles.
I do find this anything but ideal, so if anyone comes up with a great solution for bundles I’m certainly going to see if I can do something similar for pages.
Your knowledge is probably a five-fold times greater than mine in this area, but what about a CMS approach? Or perhaps re-modding one (say, Joomla, into something less clunky and tailored to your needs)? I may very well be out of line here, though…
Hehe, actually, my thing is a CMS-like thingy :P. I can’t quickly think of a CMS using a similar setup off the top of my head though.
So you want people to be able to organize blocks into reusable bundles, but you don’t have any administrative interfaces for them to create, list, configure, or delete bundles?
@sumul – I’m fine with an administrative interface if that’s what it takes, but I’m not sure how to lay out the page…
Answer this question
This question is in the General Section. Responses must be helpful and on-topic.