[MKDoc-dev] Proposed event/calendar functionality

[Sam Tregar]

On Thu, 14 Oct 2004, Bruno Postle wrote:

> "add text", "add image" and "add link" are fairly clear, but "add
> headlines", "add rss" and "add photo" are non-obvious - Users who
> like to play and try things-out will discover what they do, but our
> typical target user still has to be shown how to use them.

In my experience this is true of all but the most simple
content-management systems.  There seems to be some irreducible
complexity which necessitates training of all but the most adventurous
users.  However, that's not to say that things can't be made simpler
or that doing so has no value.

> 1. We add another UpcomingEvents component - The pull-down list gets
>    a little bit scarier.
> 
> 2. We attach the new functionality to the existing Headlines
>    component - The Headlines component gets a little bit scarier and
>    the functionality is harder to discover.
> 
> I would like a third option that makes the pull-down menu less
> intimidating and allows a greater variety of components at the same
> time - I just don't have any ideas as to how that will work.

In Krang we attacked the problem by having a variety of "story
classes".  Each story class allows a subset of the complete CMS
functionality.  For example, an article might have pages which have
paragraphs and images but a cover page has headlines and calendars.
That way the user makes a decision about what kind of document they
are producing at creation time.  Then the list of available components
can be more specific to the task at hand.

However, I think this problem will have to wait for a later project.
In the short-term do you have a preference for 1 or 2?  From my
perspective 2 might be easier since it requires less new code to be
created.

-sam