Core feature - like Items Manager Plugin

[tazmandev]

I have used GetSimple for some very little sites, but I get stuck with is on simple tasks like:

- portofolio section (somehow acheavable with I18N gallery, but not quite )
- list of products (not e-commerce , just a small products catalog and perhaps distributed in few categories)
- list of services
- list of parteners, or links
- testimonials
- various content

many of these content types needing one or more images , or main image with thumbnail

GetSimple CMS is a litle bit ... too simple.

Last year I found this great plug-in that seemed to solve all the problems:

Items Manager v0.9

Unfortunately, it is in alpha stage since a very long time, and seems like new problems keep showing up.

My point is that GetSimple is not complete withouth this plugin or with the features it offers.

And I know what I am saing ... we need some way of creating content with getsimle other that simple pages.

Wordpress came up with Custom Post Types since v3. 1
Drupal does this since ever.
Joomla has advanced taxonomy system that allows to create custom content structures.
etc. ..

GetSimple is great because it's light, but ... it is too light.

I am trying to recomend GetSimple to my clients, but they always want some little things that are imposible or very dificult to achive with GS.
And if I modify the template to suit their needs, the admin just doesn't provide a clean way to manage that content.

People have made great plugins for GS like news, blog etc but these are too specific.

In order for getsimple spread needs to be a little more versatile.

Super great work so far!

[Connie]

please do not compare with WordPress, Drupal and especially not with Joomla (one of the most cms from hell ;=) )

your suggestions are legitime, but that comparison is not (IMHO)

but they always want some little things that are imposible or very dificult to achive with GS.

until now I always could fulfill the needs of these small websites,

you listed the item-manager above which in my opinion should be continued, that would be a great leap forward, you are right, but it should always be done with plugins, not in the core

[polyfragmented]

tazmandev,

have you seen mikeh's post in his plugin's thread? he's actively working on the items manager right now and is open to suggestions.

I cannot speak for the core team, but I am quite sure we won't see your request implemented in the core. It's too specific for the project's mission statement. And, last but not least, there's a plugin which is at least 3/4 of the way.

[tazmandev]

Connie:

a. ) Sorry for comparing GetSimple with joomla. Extremely rough thing to do, indeed

Regarding the other CMS, I made the comparison because I would like to build not just "very small websites".
GS should be able to do more than this.

Nowadays websites are not what they used to be, just take a look at any 2010 - 2012 site template on ThemeForest.net to see how many features designers prebuild with them.

b.) Just try to convert a professional template with several features like, portfolio, price tables, services, testimonials and so on, to GetSimple and you will find out that GS is simply not ready for this kind of job.

Remember that the client has to be able to modify such data in the site!

c.) Regarding "Items Manager v0.9" it seems to me that it is way too complex for only 1 man to deal with it. I know the team is busy with launching of 3.1 final, but perhaps Items Manager could get some attention. (actually, the purpose of my debate )

This plugin is some kind of universal plugin for - News, Products, Blog, Catalog, testimonials, Special Offers, links, articles, partners section, contact or team list, various lists, etc.

One could do almost anything with just this plugin, in a structured way.

Items Manager v0.9 is really, really general purpose and versatile (IMHO), and that is why I thought it could make it-s way to core. It is ok as plugin, but it will be difficult to synchronize with I18N, for an example ...

I think GS needs such a powerful feature to rich it-s potential. As core or plugin feature It definitely needs it in order to be able to create professional websites.

Respectfully,
tazmandev, aka Calin

[ccagle8]

b.) Just try to convert a professional template with several features like, portfolio, price tables, services, testimonials and so on, to GetSimple and you will find out that GS is simply not ready for this kind of job.

Remember, "Complicated" does not equal "Professional"

a. ) Sorry for comparing GetSimple with joomla. Extremely rough thing to do, indeed

Ha, it's not the same ballgame. Joomla is a beast that even devs can't figure out... why would we want anything like that?

Regarding the other CMS, I made the comparison because I would like to build not just "very small websites".  GS should be able to do more than this.

And it can... with Plugins. Core funtionality will not be setup to do stuff like that. I put code into the core based on the 80/20 rule. If 80% of it's END USERS (not devs) will need something like that, then I will consider adding it to the core.

[mvlcek]

Items Manager v0.9 is really, really general purpose and versatile (IMHO), and that is why I thought it could make it-s way to core. It is ok as plugin, but it will be difficult to synchronize with I18N, for an example ...

I'm also in the process of implementing a general plugin like items manager, but on basis of pages - every item would be a page, can thus be added to the navigation tree, translated by I18N plugin means and listed and searched for using I18N Search: I18N Special Pages.

[tazmandev]

I'm also in the process of implementing a general plugin like items manager, but on basis of pages - every item would be a page, can thus be added to the navigation tree, translated by I18N plugin means and listed and searched for using I18N Search: I18N Special Pages.

This kind of aproach would make a lot of sense, indeed. This way we could use I18N for languages, and I18N Custom Fields for difrent type of data ..., and the plugin would use more of the system core.

Very interesting aproach, really, and would solve lots of things.

[shawn_a]

I found myself instantly dismissing the authors post with the same" its not drupal" argument, but then i thought about it. It sounds like ( for the features mentioned ) that it would all be doable with 2 things.

1. A standard back end data store.

2. A front end templating system. It can be fairly basic by simply adding the functionality to GS core of allowing multiple section or editor instances in the admin interface. So instead of just a page editor there would be and editor for each section in the "module template" and either static data or linked to the backend data store.

This whole thing in istelf could even probably be a plguin.

For the datastore, plugins can be made to interface with this directly, for example a jquery datatables editor or some other individual record field editor if one chose.

The front end would be a module system, not exactly theme styles, and not exactly components something like pages inside a page.

It does sound like item manager is pretty close to this, although i haven't used it yet. But i imagine it will have limitation with regards to its db and it front end record editor and non shareable templates.

[tazmandev]

Items Manager v0.9 is really, really general purpose and versatile (IMHO), and that is why I thought it could make it-s way to core. It is ok as plugin, but it will be difficult to synchronize with I18N, for an example ...

I'm also in the process of implementing a general plugin like items manager, but on basis of pages - every item would be a page, can thus be added to the navigation tree, translated by I18N plugin means and listed and searched for using I18N Search: I18N Special Pages.

mvlcek: will your plugin based on news sistem described here on your webpage ?

(% searchresults tags:news numWords:-1 order:reverseurl %)

Could this be used with I18N custom fields to add a a thumbnail ?

[mvlcek]

mvlcek: will your plugin based on news sistem described here on your webpage ?

(% searchresults tags:news numWords:-1 order:reverseurl %)

Could this be used with I18N custom fields to add a a thumbnail ?

Most functionality of the coming Special Pages plugin is already available, though not that comfortable.
To show e.g. a product list with thumbnails:

• install the I18N Custom Fields plugin and the I18N Search plugin
  
• configure a custom field thumbnail of type image
  
• create a page for each product, give it a product-specific tag/keyword like product and select a thumbnail in the custom image field
  
• create a component renderproduct like described here and include something like <img src="<?php get_custom_field('thumbnail'); ?>"/>
  
• create a product overview page with (% searchresults tags:product component=renderproduct %) (and any other parameters like sorting, etc.) on it
  

[tazmandev]

mvlcek: will your plugin based on news sistem described here on your webpage ?

(% searchresults tags:news numWords:-1 order:reverseurl %)

Could this be used with I18N custom fields to add a a thumbnail ?

Most functionality of the coming Special Pages plugin is already available, though not that comfortable.
To show e.g. a product list with thumbnails:

• install the I18N Custom Fields plugin and the I18N Search plugin
  
• configure a custom field thumbnail of type image
  
• create a page for each product, give it a product-specific tag/keyword like product and select a thumbnail in the custom image field
  
• create a component renderproduct like described here and include something like <img src="<?php get_custom_field('thumbnail'); ?>"/>
  
• create a product overview page with (% searchresults tags:product component=renderproduct %) (and any other parameters like sorting, etc.) on it
  

This is awesome! Important is that the end user customers can edit the items and thumbnails themselves.
This is also very flexible.
Again 10x a lot for these great great plugins.

[mvlcek]

I18N Special Pages is available now.

[tazmandev]

I18N Special Pages is available now.

@mvlcek : thanks a lot for the great value adding plugins on GS.

I am will be building a project next week in witch I will try special pages plugin: www.printuri.eu .

[datiswous]

Maybe there could be a sticky post somewhere or something in the wiki what (sort of) plugins you can best use in specific situations, in which the desired functionality is not present in the core of GS. I think a sticky in the plugins section could be useful.

[Jaywalker]

Maybe there could be a sticky post somewhere or something in the wiki what (sort of) plugins you can best use in specific situations, in which the desired functionality is not present in the core of GS. I think a sticky in the plugins section could be useful.

I agree. for this great product it's sometimes a bit difficult to find out what great pulgins were already written for it..