news section/blog

yesahasureok

hello,

idea: a news section, based on _one_ category and dispayed as articles on a duplicated discussions list ... ehrm newslist (a second discussionspage also with an extra tab)

this would be a kind of a integrated newsblog or integrated blog based on allready vanilla-inclusive functions and features, and it would increase vanillas functionality dramatically .

it would be also cool to have write permissions for particular usergroups.

anyone? easy? or possible?

Tex

Hi fery,

I was looking for the exact same thing here.
This in combination with this made me happy.

Maybe it helps,
Tex

SlashedZero

It's totally possible since I'm currently using this kind of extension for my forum. Steve made it. After seeing what he did for lansmash.com, I asked him if he could explain how to make something similar. He finally released an extension especially for this (maybe I'm the only one who have it, I don't know), which works quite fine.

One problem is it's still in beta and lacks several features. The other problem is Steve seems pretty busy, and I didn't get any news from him since several months. So I don't know what to do: upload his files here? We need to get his permission first.

So in my opinion, people who'd like to get this extension should e-mail Steve and see if he's okay to share his work here, or if he's still planning to finish it.

yesahasureok

hm, i just thought about a first solution for only now .. until somebody (maybe steve) release such an extension .

i just create a page and a tab with the pagemanager and i point the tablink to a category/discussion.

its not the real thing, but its a start

yesahasureok

edit..

all i need to know now to get a discussion-list-based newssection is how to exclude category_id X from the regular discussion and category list.

voila

Stash

As a temporary nasty little CSS hack, the Category list is easy. Just find the Category ID and display:none it

Discussions showing up in the list... not sure...

3stripe

I've got a possible job in the pipeline which needs a news section, and a forum. I'd love to use Vanilla if possible :) I like the idea of http://www.lansmash.com/ but would want to take it a stage further, so that the news section wasn't so similar looking to the forum. Is the extension for the news section publicly available? Is it still in beta? Also, are there any other similar sites about? I vaguely remember a few nice ones, but it's ages since I was on the Lussumo forum regularly so I'm a bit hazy...

MySchizoBuddy

there goes my motivation to make this. I have been thinking about this since i finished the nuggets extension, and now Steve has already done it. bug him and get the code

3Stripe can u create a mockup how u would like the newsblog page to look like. and what features u want in it.

3stripe

hey dude, that sounds sweet. that project is actually leaning closer towards a joomla-stylee thing, so i'll need to see how it pans out and then get back to ya on this...

MySchizoBuddy

i have some mockups of what I want to do.
it might or might not be possible to do. I guess I'll know once i start coding it.
Really distinct style from that of a forum.

Instead of "Post in blog", I'm going for "Post as blog". So u will be able to use ur existing discussions and make em blog like, also u will be able to use ur existing categories as well.


Don't hold me to it.

3stripe

Neat! Well, this project is for band, so they would need media upload facilities and possibly an event calendar. Would existing Vanilla plugins work for this kinda stuff? Image uploads, mp3s, youtube video etc etc...

MySchizoBuddy

yup they will. It will have all the controls and delegates to make existing extensions work
Attachment will work. Hypothetically speaking

why don't u make some mockups. So i can design with those features in mind. rather than changing it after its released

SlashedZero

Schizo, you rock. Your mockups look pretty cool.

So I guess you don't plan to use a specific category for the blog posts? Steve's code is in fact using a dedicated category, where everything you create in is displayed on a "news" tab. If you want to have a look at it, I can send it to you.

About permissions : the draft discussion status is a really good idea, but will it be possible to allow a specific role to see them, not only the draft's author? It would be really useful in the case of a collaborative blog. Some hidden comments readable only by authors would be also very nice, for example to tell others when you plan to publish your article, etc.

I was also wondering... How will you determine the number of characters to be displayed before the "More" link? Will you count the number of line breaks or something like that?

MySchizoBuddy

I don't think i wanna do the character count. if u want more use the more comment <!--more--> i believe thats how wordpress does it. they have a icon on the wysiwyg that adds the more comment I have to think long and hard on how the permissions will work, and how to deal with draft mode. In blogs, u have the ability to edit all ur blog posts via a administrative backend. When u save ur post as drafts ur able to edit them in the backend. Either I create a backend list for all the drafts in which case only the original author can see them. Or i create a fake drafts category. that the editor and admin can see. If there is a better way let me know. I was going to use a specific category, but since steve has already done that. my options are either to dump my extension or one up steve. I decided to one up him. hence i came up with Discussions as blog.

SlashedZero

Sounds cool, the comment is clever, that's way more accurate and easier to use than a character count. For the fake drafts category, maybe you could have a look at Category Roles, or even use it as a required extension, if you need some more granular permissions (i.e. bloggers can see each other's drafts but can't modify them unless they are admins or moderators).

SlashedZero

Hi Schizo, any progress made on this project? I'd be glad to help you test it if you need some feedback.

MySchizoBuddy

no, right now I'm making the discussion Image extension for icouto its almost done. depending on what changes he wants, i can start doing the blog.

SlashedZero

Great, I'm looking forward to this

Toivo

schizobuddy Why do you have so many options? "format as blog post" yuo could create another link 'start a blog discussion' "save as draft" why? maybe it just needs to work with google docs (publish from g docs) "comment replay" why? yu already have sticky and closed discussions?

MySchizoBuddy

Blog posts require a bit more thought, and preparation. They can be really long or short. hence, u require drafts. Most blog posts like product reviews and stuff are not written in one sitting. You need a way to save it and come back to it later on.

Comment reply will be implemented using closed or non-closed discussions.

"Start a new Blog Discussion" I thought about it, and don't remember why I ignored it.

Blogs have lot more options than what I have. If u think these are a lot, then..........

SlashedZero

By the way, it would be really great if this addon could support Discussion Tags. I guess it shouldn't be too hard since blog posts will still technically be discussions, am I wrong?