[pmwiki-users] Feature request: Action lists in skins

Hans design at flutesong.net
Tue Apr 5 09:00:28 CDT 2005


On Mon, Apr 04, 2005 at 01:43:43PM +0200, Joachim Durchholz wrote:
>So it would be best to have the skin just specify where the action list
>should go, but not specify the actions themselves.

I have done this in the design of GeminiTwo and FixFlow skins by
putting the actions into wiki pages: PageTopMenu and PageFootMenu.
These get inserted into the skin template via
  <!--PageTopMenuFmt-->
    <div id='topnav'><!--wiki:$Group.PageTopMenu Main.PageTopMenu--></div>
  <!--/PageTopMenuFmt-->
and
  <!--PageFootMenuFmt-->
    <div id='footnav'><!--wiki:$Group.PageFootMenu Main.PageFootMenu--></div>
  <!--/PageFootMenuFmt-->

This makes it possible to specify the actions as unordered lists of
links independent from the skin template, in an easy way by the
user and not necessarily the administrator, and customizable for
groups if wanted.

Other skins could use the same approach and use the same wiki pages to
define the action menus, instead of using lists of links in the
template, or a special printaction function.

The one disadvantage at the moment is that it is an additional setup
step to create the menu definition pages (PageTopMenu and
PageFootMenu). But if other skin authors would follow this approach we
could ask to have those pages with default action links included
in the wikilib.d distribution.

Each skin can process the unordered list of action links through css,
and can place it where it wants them. - Using the same menu definition
pages ensures the same action menus appearing in different skins, just
as it is now happening with the SideBar menu.

To summarize advantages and disadvantages:
+ Skins are simpler to design.
+ Action links are independently defined from the skins.
+ Action links can be defined by users and administrators.
+ Action links can be customized easily on a per group basis.
+ Only relevant action links need to be shown.
+ Custom links can be easily included.
+ Clear separation from design and content.
+ Skin installation is easy if default menu definition pages are
  included in wikilib.d as standard, just as there is a standard
  SideBar page included.
- Skin installation is more complicated if default menu definition
pages are not included in wikilib.d, since they have to be created
separately.


Best,
~Hans                           




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