Suggestions for future Vivvo releases

[Capper]

One of the things we've been talking about lately is how no CMS includes all the features most news publishing sites would want, or actually need. We've been through 4 programs already and each one had serious drawbacks that made it incompatible with what we needed.

1. Easy editable templates
the last CMS we used probably had the best implementation. you could use the Wizzywig editor to actually make the template using tables, or you could simply create a CSS for a table-less design. Making it so hard to use templates you already own, or creating exactly the look and feel you want will chase off customers that already have a design, but are looking for a better program.

2. Template tables
Kind of on the same topic.....One CMS we used had a nice function where you could simply choose from a drop down box what news item or category you wanted where....depending on what you wanted to do with your template. For instance, you could create a three column desing with 2 or three category boxes, and choose what type of news went into each (Featured articles, Recent Articles, RSS Feeds from other sites, etc)

3. Static HTML pages
I see thats already planned for V4.0

4. Pagination
alot of people dont realize how important this feature is for sites that publish detailed articles. Readers don't want to scroll on endlessly, they want to be able to break things down by pages......which is why you need not only pagnination, but a drop down box with an article index (basically a list of titles for each page (Introduction, Testing, Conclusion, etc)

5. The image system you have is awesome, but it would be nice to have a photogallery for each article, and to make it better, something like the lightbox integration you have on your template page.

[boccio]

1. Easy editable templates
the last CMS we used probably had the best implementation. you could use the Wizzywig editor to actually make the template using tables, or you could simply create a CSS for a table-less design. Making it so hard to use templates you already own, or creating exactly the look and feel you want will chase off customers that already have a design, but are looking for a better program.

Our template system does have some slight learning curve (you can't just squeeze in some table-based HTML and expect it to work like a charm), but it gives vast span of possibilities for implementing your website. It is the best possible trade off between complexity and power it gives you.


2. Template tables
Kind of on the same topic.....One CMS we used had a nice function where you could simply choose from a drop down box what news item or category you wanted where....depending on what you wanted to do with your template. For instance, you could create a three column desing with 2 or three category boxes, and choose what type of news went into each (Featured articles, Recent Articles, RSS Feeds from other sites, etc)

Vivvo 4 will have couple of mechanisms to address this:
1. Pre-defined article output templates (headlines, latest news, etc.) with admin-based options (number of columns, number of news, etc.)
2. Article List Generator plug-in that will let you construct a simple query (i.e. "all published articles within last 14 days by user xxx"), name it arbitrary (i.e. "Joe's latest news") and save it directly to desired template file.
3. News-feed importer plug-in that fetches 3rd party feeds automatically and places them in desired category.


4. Pagination
alot of people dont realize how important this feature is for sites that publish detailed articles. Readers don't want to scroll on endlessly, they want to be able to break things down by pages......which is why you need not only pagnination, but a drop down box with an article index (basically a list of titles for each page (Introduction, Testing, Conclusion, etc)

I addressed this issue in details here (http://www.vivvo.net/forums/project.php?issueid=25). You will be able to have pagination on your site, no worries.

5. The image system you have is awesome, but it would be nice to have a photogallery for each article, and to make it better, something like the lightbox integration you have on your template page.
There will be a plug-in for this.

[Capper]

Thanks for addressing the issues/worries/suggestions/etc....I greatly appreciate you working with me./us on all of this.

A couple more things I have questions about

I appreciate what you are trying to do, but let me elaborate more.

1. Categories
It just came to me today that you can't move categories to make them subcategories. This is important,sqay, if a person decides they wan't to merge categories, or simply make a cat a sub cat under another without having to delete anything.

Another issue is externally linked pages (Like "Forums" on my site). These show up as RSS cats, although there is nothing there.

2. RSS Feeds
I'd like the ability to create a couple of blocks on my main page with RSS feeds from other sites (tech news sites). I don't want to have to put them in a category, because then they will show up in my categories, and show up in my RSS.....like my externally linked pages in my Cat list now.

3. The Headline & Recent article blocks
My site posts 3 articles a week, plus a blog......ideally, I'd like to have the newest article show up in the "Headline", the resr show up as recent, and the blog show up in its own box. Since my articles are posted at an early hour (3AM), I hate having to get up, manually remove the "Headline" checkmark from the older article, and set it on the newer article......Hopefully we can make it so you can set articles to go live in advance, with the newest being the headline, and older articles are automatically moved to the "Recent Articles" list.

[boccio]

1. Categories
It just came to me today that you can't move categories to make them subcategories. This is important,sqay, if a person decides they wan't to merge categories, or simply make a cat a sub cat under another without having to delete anything.

?!?!?!? Why, of course you can... Just drag it to desired position within tree control. Can't get any easier than that, except perhaps a mind reading control :)


Another issue is externally linked pages (Like "Forums" on my site). These show up as RSS cats, although there is nothing there.

Can you post example? How did you bind "Forums" to your site? As an category with redirect link, or some other way?


2. RSS Feeds
I'd like the ability to create a couple of blocks on my main page with RSS feeds from other sites (tech news sites). I don't want to have to put them in a category, because then they will show up in my categories, and show up in my RSS.....like my externally linked pages in my Cat list now.

Create a category, then select "Show in navigation -> NO". This will do the job.


3. The Headline & Recent article blocks
My site posts 3 articles a week, plus a blog......ideally, I'd like to have the newest article show up in the "Headline", the resr show up as recent, and the blog show up in its own box. Since my articles are posted at an early hour (3AM), I hate having to get up, manually remove the "Headline" checkmark from the older article, and set it on the newer article......Hopefully we can make it so you can set articles to go live in advance, with the newest being the headline, and older articles are automatically moved to the "Recent Articles" list.
I'll check this, think it been fixed up to a certain extent...