Just out of curiosity - What is your definition of a modular page? I think that's an important thing to figure out since our perceptions might differ :)
However using the grid (if the grid makes sense in your scenario) could be one way of doing it.
I tend to use a combination of Re-usable components, which I keep in a shared content repository and make it possible for the editors to select the content and re-use it on different pages and they only need to maintain the content from the block in the repository for instance. I usually have this repository at the same level as my site so my structure would look something like
Nested content is based on a concept where you define some "partial" document types where you can define the properties for each "ribbon" (my term for it). Then you can define a "Ribbons" property editor in the "Developer - Datatype" section for instance where you can tell it to make it possible for the content editor to insert a ribbon of "FAQ" or "Image gallery", "Rich text" or whatever kind of Ribbons you have made available to them. Then they're able to create these ribbons and add as many as you allow them too and they can control the sort order etc.
There are not any modules available out of the box when installing Umbraco - You'll need to assemble them yourself building the infrastructure block by block. But it's possible to reuse the document types by exporting/importing them pr. project or by having a boilerplate project in a source control system like bitbucket or github based on the CE SQL database, which you start pulling down for each new solution for easy reuse of your core modules and documents, pre-installed packages that you use on every project etc. - This could be one way of doing it. I'm sure there are many other ways of doing it too.
In short - Umbraco is no more modularised than you make it. It's a framework with an empty shell where you have the freemdom to structure things the way you want it to be.
Thank you for taking time out to provide such a considered response.
In answer to your question, a modular page is one where the author can dynamically construct a page layout and add modules anywhere they like on that page. In this instance a module is a synonym for a control or a widget.
When I was first looking into this, I had a lot of success with the Doc Type Grid, Nested Content and Grid controls, Unfortunately, on this project, I'm only allowed to use Umbraco's out of the box features. I think that's where the disappointment stems from - there is clearly a need for modular pages but it isn't supported out of the box and it doesn't seem to be on the road map at all. My only hope is that extensions such as Doc Type Grid etc become part of the core product.
The beauty of open source systems such as Umbraco is the extendability through packages.
You can do a lot with Macro's to link different content nodes to grid items with some small bits of custom development but essentially plugins like Doc Type Grid and Nested Content will do a better job.
How far does the "Out of the box features" restriction go? Umbraco packages are no more than code extensions to the existing Umbraco system....
Essentially you can't do a lot with Umbraco without writing some code in one way or another!
Why the restrictions? That sounds a bit weird :) - I have not been playing around with the grid for a while but it has gotten a lot of TLC with the newly released version 7.4 and I just saw a screendump of it in another post and I think I need to have a play with it today - Judging from the look if the setup in that post it seems to have matured a lot. So maybe things are not that bad for you if you're on 7.4.
I'm not sure I'd say it was weird, more unusual ;) However, I think part of the reason it's unusual is because it's hard to get Umbraco to meet a number of common use-cases without using plug-ins. For support reasons, I think modules should be baked in but I appreciate that others might disagree and I respect that.
Well, as mentioned Umbraco is more like a framework to build your site and modules on top of. Depending on what you're building and what the purpose is Umbraco might not be the perfect fit - Maybe using another CMS is better suited because it has more default stuff baked in, which in turn then can be more than you need and hard to customize (Design / Functionality wise)...If one is to build a blog in no time and just need an of the shelf solution then Wordpress is probably the better fit :)
I think that most people working with Umbraco find their own patterns and figure out how to build code and document types that are easy to re-use on their next project, which makes them able to create the next project faster spending less time re-inventing the wheel.
I can't imagine that Umbraco will ever be born with default modules - That's the whole concept. You have 100% control in turn you get an empty shell that you can build your site on in the way you want to.
If umbraco was inflexible then these plugins would not be possible. What other CMS do you know that has a grid editor like umbraco out if the box?
WordPress doesn't have the ability to create document types without either extra code or plugins let alone a grid editor.
Drupal is very flexible but the back end is an enigma to use sometimes, still no grid editor though.
Orchard (.net) is flexible in a similar way to umbraco but developing front end themes is 10x more complex than Umbraco with prebuilt wrappers around everything and override after override in views.... Still no grid editor.
You seem a little fixed in Umbraco being inflexible I just wonder what your other CMS experience is?
If I understand you correctly, you mean flexible as in 'can be extended to do whatever you want' where as I mean 'can build pages from a library of components and move them around on the page'. You're talking about the platform/framework and I'm talking about managing content.
Do I think Unbraco should support modular content? Well yes, it's a content management system and modular content is a popular requirement. Do I think Umbraco should support it out of the box? Again, yes I do - even if you accept the framework argument, there should be a basic implementation to extend.
As for other CMS's, I normally use Sitecore. It's page editor is pretty good and it does support modular development. Sitecore has given me high expectations (and to be fair, Umbraco has met many of them), this is just one area where I feel it's lacking. Hopefully, it will become part of the Umbraco vision and be delivered in a later version.
Building Modular Pages
Hi everyone,
Our editors want to build modular pages but Umbraco doesn't seem to support this.
As a workaround, I'm using the grid control and custom properties but I wonder if there is a better way.
Am I missing something - how are others building modular pages?
Thanks
Peter
Hi Pete
Just out of curiosity - What is your definition of a modular page? I think that's an important thing to figure out since our perceptions might differ :)
However using the grid (if the grid makes sense in your scenario) could be one way of doing it.
I tend to use a combination of Re-usable components, which I keep in a shared content repository and make it possible for the editors to select the content and re-use it on different pages and they only need to maintain the content from the block in the repository for instance. I usually have this repository at the same level as my site so my structure would look something like
I also like to work with a concept of "Ribbons" based on the Nested Contet package https://our.umbraco.org/projects/backoffice-extensions/nested-content/
Nested content is based on a concept where you define some "partial" document types where you can define the properties for each "ribbon" (my term for it). Then you can define a "Ribbons" property editor in the "Developer - Datatype" section for instance where you can tell it to make it possible for the content editor to insert a ribbon of "FAQ" or "Image gallery", "Rich text" or whatever kind of Ribbons you have made available to them. Then they're able to create these ribbons and add as many as you allow them too and they can control the sort order etc.
You can also use Archetype for something likes this too https://our.umbraco.org/projects/backoffice-extensions/archetype/
There are not any modules available out of the box when installing Umbraco - You'll need to assemble them yourself building the infrastructure block by block. But it's possible to reuse the document types by exporting/importing them pr. project or by having a boilerplate project in a source control system like bitbucket or github based on the CE SQL database, which you start pulling down for each new solution for easy reuse of your core modules and documents, pre-installed packages that you use on every project etc. - This could be one way of doing it. I'm sure there are many other ways of doing it too.
Maybe the hybrid framework is interesting to you as well? https://our.umbraco.org/projects/developer-tools/hybrid-framework-for-umbraco-v7/
In short - Umbraco is no more modularised than you make it. It's a framework with an empty shell where you have the freemdom to structure things the way you want it to be.
I hope this makes any sense? :)
/Jan
Hi Jan,
Thank you for taking time out to provide such a considered response.
In answer to your question, a modular page is one where the author can dynamically construct a page layout and add modules anywhere they like on that page. In this instance a module is a synonym for a control or a widget.
When I was first looking into this, I had a lot of success with the Doc Type Grid, Nested Content and Grid controls, Unfortunately, on this project, I'm only allowed to use Umbraco's out of the box features. I think that's where the disappointment stems from - there is clearly a need for modular pages but it isn't supported out of the box and it doesn't seem to be on the road map at all. My only hope is that extensions such as Doc Type Grid etc become part of the core product.
Pete
Hi Pete,
The beauty of open source systems such as Umbraco is the extendability through packages.
You can do a lot with Macro's to link different content nodes to grid items with some small bits of custom development but essentially plugins like Doc Type Grid and Nested Content will do a better job.
How far does the "Out of the box features" restriction go? Umbraco packages are no more than code extensions to the existing Umbraco system....
Essentially you can't do a lot with Umbraco without writing some code in one way or another!
Hi Pete
Why the restrictions? That sounds a bit weird :) - I have not been playing around with the grid for a while but it has gotten a lot of TLC with the newly released version 7.4 and I just saw a screendump of it in another post and I think I need to have a play with it today - Judging from the look if the setup in that post it seems to have matured a lot. So maybe things are not that bad for you if you're on 7.4.
/Jan
I'm not sure I'd say it was weird, more unusual ;) However, I think part of the reason it's unusual is because it's hard to get Umbraco to meet a number of common use-cases without using plug-ins. For support reasons, I think modules should be baked in but I appreciate that others might disagree and I respect that.
Well, as mentioned Umbraco is more like a framework to build your site and modules on top of. Depending on what you're building and what the purpose is Umbraco might not be the perfect fit - Maybe using another CMS is better suited because it has more default stuff baked in, which in turn then can be more than you need and hard to customize (Design / Functionality wise)...If one is to build a blog in no time and just need an of the shelf solution then Wordpress is probably the better fit :)
I think that most people working with Umbraco find their own patterns and figure out how to build code and document types that are easy to re-use on their next project, which makes them able to create the next project faster spending less time re-inventing the wheel.
I can't imagine that Umbraco will ever be born with default modules - That's the whole concept. You have 100% control in turn you get an empty shell that you can build your site on in the way you want to.
Just my 2 cents :)
/Jan
I understand where you're coming from but I think we have different expectations of a CMS.
Umbraco, is really well put together but it's inflexible. If it wasn't, we wouldn't need DocType Grid, Archetype etc.
Anyway, I've gone off track - I was really just wondering how other were addressing the issue. Thanks for discussing it with me.
If umbraco was inflexible then these plugins would not be possible. What other CMS do you know that has a grid editor like umbraco out if the box?
WordPress doesn't have the ability to create document types without either extra code or plugins let alone a grid editor.
Drupal is very flexible but the back end is an enigma to use sometimes, still no grid editor though.
Orchard (.net) is flexible in a similar way to umbraco but developing front end themes is 10x more complex than Umbraco with prebuilt wrappers around everything and override after override in views.... Still no grid editor.
You seem a little fixed in Umbraco being inflexible I just wonder what your other CMS experience is?
Thanks
Carl
We're using the word flexible in different ways.
If I understand you correctly, you mean flexible as in 'can be extended to do whatever you want' where as I mean 'can build pages from a library of components and move them around on the page'. You're talking about the platform/framework and I'm talking about managing content.
Do I think Unbraco should support modular content? Well yes, it's a content management system and modular content is a popular requirement. Do I think Umbraco should support it out of the box? Again, yes I do - even if you accept the framework argument, there should be a basic implementation to extend.
As for other CMS's, I normally use Sitecore. It's page editor is pretty good and it does support modular development. Sitecore has given me high expectations (and to be fair, Umbraco has met many of them), this is just one area where I feel it's lacking. Hopefully, it will become part of the Umbraco vision and be delivered in a later version.
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