We have requirements for a CMS that allows users to place widgets as they want into a sidebar or other pre-defined widget area.
Each widget should be able to render whatever is needed, it could be external content (from Twitter) or content coming from the site itself (like the latest 3 news articles). And the user should be able to configure each widget based on a predefined content model (the Twitter widget would need the Twitter account name, the recent news widget could have a field for maximum number of content items to display).
I have extensive experience with Kentico CMS, where this is possible using a concept they call webparts. Is Umbraco capable of the same?
Thanks for the link, very informative. But I don't think it fits our requirements, because the chosen template should determine the widget area(s). Using the approach above would mean that you need to extend multiple document types with a field for choosing widgets, and that that field still does not correlate to the template in any way. So if a document type could use multiple templates, each with different widget areas, then that document type should have fields for all these possible widget areas, with no way for the editor to determine which are is used by the chosen template (except by trial and error).
I have some experience using Kentico, in that system the document type can define fields and the template can offer extra (non-structured) content areas. I don't think something like that is possible with Umbraco?
You might want to have a look at the "Macro Container", you can add a few of them to create zones and then choose macro's and their sorting order on a page basis.
Ok, great! I will try that option then to see if it has enough 'visibility' for end users.
Best option would be a drag and drop interface on the page itself, so if you know any components/projects (may be commercial) that allow us to do that, then please share!
Can I create a template with multiple areas for widgets?
We have requirements for a CMS that allows users to place widgets as they want into a sidebar or other pre-defined widget area.
Each widget should be able to render whatever is needed, it could be external content (from Twitter) or content coming from the site itself (like the latest 3 news articles). And the user should be able to configure each widget based on a predefined content model (the Twitter widget would need the Twitter account name, the recent news widget could have a field for maximum number of content items to display).
I have extensive experience with Kentico CMS, where this is possible using a concept they call webparts. Is Umbraco capable of the same?
Thanks!
Hey,
Yes it's something we do on most of our sites.
Hendy has a blog post that describes it here http://blog.hendyracher.co.uk/sidebar-widgets-with-umbraco-v4/
Rich
Thanks for the link, very informative. But I don't think it fits our requirements, because the chosen template should determine the widget area(s). Using the approach above would mean that you need to extend multiple document types with a field for choosing widgets, and that that field still does not correlate to the template in any way. So if a document type could use multiple templates, each with different widget areas, then that document type should have fields for all these possible widget areas, with no way for the editor to determine which are is used by the chosen template (except by trial and error).
I have some experience using Kentico, in that system the document type can define fields and the template can offer extra (non-structured) content areas. I don't think something like that is possible with Umbraco?
You might want to have a look at the "Macro Container", you can add a few of them to create zones and then choose macro's and their sorting order on a page basis.
http://umbraco.org/help-and-support/video-tutorials/umbraco-fundamentals/datatypes/using-the-macro-container-datatype
http://our.umbraco.org/forum/developers/api-questions/10394-Rendering-Macro-Container
Kind regards,
Rik
Ok, great! I will try that option then to see if it has enough 'visibility' for end users.
Best option would be a drag and drop interface on the page itself, so if you know any components/projects (may be commercial) that allow us to do that, then please share!
Thanks!
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