Why I miss WordPress... just a little bit

[jenstornell]

What do WordPress have that Kirby don’t? A lot of stuff, maybe 90% junk and that is one reason I like Kirby. Still there are some good things in the world of WordPress that Kirby does not have.

I also think that this list covers things that people have asked for before, so it would be great to have some answers about them.

1. Proposed scope

What are the plans for the next release / releases? We have issues on Github but they don’t tell the whole story. A list of ideas for the future versions / version would be great.

It can also be good to see the ideas that are not going to be implemented, for example a favicon editor (I hope a favicon editor is not on todo).

You have stuff on your mind but it’s not that easy to get it @bastianallgeier. Future ideas as public list on github, or not?

2. Custom admin pages (panel)

We can’t add admin pages, at least not yet. Here are a few things you could do with it:

• An admin page for broken links on the site.
• An admin page for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) showing missing title tags and missing meta descriptions.
• An admin page for Google Analytics stats.
• An admin page for a great custom tool, whatever it might be.

Is this a part of your future plan for Kirby @bastianallgeier? Next version, future, maybe or never?

Custom admin pages

Here is a hotlinked screenshot from getkirby.com. http://assets.getkirby.com/content/home/hero/slide-01.png Add custom admin pages With custom admin pages I mean to add own panel admin pages, with a plugin. Add stuff to the menu The hamburger icon can be left alone. The breadcrumb place and the zoom glass place could be used to add custom menu items. The menu items could lead to another admin page, or an external call, or maybe an internal Ajax call. Add stuff to the sidebar We could add wi…

3. Custom admin sidebar (panel)

We can’t change the list to the left in the panel. It would be good to set custom stuff and remove pages we don’t want to see. We can remove them with panel css but it feels a little hackish.

Is this a part of your future plan for Kirby @bastianallgeier? Next version, future, maybe or never?

4. Revisions / page versions

I know many of you use git as version control. I like the idea to save backup files in a subfolder called “versions” or something. To make it complete there would be possible to back to a version or compare two of them.

Is this a part of your future plan for Kirby @bastianallgeier? Next version, future, maybe or never?

Revisions support

Number of revisions should probably be in config. Config Only if the setting exist and is set to a number larger than 0 it should add revisions, I think. c::set('revisions', 2); Naming of file _revision-{timestamp}-{name}.txt Underscore for marking that it should be hidden in the panel. “revision” to tell us what it is. “timestamp” instead of ID tell us when it was created and makes it unique. “name” tell us what template it is assigned to, just like the original txt file. Feedback?

5. Duplicate / clone page

Copy a page with all contents is a good feature. WordPress fails here as well but it work with a plugin.

Is this a part of your future plan for Kirby @bastianallgeier? Next version, future, maybe or never?

Panel - Duplicate page

In the panel I would like to be able to make a copy of the page with all it’s content, including files and everything. How duplicate page might work Click on a “duplicate page” button. Get a question of what slug the new page should have, suggested “my-page-1” (prefixed with “-1”). If folder does not already exist, copy it to the same folder level as original and all of its contents to the new slug. Questions Where should it go after the duplicate? To the new page? To the old page? To the pa…

6. Move page level

Sometimes the page might be created at the wrong depth. In this case we need to move it. With FTP it’s easy but it would be good to have that feature in the panel as well. If the blueprint does not support the page, give a warning of what fields will be deleted before move.

Is this a part of your future plan for Kirby @bastianallgeier? Next version, future, maybe or never?

Move Page Level

Hi, How I can move a page to other page level? like: page X/ subpage Y to page Z/ … best David

7. Change the menu system

Many things has come up as problems with the way the menu system works. It’s not even clear to everyone how it’s ment to be used. Some even suggested that it should be used to hide hidden pages completly on the site.

Are you going to change it in some way @bastianallgeier? Next version, future, maybe or never?

Kill the current menu system

I know the topic title is quite strong, but I just want to wake you up for a discussion. The menu is depending on first part in the slug Even from Kirby 1 I did not like the menu system. It’s because it’s driven by the first part of the slug, if it’s a number or not. Why is this a problem? I have a page about what can happen in 30 days. In the panel I add a new page with the title… 30 days …then it will generate the slug… 30-days Fine, that’s just what I want. Then when I visit the page I…

8. Hook just before template loads

The biggest problem of not having a hook before template loads is that you cannot get the correct page().

Is this a part of your future plan for Kirby @bastianallgeier? Next version, future, maybe or never?

Hook between init and template

When writing a plugin and runnit it on init / directly the Kirby has not loaded all the template stuff, like $page. Here is an issue: http://forum.getkirby.com/t/functions-unable-to-load-the-page-object/1081/10 A plugin I made which forced me to user server variables http://forum.getkirby.com/t/redirect-ending-slash-to-no-slash/1358 In my template Right now in my testing environment I have this to solve the problem. <?php do_before_template( $page ); ?> <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> I don’t…

9. Title not required

EDIT: Seems to be fixed: Don't require title in the blueprint · Issue #650 · getkirby-v2/panel · GitHub

The content title is required just to be used by the panel, even if it’s not used elsewhere. WordPress fails here as well.

Do you have plans of changing this @bastianallgeier? Next version, future, maybe or never?

Don't require title in the blueprint

Now I’m forced to set the title in the blueprint. I don’t think it should be forced. Use the slug if title is missing If a there is no title, show the slug (folder name) wherever you need, for example in the panel SEO title, or the navigation. The same when using echo $page->title(); If the title is missing, show the slug (folder name) or show nothing.

10. Not all folder paths can be edited

To separated Kirby core and the panel I belive the folder structure can be improved. Not all folders can be edited. If they could we could have our own folder structure, just as we want. WordPress fails here as well.

Is this a part of your future plan for Kirby @bastianallgeier? Next version, future, maybe or never?

About Kirby folder structure

I know about setting custom folder paths in Kirby: http://getkirby.com/docs/advanced/customized-folder-setup Folder structure question The question is why Kirby folder structure don’t look like this by default (files are not shown here)? kirby custom That will totally separate your code from Kirby core files. Unfolded directory Just to show you that the panel some other stuff still exists I show you this… kirby panel custom assets content kirby site thumbs Why ha…

[Svnt]

@jenstornell

8. Hook just before template loads

The biggest problem of not having a hook before template loads is that you cannot get the correct page().

How about using a contoller? It’s processed before template load/render if i remember right.

[jenstornell]

I’ve been that road before. Unfortunately there is nothing like a shared controller. I tried to make one but it doesn’t make things much easier.

Shared controller

A controller is always attached to a template. I needed to have the same code in three different controllers. I felt bad about duplicating the code. It also felt strange to create a plugin and jump between the controller and the plugin. Shared controller In the controllers where you have duplicated code, (for example /site/controllers/home.php) do this: require_once kirby()->roots()->controllers() . '/shared/my-shared-controller.php'; Try it out In /site/controllers/shared/my-shared-controll…

The issue also appered here:

Shared controllers?

I have read about Kirby controllers. It’s nice to have functions attached to a template. Are there any shared controllers? What I mean is a controller that are used by more than one template. An example: A function to be put, for example in a controller. function widget() { echo 'Do this in my sidebar'; } …used by… /blog/a-post /blog/a-post2 /home Home and blog are different template files. I could duplicate code or have it in a plugin. Should I not use controllers for shared function…

And here:

Controller for whole site

Hi, I wonder if i can have (something like) a controller for my whole site? Use case: I got some “main” pages (template = main) and some other pages with different templates and the navigation is split between these pages so it would be nice to have this controller loaded on any page to use it for my menu snippet: <?php return function($site, $pages, $page) { // find main pages $mainPages = $pages->filterBy('template', 'main'); // find other pages $auxPages = $pages…

[Svnt]

I think a “plugin” is something like a shared controller.

[jenstornell]

Yes but then you run into this issue again:

Functions unable to load the $page object

I print out the page url $site = site(); $page = $site->page(); echo $page->url(); When I do this inside a plugin I still got the root page, not the current one.

[bastianallgeier]

After being slightly pushed by Jens again, I’m finally trying to answer some of the questions/suggestions here

1. plans

I’m afraid I can’t be more detailed about the plans for future releases. There are so many suggestions coming in and every new release is just a set of decisions being made in “real-time” while building it. I never really have a fixed todo list and even if I had, I wouldn’t give it away. I learned in the last years with Kirby that making promises has always led to disappointment or too much pressure.

2. Custom admin pages

This is on my personal list for a long time now. The panel refactoring was a huge necessary step to get there eventually. (next version or future)

3. Custom admin sidebar

I already worked on hiding pages in the sidebar from the blueprint. This led to a performance issue, so I removed it again, but I will keep this in mind (future)

4. Revisions / page versions

I thought about this a lot and as much as I’d love to add it, it would also add so much more complexity. (maybe)

5. Duplicate / clone

Never really thought about this. (maybe)

6. Move page level

Yes, definitely on my list for a long time now (next version probably)

7. Change the menu system

I still think that the differentiation of visible/invisible pages has its place. I know that there are some connected issues for more complex menu situations, but this is easy to fix with structure fields in the site.txt to controll the main menu or multiple menus for example. This is in fact such a fundamental part of Kirby, that it probably won’t go away. I know that there are suggestions to move the sorting into the files, but this would lead to worse performance and this is not an option.

9. Title not required

Yep, it’s fixed

10. Not all folder paths can be edited

I’m not sure if it makes sense to mak all paths editable. This would lead to a lot of possible problems, but I’m always trying to make the kirby, panel and site folders more flexible and this is definitely something I’m open for additional changes.

I hope the answers help to get a better idea of the next steps even though there is no fixed roadmap! Thanks for the time you are spending on thinking about that stuff and asking such questions. It definitely means a lot.

[jenstornell]

Thank you so much for your time to answer these questions!

Now we know what you think about some of the suggestions that has been around for a while (not just by me). It does not only give a hint of what is coming, but also give a hint on what’s not. That’s good for plugin development.

Those features that is set to “maybe” can instead be built as a plugin by someone. At least those feature will probably not end up in the core for some time.

[jenstornell]

Question number 8?

Is there a reason why you skipped question number 8 or did you just miss it? I think it’s one of the most important question of them all.

Question number 8 in short

• A plugin can not get the current page with like page()->title() because it’s loaded too early.
• It’s possible to add a function directly above <html> in the template but it makes the template look really silly.
• A controller can get the current page but there is no such thing as a global controller so it’s not a good fit.

My suggestion was some kind of template init hook. Is this something you want to solve?

Next release, future, maybe or never?

Sorry about pushing you again…

[ivinteractive]

Haven’t really done testing to see if there are situations where this breaks, but maybe a utility function like this for question 8?

function currentPage() {
  if(url::path()=='')
    return site()->homePage();

  return site()->page(url::path());
}