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2010-03-13, 22:54:03
Having recently discovered SimpleCSM, I'm finding it to be not only a great solution for designers who don't need all the features of one of the more bloated CMS systems out there, but since it's important that it's simple for the client, not just for the designer, I thought of a few features and tweaks I think would be helpful to clients. Perhaps some of these things are already possible, and I've just yet to discover them, but here goes.
Being able to assign H1, H2, Paragraph, to text in Page Editing Mode
Most clients don't like the idea of having to enter HTML mode to add <h1> and <p> tags themselves.
Being able to copy/paste anything in Page Editing Mode
This would allow the client to take pre-existing images in, say, a catalog, and duplicate them around the page with ease, and just change the image path from the Image Properties dialog to add new images. It would also be nice if something like <h1> tags were retained when you copy/paste text around.
A way to select uploaded images from the Image Properties dialog
Clients prefer the point-and-click approach, and it would be great if they would be able to select their uploaded images from the Files section directly in the Image Properties without having to copy/paste HTML code. Or at the very least, have it so that the default code displayed under Files/Image Control is Original Image Link, which they can then copy and paste into the Image Properties. At the moment, the default code is Original Image HTML.
Accurate width preview in Page Editing
Since most pages are more than 800 or 900px wide, it would be great if the preview window in Page Editing could accommodate such widths. At the moment, the window is less than 600px wide, and this can sometimes make text and images wrap in a strange way that clients might find confusing, which means they have to save and preview more than is necessary to get the desired result. If it's impractical to make the window wider, perhaps an optional scrollbar could be implemented?
That's what I've come up with so far. I think these ideas are consistent with SimpleCMS' mission statement, but even without these features, SimpleCMS really is an outstanding system, so kudos and thanks to everyone involved.
Being able to assign H1, H2, Paragraph, to text in Page Editing Mode
Most clients don't like the idea of having to enter HTML mode to add <h1> and <p> tags themselves.
Being able to copy/paste anything in Page Editing Mode
This would allow the client to take pre-existing images in, say, a catalog, and duplicate them around the page with ease, and just change the image path from the Image Properties dialog to add new images. It would also be nice if something like <h1> tags were retained when you copy/paste text around.
A way to select uploaded images from the Image Properties dialog
Clients prefer the point-and-click approach, and it would be great if they would be able to select their uploaded images from the Files section directly in the Image Properties without having to copy/paste HTML code. Or at the very least, have it so that the default code displayed under Files/Image Control is Original Image Link, which they can then copy and paste into the Image Properties. At the moment, the default code is Original Image HTML.
Accurate width preview in Page Editing
Since most pages are more than 800 or 900px wide, it would be great if the preview window in Page Editing could accommodate such widths. At the moment, the window is less than 600px wide, and this can sometimes make text and images wrap in a strange way that clients might find confusing, which means they have to save and preview more than is necessary to get the desired result. If it's impractical to make the window wider, perhaps an optional scrollbar could be implemented?
That's what I've come up with so far. I think these ideas are consistent with SimpleCMS' mission statement, but even without these features, SimpleCMS really is an outstanding system, so kudos and thanks to everyone involved.
