Kirby 4 suggestion: are presets and sections necessary?

Kirby 3 Suggestionsđź’ˇ
1

I am currently developing my second website using Kirby 3 (I used Kirby 2 several times before and was very satisfied with it) and it now becomes apparent to me that both the Presets and Sections possibilities on Kirby 3 may be too complex and unnecessary.

I definitely like the way Sections allow to build a very specific panel. My point is that it would work as well and be much simpler to get rid of sections and only build the panel with Fields.

For example, Kirby 3 has both a Files Section and a Files Field. The latter has partly the same aim but with less options, it’s quite confusing! I believe that deleting the Files Sections and extending the Files Field for it to have all the options of both the Section and Field would be more straight and easy to understand.

The same goes for the Info Section (completely unnecessary) and the Pages Section that would work better, I believe, as a powerful Pages Field.

One interesting feature of Sections is being able to store a group of Fields as a snippet. I believe this feature could be kept but it should be the only purpose of Sections. Sections should especially not have more functions than Fields as they have now, which is confusing.

Similarly, I think the Presets add another layer of complexity instead of making Kirby easier to use. It would be easier, more simple, more direct to add a few Content Fields, a Pages Field and a Files Fields than it is to use the current Page Preset.

Except that, I believe that Tabs and Columns, which have a very clear purpose are welcome additions to Kirby 3.

In general I am both enthusiastic and impressed by the new possibilities of Kirby 3 but also annoyed by what I consider to be an unnecessary (and difficult) complexity. I also think that this complexity reflects in the current documentation which opens too many possibilities without being explicit and exhaustive enough.

I am a designer, not a developer so I may very well miss some of the logic behind Presets and Sections and I would love to hear the point of view of other users of Kirby 3.

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The big difference is that fields store something in the content file and are basically select fields, but specifically for pages, files and users. Whereas a section is there to organise stuff, allow adding new pages, files etc. While they seem similar, I don’t think it makes sense to remove one for the sake of the other. Sections replace the old sidebar of Kirby 2 with pages and files, but are a lot more flexible.

Presets: they are just a way to make things easy for people new to Kirby or updating from Kirby 2. You don’t have to use them at all. If you don’t need them, ignore that they exist.

3

My 2c:

I personally couldn’t care less about presets. Never used them but I see the point of having them there for non-dev coming from K2. Makes the transition easier.

@Raoul_A I see your confusion between sections and fields but trust me, once you get used to them you’ll probably change your mind. I was confused at first but now I love the new flexibility.

Working with just fields limits the panel potential and when you’re building custom websites for clients it’s genuinely awesome to being able to create an admin ui that has only what they need.

As @texnixe already said, fields store content. Sometimes you don’t want to do that but you do want tools to organise the admin interface.

Again, give yourself some time. I was confused and a bit lost at first but now, after probably 6 or 7 K3 websites, I’m loving Kirby 3.

4

There was an ideas issue (which has since been closed), maybe you find some other arguments there: