how to disable create new page option

[ANSH7662]

i want my client to not to create a new page i want to give him limited 10 pages how can i disable create new page option?


Thanks in advance

[Connie]

I think your plan is very specific ;=)

If you give somebody the permission for "pages" in the user-management, this means he can create and edit and delete pages

what you plan is in my opinion / knowledge not possible with GS (and very extraordinary ;=) )

[gugu]

Make 10 standard page for your client and delete the Create New Page function .
(but you must have php knowledge to delete a php function)
I recommend you to (delete the Create New Page button).

[Connie]

I think no website stays like it is forever
every website gets new content or needs updates
if nothing will be changed anymore you do not need a CMS at all, just some static pages

the question here is how to disable the "create new pages" function for one user and not for all

but please explain more detailled:

you do not want to allow your client to create new pages
but the clients should be able to edit existing pages?

as I said before: this is not possible with GetSimple

[didou038]

Just an idea :

Isn't it possible to create a plugin that count the number of page and so disactivate the create's button while the max page number is created ?

[Carlos]

@didou038

Then you'd have to prevent access to the plugins admin panel, or else the client will be able to disable that hypothetical plugin. :-)

[Connie]

I really do not understand why a client, who pays the service he gets, should be restricted to 10 pages ...

what kind of business model is that? Please explain that to me

[stryker]

Hello Connie, ANSH7662 and others,

The timing of this thread is amazing as yesterday I wondering exactly the same thing and was thinking of asking it in the forum but decided to see if I could find a way easily to accomplish this. I do have a solution that seems to work for me - The code change is at the bottom of this post.

First I would like to offer possible reasons why a website developer would want a certain page limitation for the customer. Maybe ANSH7662 has similar reasons or not but this is why I think it might be useful.

In my experience (yours may be different) but the general small business owner (of which I think this product is PERFECT for) knows a little bit about editing documents (like MS WORD or an e-mail etc) but is completely unfamiliar with the limitations of website programming and design. If you let them loose on GS and allow them to create 100+ pages they may assume that it will "Sort it out automatically" without any considerations to the length of the menu bar or other design limitations. For example you can't fit 20 page links onto a menu bar that's designed for 10. The website will break and a phone call or e-mail will surely follow with a WHY does it happen.

Educating the end user on the Do's and Don'ts of adding content with low support overheads is a major challenge and I believe this should be compensated with a thorough, step by step manual and maybe even a video of how to do things. Basically what I'm saying is that trying to explain that adding pages to a MENU is a no-no but internal linked pages are OK could be easily forgotten over time - They being self sufficient should be the main goal. These are users that don't know how to or have never even resized images before (which is why imagizer is so great) and I REALLY like to keep it VERY VERY simple for them.

I know dropdown menus can alleviate some limitations regarding the menu system but GS doesn't have the feature natively and I'm still figuring out I18N's plugin of which I need to perform some final CSS formatting so I 'm completely happy with it. (but that's another topic)

Another comment I have related to the above reason is that most small business websites only really need up to 10 pages (again my experience). They have only a few requirements and rarely do I get asked for more than 10 pages. In fact I encourage them to have less than that because of usability considerations and mostly they can use headings to sperate the content on the same page. Of course it depends on the content though but I recommend less than 10 pages for a typical small retail or service oriented business.

The second reason I can think of is for financial gains. For those business that want more than the allotted pages need to pay for small fee to UPGRADE to another package that offers more pages. Similarly if someone wanted a Photo gallery or Clients only area then a small fee would be asked to enable this feature. It's just marketing I suppose. A product can have a very small base price with limited features but then pay more for extras or Add-ons which may include more pages etc.

Sorry for the long explanation (I can get carried away at times)

Now for the solution that I have found which is simply to remove the "Create New Pages" button on the PAGES page. I believe this is the only link that allows the creation of a new page from the backend. By the way I also use the "User Manager" plugin which is great and I DISABLE the Plugins, Settings and theme tabs so users don't meddle with stuff.

To remove the button open up Admin/template/sidebar-pages.php

Near the top I REM out the following line so the user can't see it to click on it and can easily be undone if I need to add a new page for them.

<li><a href="edit.php" accesskey="<?php echo find_accesskey(i18n_r('SIDE_CREATE_NEW'));?>" <?php if((!isset($_GET['id'])) && (get_filename_id()==='edit')) { echo 'class="current"'; } ?>><?php i18n('SIDE_CREATE_NEW'); ?></a></li>

Not an upgrade friendly solution but a workaround none-the-less.

It's an interesting topic and the above is just what I think about it

[Connie]

well, I know that some clients add too many pages and wonder why the menue is full ;=)
but then they ask for help and after explaining they understand and sort their pages (at least my clients)

I do give my clients a short manual with screenshots of their admin-backend so they recognize their environment and understand what to do

I never had any problem with clients adding really too much pages, mostly they ask me to add their new content. I remember once a CMS developer said:

at least when the clients get their CMS they will notice that they do not want to edit the content themselves, most of them stick with the CMS admin to have content added. And in that situation a CMS is very comfortable for the admin ;=)

to offer limited packages is for me never a question of GS, I offer different packages, GetSimple (smaller sites), CMSMadeSimple (bigger sites), WP (blogging sites)

If your patch satisfies ANSH7662 or anybody else, I ask to documentate that! After any upgrade it is difficult to remember what were the patches for any of the clients ;=)
Cheers, Connie

[stryker]

Hi Connie,

I agree with your comments.

I've really noticed a change in my clients assumptions lately and their expectations on what they can and should be able to do on their own website. With the advent of Joomla, wordpress, Facebook and the like, having a bulletproof interactive interface where the control of the content seems standard it seems that more people now expect not only to have control but the interface is user friendly.

Even some of my old clients who I have designed static websites for out the blue ask for their login and password so they can update their website. They seem to think that it's normal now.

After coming across GS I have completely changed my development process now. All my new clients will have this admin interface, especially with the User Management and Imagizer plugins etc. I have researched a number of CMS's and GS comes close to perfect in regards to template development, Features, Support and most importantly ease of content management for the typical small business owner. (CKeditor combined with GS's file browser is both simple yet powerful)

I've digressed from this topic but I want to add that suppling websites to customers where they feel comfortable and confident in creating website pages from scratch (within the template structure) is my ultimate goal. Limiting page numbers is just a piece in the overall puzzle. One less question they need to ask. I also want to create a really good end user manual and maybe even some video tutorials to increase their confidence in making changes. The more they can do themselves the better I think. (Of course if you rely on changing their content as an income stream then that may not be a good thing

This workaround, as you say, can be difficult to track, especially when some sites need to be upgraded in the future. I have a document that I keep all the core changes I make to GS, CKeditor etc. to make that process easier.

Looking forward to talking again Geez, I waffle on some times, I just realised how long this post is.

[Carlos]

Not an upgrade friendly solution but a workaround none-the-less.

I haven't tried, but GS 3.1's admin panel menu links are styled with their own classes, so you can hide them with css.

[Carlos]

I've done this small plugin. If activated, when you try to create a page you get redirected to the admin panel's main page.

Code:

<?php
// register plugin
$thisfile = basename(__FILE__, ".php");
register_plugin(
    $thisfile,
    'No New Pages',
    '0.3',
    'Carlos Navarro', '#',
    'Prevents creation of new pages', '', ''
);

add_action('header','nonewpages');

function nonewpages() { ?>
    <style type="text/css">
        #sb_newpage { display:none; }
        #submit_line #dropdown { display:none; }
    </style>
    <?php
    if (basename($_SERVER['PHP_SELF'])=='edit.php') {
        if (!isset($_GET['id'])) {
            global $cookie_redirect;
            redirect($cookie_redirect);
        }
    }
}

// end of file

Copy and save as nonewpages.php in your plugins folder.

Edit, 0.2: I've updated it. Now it also hides the 'create new page' link (in GS 3.1).
Edit, 0.3: Hides dropdown (that allowed creating by cloning an existing page)

[stryker]

Fantastic Solution Carlos

I can now disable or enable this plugin from the plugins tab which the user won't have access to. (user management plugin)

Top marks for this one.

[gugu]

Thanks Carlos.

[n00dles101]

might be an idea to also hide the "dropdown" div to display:none aswell, as this allows cloning of pages when editing.

M

[Carlos]

might be an idea to also hide the "dropdown" div to display:none aswell, as this allows cloning of pages when editing.

Good catch Mike.
I've updated the code by adding:

Code:

#submit_line #dropdown { display:none; }

(However I've not added the code to prevent manually entered links with "action=clone", it's just hidden... and one could see it in the page source :-))

Another idea for these kind of "limited" sites would be hiding the "X" in the page manager, to prevent deleting pages (if you want a fixed number). And another one: preventing slug changes...

[yojoe]

And another one: preventing slug changes...

If you can dream it, you can do it ;-)

This would be definitely a nice addon .

[Connie]

I hear all the castrating knifes and scissors getting sharpened ;=)

[mganko]

And another one: preventing slug changes...

I know that this thread is old but if someone need to prevent some page options changes or disable delete page option, here it's plugin:
http://get-simple.info/extend/plugin/page-lock/741/