Hi All

A constant problem we face with clients is using the rich text editor to build feature rich pages. They simply don't get it and often end up with a page that looks like a mess. So I've been thinking!

Sheadawson's module - https://github.com/sheadawson/silverstripe-blocks, goes some way to solving the problem, but with the greatest respect its developer focused and needs to be reiterated to offer end-client intuitive functionality with a more drag and drop style UI - think mailchimp interface.

We often have clients who want to put these types of blocks on the page:

Video (with responsive wrapper)
Gallery
Slideshow
Content (normal text with hugely stripped down rich text features, bold, headings, etc)
FAQs / Accordion
Form
Pricing table
Image + Text (left or right, or stacked like 3 in a row)
File list
Related pages

... to name a few. What I suggest is rethinking the normal catch all "content" field, instead approaching on-page content in a block development, where you have a tool bar on the right of model admin which allows drag and drop of content blocks (a little like the widget manager), each content block has different functionality which loads in a simple form fields to populate the content block. This would allow even the most fearful of the rich text editor field to easily create a feature rich page.

My team are up for putting a lot of effort in to this module, but would like to recruit contributors too and get wider input from the community to really build something that will set the silverstripe CMS apart from competitors.

Thoughts very welcome!

You're not the only one, there are several 'content blocks' type modules around (over 5 decent ones at last count I think), and the demand has been recognised by the core team to such that they're evaluating options of cobbling one together out of all the various exisitng modules (all with their pros and cons).

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/silverstripe-dev/3kC1-iG1nYw

This is exactly the direction we have taken and have a very similar list of widgets (plus a lot related to eCommerce and online bookings).
We do still allow the HTML editor and have a large and complex merge tag system too.

It is really disappointing that this was created for V3 prior to any decent widget system - for this reason ours is completely independant of any of the others - but then I never liked the old widget code and I understood that silverstripe have not really used widgets either.

We went for predefining many layouts (like 3 columns, side bar and two main blocks, etc. (like this http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/119/8/6/gsp_layout_1___low_fidelity_wireframe_by_carlgarside-d4y09l1.png ) and then allow certain widgets in certain places and in most cases completely disconnected the content from this process. There is no more "Content" for each page and mainly the content is edited in small chunks prior to creating the pages.

The largest problem with this approach is to keep all the sections of the pages and content versioned and translatable.

All seems positive. And swaiba I agree, the widget code isnt great - something a lot better could be produced. I want to head towards something like https://wordpress.org/plugins/siteorigin-panels/

Have we got any concrete rollout plans for this? Would anyone be interested in starting a project on this? I would be more than happy to spec it out, wireframes, users stories, etc... then assign some development time and project manage it. Just needs a hands up who would be interested?

Hands up. I'd be interested in contributing to this with whatever I could.

Awesome - I will set up a github repo soon so we can start :)

Is there any progress on this? We'd like to participate too.