#308 - Grid editing

Identifier #308
Issue type Feature request or suggestion
Title Grid editing
Status Closed (no changes needed)
Handling member Chris Graham
Addon core
Description Some pages, esp zone front pages, fit a grid very well. However users find it difficult to impose their own grids because you need to use table editing tools on top of a full WYSIWYG editors, and blocks don't have top level prominence in the editor, so it's easy for white-space to get in, etc.

Therefore it would be good if pages could be designated as grid pages. This designation would be automatic, based on whether the page fits the pattern. Default front pages would be made to fit it. Grid pages would not be edited with the WYSIWYG editor, but instead with a new simple grid editor.

It would not be a WYSIWYG editor, and it would not directly be a Comcode editor (although Comcode could be typed). Primarily it would be based around the grid, and either blocks or Comcode in any particular grid cell. Strictly one block per cell, or Comcode in a cell (no block).

The blocks would *not* be rendered in the editor like simple buttons like they currently are in the WYSIWYG editor. They probably would still be buttons in terms of the HTML used to make them clickable (to edit their settings), but they would be much larger, as now we can afford to take liberties and not worry about a big block disrupting the WYSIWYG editing interface. Ideally they would contain a semi-opaque preview of what the block looks like (maybe rendered as AJAX then somehow rendered inert - or possibly rendered to an image server-side (somehow?!?). On top of the preview could be some details of the block, like it's parameters - or maybe that could be a tooltip.

In terms of HTML semantics, the rows and columns would map to some CSS classes and be given their own selectors (e.g. #page_running_start #row1 #col1). That would allow customisation for mobile layouts, etc (although default mobile layouts would be made to linearise the 'table'). It would not actually be a table, it would be divs.

The grid editor could be disabled for a page, similar to how the WYSIWYG editor can currently be disabled. In fact, the "disable wysiwyg editor" button could change to a drop down with: raw Comcode, HTML, WYSIWYG, Grid. With some hard-work, we could make this switching fast and comfortable.

The grid editor might eventually evolve into a drag and drop tool, but that's not the key objective. Easy layout is much more of an issue then whether something is literally drag & drop. We have identified some problems with drag & drop anyway, particularly in that it makes too many assumptions and hides too much.
Steps to reproduce

Funded? No
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