[wp-pro] Looking to Outsource Plugin
Anthony
anthony at dotem.com
Fri Jan 29 19:35:51 UTC 2010
Summary:
- Require ajax changeable and expandable menus with a pre-existing link directory plugin for WordPress
- Require two output of database results. One to be sortable by column
http://ski-resorts.skiclues.com/ontario/
and a second to be user defined outputs throughout the page.
http://ski-resorts.skiclues.com/mount-st-louis-moonstone-ski-resort/
-=-
I've included a very detailed write-up below including most parameters, which you're welcome to modify and/or expand. I just wanted to explain the customization th\at would need to be available as variables would need to change depending on site content.
While I feel I may "over-explained" things, I just wanted you to get an idea of how I would like it structured. How customizable I would like it to be, as what applies to one site website, may ONLY apply to one website and that is not desirable.
Being able to customize allows for a greater level of flexibility in design and will save time of extra programming need to accommodate future changes.
-=-
Basically, I'm looking to transfer a link directory website http://www.skiclues.com over to WordPress and to add some neat features along the way.
I've purchased DirectoryPress http://www.directorypress.com, which is the advanced version of http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-directory-plugin/ as my WP plugin, but it does not display information the way I want it to and that is in a "user-friendly" manner :-)
DirectoryPress program is geared towards "search results" and while that is useful, I don't care to add another useless directory to the WWW even if it has "nice thumbnails". What I want to do is offer complete information and offer comparisons as such on my site, but in sortable and searchable database package.
The first thing in DirectoryPress I desire to change, is the way visitors have to navigate through pages.
I would like to incorporate Ajax expandable Categories. Drupal has some good GPL libraries (http://drupal.org/project/activemenu) and also WordPress already has a few plugins such as http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/collapsing-categories/ and http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/collapsing-links/
While this useful, it's still not user friendly if you have a lot of categories which I do. This is where a category order plugin is required to sort how the categories will display and this too is already available in WordPress http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/my-category-order/
While this goes a long way to producing the results I want. It again it is not all user-friendly when a site has a large amount of child categories like mine.
What I desire is to merge category order / collapsing categories with another category "display" plugin http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/list-category-posts/ along with some features that would help reduce the clutter.
Since my website is both "category-based" and "location-based" and I would need to be to define what categories are displayed and where, so my index pages could be condensed and all related pages accessible via ajax menus rather than page loads
View the example links below and notice the congestion and how many page loads it takes to get to actual resorts.
http://ski-resorts.skiclues.com/
While this page only show the "Ski Resorts", they site itself is actually separated into various categories by (activity type, area type, gear type and store type) and would be expanded like so:
Ski Areas: (+) (ski, xc-ski, snowboarding) (areas, resorts, hills)
North America (+) Europe (+) South America (+) Asia (+) Oceania (+)
Ski Gear: (+) (ski, xc-ski, snowboarding) (skis, boots, bindings, etc.)
North America (+) Europe (+) South America (+) Asia (+) Oceania (+)
Ski Shops: (+) (ski, xc-ski, snowboarding) (shops, rentals, online stores)
North America (+) Europe (+) South America (+) Asia (+) Oceania (+)
To further reduce clicks, the child menus can be pre-expanded with an admin definable # of choices (i.e. top 2 popular in category)
Ski Resorts: (+) (resorts, areas, hills, all)
North America (+) Europe (+) South America (+) Asia (+) united states (+) france (+) argentina (+) japan (+)
canada (+) austria (+) chile (+) korea (+)
On mouseover of the second-level child menu (+) (united states) , I would like to further pre-expand the it's to show popular results, maybe saving them a extra click.
North America (+) Europe (+) South America (+) Asia (+)
united states (+) france (+) argentina (+) japan (+)
colorado (+)
california (+)
canada (+) austria (+) chile (+) korea (+)
... and so on...
The point is, that the user can reach ANY page in the directory, even deep ones easily... like a suped-up DMOZ with suped-up Wikipedia category navigation.
-=-
The core look would setup by admin who would need to be able to bulk upload and set menu tags / category / submenu / child menus and their parameters, so that no matter how they wanted to structure the menu, it could be done easily as well.
Top Menu Tag Groups (ability to define)
- groups (Ski Areas, Ski Gear, Ski Shops)
- default group paths (/ski-areas/, /ski-gear/, /ski-shops/)
- number of splits in top groups (2, 2, 2)
- name and order of splits (Ski, XC-Ski, Snowboarding ## resorts, areas, hills # Ski, XC-Ski, Snowboarding ## skis, boots, bindings # Ski, XC-Ski, Snowboarding ## shops, rentals, online stores)
- path to splits (/ski, /xc-ski, /snowboarding ## -resorts/, -areas/, -hills/ # /ski, /xc-ski, /snowboarding ## -skis/, -boots/, -bindings/ # /ski, /xc-ski, /snowboarding # -shops/, -rentals/, -online/)
- # of link levels (3)
- add child menus to main groups *=all (North America, * # Europe * # South America, Ski Areas, Ski Gear # United States, North America # Canada, North America... etc.)
The way the child menus expand would need to be definable as well. Not sure the best way to display as of yet, but I've created some options below.
- # results to pre-expand in each level and direction of expansion
(1-3-H, 1-*-V, 3-0-VH, 4-0-HV)
Horizontal (1 row - no wrap)
Vertical (1 column - no wrap)
VH (expand vertically and wrap with horizontal columns)
HV (expand horizontally and wrap with vertical rows)
1st level links - groups - would pre-expand up to 3 horizontally (same as example)
2nd - continents - would pre-expand to show 2 countries. (same as example)
3rd - countries and 4th would not expand with user intervention
- mouseover hover expansion and display type (3-Y-5-P, 4-Y-5-A, 5-Y-5-Z)
1st level - groups - default - no mouseover expansion,
2nd level - continents - defaults - no mouseover expansion
3rd level - Show to 5 countries, sort by popularity (# of entries in category)
4th level - Show 10 provinces, sort alphabetical
5th level - Show 10 resorts, sort descending alphabetical
- Number of listings on (+) expansion, show all and sort by popularity if not specified, (3-10, 4-10, 5-10-A)
1st level - show all groups
2nd level - show all continents
3rd level - show 10 countries (with "more" linking to countries page)
4th level - show 10 provinces (with "more" linking to countries page)
5th level - show 10 resorts alphabetically (with "more" linking to countries page)
-=-
An option to change the defaults pre-sets for each setting would be needed as well
-=-
Lastly, whereas the menus options are extensive, the display of information can be quite simple. In the first example http://ski-resorts.skiclues.com/ontario/
The only settings that are required are for each sub-level:
- number of columns (9)
- database references to column data ($ski-resorts, $snow-reports, etc.)
- css stylesheet for table (continents.css)
&
- exceptions to the rule (asia, australasia) which allow for extra input
- number of columns (9)
- database references to column data ($ski-resorts, $snow-reports, etc.)
- css stylesheet for table (asia.css)
- number of columns (9)
- database references to column data ($ski-resorts, $snow-reports, etc.)
- css stylesheet for table (australasia.css)
The second example.
http://ski-resorts.skiclues.com/mount-st-louis-moonstone-ski-resort/
Although having an abundance of information, if the design in the template uses the same format ($database-variable) for each entry, only an extra reference to database call order is needed.
- template (36)
- number of columns (36)
- variable to search for in .php code $database-variable
- database references to column data ($beginner....$elevation....$vertical-drop...$season-start....$terrain-parks....$telephone....$country....$best-links...)
- css stylesheet for table (ski-resorts.css)
Whereas the user would not need to specify each individual call in the template just have to $database-variable where a database call was needed and plugin would rebuilt the template to match.
Exceptions to the rule again would again allow for extra input
- exceptions to the rule (-areas/, -hills/)
- css stylesheet for table (ski-areas.css)
- css stylesheet for table (ski-hills.css)
These exceptions could also be "auto-generated" on demand to make the css match the directory and set to default if not found.
-=-
Table inputs merged with plugins such as http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-table-reloaded/ and the table output display functions using jquery add-ons such as http://www.datatables.net/examples/
-=-
If you feel you're for the challenge, do let me know and if you feel the need to add / modify, etc in efforts to save time to both the user and the programmer, I am very open to suggestions.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Yahoo!7: Catch-up on your favourite Channel 7 TV shows easily, legally, and for free at PLUS7. www.tv.yahoo.com.au/plus7
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.automattic.com/pipermail/wp-pro/attachments/20100129/ffcb9418/attachment.htm>
More information about the wp-pro
mailing list