A sugestion list

[miniwark]

Hi !

i am actually testing, GetSimple and i am still in the processes in the final choice of my CMS (between GetSimple and TemplateCMS). I have a list of suggestion and remarks for GetSimple. I hope they will be useful.


== General ==

* Add a default 'tagline' in general Website settings : Nearly all the themes i have tested use a 'tagline' component. It's already exist in the defaults components, but when i was searching for where to change it, my simple mind was looking for it in the website options.

* Add defaults meta-tags and descriptions options : Most of the time, i think of them only one time and did not change them per page basis. So i would be happy to fill them in a general section, and if i did not put nothing in the page fields, then the template would use the general ones. Actually i need cut-n-paste this on every page and my fingers don't like it.

* An 'author' fields in Pages options would be cool too : Actually the good way is to create a custom field just for it. So it's necessary to add a plugin for just this common field. It's also possible to use theme components for this but it's then site wide and not page related (some themes use this way). I can live without it as i am to lazy to do blogging, but some other people may like it along with a 'tag' one.


== Themes components ==

* Add a way to included components in distributed themes : Nearly all the themes need 'tagline' and 'sidebar' but they may not exist anymore. Alternately a few theme ask for copy-paste components after theme install. Maybe i have say this before but i am lazy. I would prefer to just install the theme files. Something like a "/components" folder in the theme witch serve as a fallback if the component did not exist would be useful. Maybe it's already easy to do this with a bit of Php in the theme files, but i do not know Php enough to do it myself. If there is not time to do this, a "missing components" warning would do the job.


== Plugins ==

* Add a dependency system in the plugin API. I do not have look inside the API, but some plugins obviously depends from others (like the I18 related plugins) but it seem to me than there i not check to see if the parent plugin is installed/activated.

* In the mean time an 'incompatible with' system and/or 'GetSimple version' check would be useful. For example "Share 5+" and "Share 3+" are said to be incompatibles in their descriptions, and it's may the case of plugins who do nearly the same thing (like the Caches plugins).

* Add a link to the support forum thread in the plugin list. Actually i need to go to GS.info to search for the plugin forum thread. I am very lazy, i would like to just clik on the support link directly from my admin page. The same goes for the themes.


== Settings and Support ==

* In the settings, please separate the "Website Settings" from the "User Profile" in two pages. Because the "User profile" stand in fact for the default admin user. So, there may be problems with the multi-user module (like an other admin change the first admin infos/pass by mistake).

* Break the "Support" button in two : "support" and "security". In this place there are basic infos, than may help basic users (Getting Started) and admin only thing like "Health Check" and "View Failed Login Attempts" log.

* Alternately, it would be good if the plugins have a directive to put their logs in this same secured place. Actually plugins logs pages can be everywhere.


== The Cache Thing ==

* By reading the documentation, it's very confusing for me to know what is the recommended way to do caching. There are plenty of concurrent plugins, an .htaccess how-to in the wiki, and a caching core feature for 3.1b explained here. I assume the last page would be the future recommended way, but she is obviously written for developers. The fact than there is not a basic cache how-to for my little lazy brain leave me a bit lost. I am not sure than it's related, but compared to the other CMS i have tested the only big drawback of GetSimple is the rendering speed (on the same host). It's probably just a cache/no-cache rendering difference, so i would appreciate a short recommended cache how-to for me

[mvlcek]

* Add a dependency system in the plugin API. I do not have look inside the API, but some plugins obviously depends from others (like the I18 related plugins) but it seem to me than there i not check to see if the parent plugin is installed/activated.

Actually, each plugin of the I18N Xxx plugins works without I18N, but support multi language sites, if the I18N plugin is installed. Similarily, if I18N Search is installed, I18N Gallery and I18N Custom Fields will add their information to the I18N Search index, but will work without I18N Search, too.

* Add a link to the support forum thread in the plugin list. Actually i need to go to GS.info to search for the plugin forum thread. I am very lazy, i would like to just clik on the support link directly from my admin page. The same goes for the themes.

There is already a support link to the forum thread unless the plugin author was lazy.

== The Cache Thing ==
...

In my opinion a GetSimple site is a dynamic site with PHP and a cache should only be used for specific functionalities like

• the navigation, where otherwise all page files have to be read
  
• search in the form of a search index
  

A cache storing all properties and all contents of all pages in one file is counter-productive - you have to read the whole site and might even run out of memory.
A cache with all properties, but without the content of the pages will be faster than reading all pages for the navigation, but much slower than the specialized cache of I18N navigation.

[miniwark]

* Add a dependency system in the plugin API. I do not have look inside the API, but some plugins obviously depends from others (like the I18 related plugins) but it seem to me than there i not check to see if the parent plugin is installed/activated.

Actually, each plugin of the I18N Xxx plugins works without I18N, but support multi language sites, if the I18N plugin is installed. Similarily, if I18N Search is installed, I18N Gallery and I18N Custom Fields will add their information to the I18N Search index, but will work without I18N Search, too.

That's good to read, it was not obvious for me. So I18N plugin is not a good example in this case, but there are plugins who request another one to work. For example News Manager RSS and Document Indexer .

* Add a link to the support forum thread in the plugin list. Actually i need to go to GS.info to search for the plugin forum thread. I am very lazy, i would like to just clik on the support link directly from my admin page. The same goes for the themes.

There is already a support link to the forum thread unless the plugin author was lazy.

I did not have seen link for the forum thread inside the admin > plugin part, only one to the author website. There is effectively one in the extend repository (on this site). I just would like to see this link also displayed in the plugin list inside the admin/plugin part. This is just a very micro request from the lazy me.

== The Cache Thing ==
...

In my opinion a GetSimple site is a dynamic site with PHP and a cache should only be used for specific functionalities like

• the navigation, where otherwise all page files have to be read
  
• search in the form of a search index
  

A cache storing all properties and all contents of all pages in one file is counter-productive - you have to read the whole site and might even run out of memory.
A cache with all properties, but without the content of the pages will be faster than reading all pages for the navigation, but much slower than the specialized cache of I18N navigation.

If y ask basic cache explanation, it's only because i need it for speed display and because i am lost between all the proposed solutions here. For me the CMS part is for the editor, the viewer just want fast display of the pages. Actually, in my host my index page is generated in 4 to 7 seconds. It's probably the case, because she is generated by php+xml each time and because it's a shared hosting. The same index page, from "save as" with my browser is displayed in 800 miliseconds. Of course if a cache system is counter-productive and take more time than just generating the page, it's not interesting.

Actually i just don't know witch page plugin/system to choice for speeding page display there is to much choice and i am lost. I do not ask 800 milliseconds for each pages, but 7 seconds is a bit to much in my mind.

[mvlcek]

For example News Manager RSS and Document Indexer.

Yes, document indexer is an addon for I18N Search ;-)

I did not have seen link for the forum thread inside the admin > plugin part, only one to the author website. There is effectively one in the extend repository (on this site). I just would like to see this link also displayed in the plugin list inside the admin/plugin part. This is just a very micro request from the lazy me.

Oh, I thought you meant the plugin list in Extend.
Currently the author can only specify the home page link in the plugin, but no support thread link.

Actually i just don't know witch page plugin/system to choice for speeding page display there is to much choice and i am lost. I do not ask 800 milliseconds for each pages, but 7 seconds is a bit to much in my mind.

I agree that 7 seconds is too much, but I fear that's the problem of shared hosting. My site http://mvlcek.bplaced.net sometimes has response times of 10s for the first request, but most often the following requests are <1s (site has currently 76 pages).

But if I compare the number of php files (GetSimple and plugins, >20 files) read, parsed and executed for a request with the data read (one page and the navigation cache file, maybe some plugin settings), I'm not sure any further caching would achieve anything.