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Public area => The Pub => Features => Topic started by: Arantor on November 14th, 2012, 12:53 AM

Title: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 14th, 2012, 12:53 AM
OK, OK, don't get your hopes up. It's NOT going back in the core. NO.

However, while I let other things simmer until they're done, I'm curious to hear what people would like to see in the calendar.

I am not going to share what I have added or are going to add, but I do want to know what people think it should have. Remember, it's not a core feature, so the usual rules are less strict in this case.

It's basically that it needs some love and I feel in a giving-love kind of mood ;)

(I'm posting it here because I didn't want to get people thinking it was already out etc. because it's not.)
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Powerbob on November 14th, 2012, 07:16 AM
Hi well it needs at least the ability to hold events, both single and recurring.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Farjo on November 14th, 2012, 07:46 PM
As above, and also events that run over a few days.

The ability have events every 3rd Thursday, or first / last Wednesday of the month would be grand.

Views: as well as the current views would be nice to have a list of upcoming eventrs to n days forward, as an option within the calendar and to place elsewhere in the forum e.g. the home page or atop the forum page.

But an OK calendar is better than no calendar :)
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: chilly on November 14th, 2012, 08:55 PM
what it should have... well... here is what I'd like to have in a calendar (reason and use vary a lot. have had a time where I could have used those functionality. trying not to repeat already posted idea's)
-personal calender? (per member?)
-event / meeting (call it what you like) owner + participant
-events linked to post / board (yeah... board!) (possible to link with blog stuff?)
-ability to specify time and not only date

have had more... currently not remembering all

I understand this thread to be a kind of brainstorming of what people could imagine to be within a calendar plugin. so this is my part ;)
(I'm well aware that making above things possible would rather be an extended plugin to what you are up to. it might be a lot but definitely not what a basic calendar plugin would be)
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 14th, 2012, 09:53 PM
Guys, guys, guys. Two works for you: SMF Calendar. It already has half of this stuff. That means I already have half this stuff.

Storing events? Check.
Events over multiple days? Check.
Events linked to posts? Check.
Placing it on the front page/info centre? Check. Even including upcoming birthdays and events if I remember rightly.

What it needs?
Recurring events? Hell yes.
RSVP to events? Yes.
Personal calendar... I'm not averse to the idea of personal events, but I'm not convinced it's a necessity. IP.Calendar has this (I think, the UI is much confusing)
Specifying time? Yes. Though, as IP.Calendar shows me, that raises other things itself.

Anything else?
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: markham on November 15th, 2012, 03:21 AM
On the Admin page, have the ability to filter by month. Also provide the option for 2 scheduled tasks to be run only on January 1st, one would delete non-recurring public holidays and the other "events" that are not carried-forward to the new year.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 15th, 2012, 03:26 AM
Filter *what* by month? You can view the calendar by month...

I don't like the idea of scheduled tasks like that. Especially since the way holidays are set up, you can trivially make a holiday either be a one-off or recurring. Even SMF's is capable of that - for holidays that aren't on the same day each year, it creates a separate holiday for each instance.

Though, I might have something of an answer to the whole public holidays thing anyway... I'll keep you posted on this one.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 15th, 2012, 05:04 AM
Just going to leave this here :whistle:
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Powerbob on November 15th, 2012, 06:21 AM
Now that looks cool Arantor :cool:
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: MultiformeIngegno on November 15th, 2012, 11:02 AM
Talk like a pirate day :P
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 15th, 2012, 12:22 PM
Quote from MultiformeIngegno on November 15th, 2012, 11:02 AM
Talk like a pirate day :P
How could I pass up the opportunity to sneak that one in?
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Farjo on November 15th, 2012, 01:09 PM
"Wedge day 25th August" :lol:

That screen looks good as it's a pain deleting all the individual US holidays, far easier to switch them off.

As a suggestion you could make all holidays custom and then release country packs. Installing the pack would add that country's holidays to your Manage Holidays screen.

"Placing it on the front page/info centre? Check. Even including upcoming birthdays and events if I remember rightly." We use Simple Portal for this so I don't know if the SMF calendar is capable of doing this simply.

"Anything else?"
We have one board for all events, so would prefer to restrict the boards into which events can be posted e.g. by controlling the boards that appear in the "Post In:" dropdown.

And then a fanciful idea, to see if anyone else would like it and can suggest a better way of doing it... We have events where the planning starts a year in advance. It is a pain for the planner to keep everyone updated and to get everyone's opinions as the attendees do not constantly come back to the thread to see if anything's changed. So could there be a "Subscribe to this event" button? The thread starter (or mod / admin) could then create a post and then choose to email it to all subscribers e.g. via an extra item in "Additional Options".
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 15th, 2012, 02:50 PM
I already anticipated that in fact, there are hooks already available for extending this screen ;) I haven't decided what to keep as 'core' yet though I might just keep these ones for now.
Quote
"Placing it on the front page/info centre? Check. Even including upcoming birthdays and events if I remember rightly." We use Simple Portal for this so I don't know if the SMF calendar is capable of doing this simply.
Check the calendar settings page, it's quite clear that you can put things in the info centre if you want ;)
Quote
We have one board for all events, so would prefer to restrict the boards into which events can be posted e.g. by controlling the boards that appear in the "Post In:" dropdown.
That's not actually a big deal to make happen.
Quote
So could there be a "Subscribe to this event" button? The thread starter (or mod / admin) could then create a post and then choose to email it to all subscribers e.g. via an extra item in "Additional Options".
Wouldn't you just use the normal notifications on this one?

What I'd do, though, is certainly tie it in with the RSVP stuff...
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Farjo on November 15th, 2012, 03:22 PM
Quote from Arantor on November 15th, 2012, 02:50 PM
Check the calendar settings page, it's quite clear that you can put things in the info centre if you want ;)
OK cheers :)
Quote from Arantor on November 15th, 2012, 02:50 PM
Wouldn't you just use the normal notifications on this one?
Here's a thread:
OP: We'll be celebrating Wedge Day 25th August somewhere in the Midlands, put your name down if interested.
uA: Ooh Wedge Day! Me please.
uB: Will it be fancy dress?
OP: Not fancy dress, but you can wear wedge shoes if you like.
(weeks later)
OP: Due to the huge numbers of replies I've booked a hall in Midland Mansion, the cost will be 10. Do people want a band - it will cost an extra 5?

Now, the OP will want people to answer the question in the latest post, but the users will not want to be sent a message every time that the thread is replied to, or even every time that OP posts in the thread. So in this scenario it would be good if OP can say "email this post to all subscribers".
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 15th, 2012, 08:28 PM
Oh, I see what you mean. What I'd do in that scenario is tie it more to people who've actually responded to the RSVP (in case they have to change)... would that work for people?
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Farjo on November 15th, 2012, 09:16 PM
RSVP? Can anyone respond or are the RSVPs sent out by the OP?
In case they have to change?

But yes that sounds good, thanks :)
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 15th, 2012, 09:19 PM
I don't see why it couldn't be either way - either have it as 'anyone can attend' or 'only these people can attend'. I was using RSVP as sort of an umbrella term for both.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Farjo on November 15th, 2012, 10:11 PM
Ah. So does "people who've actually responded to the RSVP" mean people who've posted in the thread? Because some will post to say "Sorry I cannot make this one".

Like I say it's just a fanciful idea, and any calendar is better than none :)
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 15th, 2012, 10:31 PM
No... people who've responded is people who've clicked 'Yes, I'm coming', 'No, I'm not coming' or 'I'm not sure yet', as in they've actively made some action to indicate interest.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: spoogs on November 16th, 2012, 12:07 AM
Just want to make sure I'm reading this correctly.
Open invitation: anyone can register
Private invitation: only those individuals invited by the OP

Will there be an option for the OP to invite an entire group?
Can the OP add additional "event managers"?
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 16th, 2012, 12:18 AM
Seems that's the most logical way to handle it (in all respects)
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: markham on November 16th, 2012, 03:31 AM
Quote from Arantor on November 15th, 2012, 03:26 AM
Filter *what* by month? You can view the calendar by month...
Sorry, should have made it clearer. On the Admin Page - where Public Holidays are added and removed, have an option to filter all the defined Public Holidays by the month - i.e. 'all holidays for February'. This would make it much easier to maintain and remove dates that are no longer necessary (i.e. holidays for fixed dates in past years).
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 16th, 2012, 03:39 AM
It really isn't going to happen for the preset holidays as per the above. Adding that level of complexity to outweigh the very very small amount of code for the presets isn't worth the effort. Especially since they're not in the database and the only thing would be to edit the code of the plugin to remove the definitions.

Adding pruning for custom events... I'm not sure that's really necessary. If the admin cares enough to prune the events they added themselves, that's up to them. But people do go back and look through previous months in the calendar - doing the pruning you're suggesting pretty much eliminates anything before the previous month or so.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: markham on November 16th, 2012, 04:01 AM
Quote from Arantor on November 15th, 2012, 05:04 AM
Just going to leave this here :whistle:
Great idea, I like it! However this raises an issue and I have a suggestion also.
By including dates such as "Independence Day", which country's Independence Day are you meaning - America's? Tanzania's? There's a boat-load of them(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_independence_days) (and some countries have more than one!). This really only becomes an issue, albeit fairly minor, for those of us who run Forum sites aimed at visitors and expatriate residents of a foreign country who often need to be reminded of those days that banks, government offices and businesses will be closed.
Leading on from that, may I suggest that you make a clear distinction between "Public Holidays" and "Notable Days". SMF currently bundles these together which I think is wrong. For example, I believe it's important to remind people of Armistice Day but nowhere is it a Public Holiday; it is, I suggest, a Notable Day.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 16th, 2012, 04:12 AM
To be brutally honest, getting into making such a distinction is out of the scope of the plugin. The point of the UI was mostly to build a structure around having such things, making things like language specific packs is deliberately kept out of scope. I wasn't concentrating in figuring out whether or not I should keep individual days or not, just that the system allowed for it to be easy.

SMF bundles them together; it has little choice. I have a bit more choice but ultimately the way to do it is to make language/country packs of holidays and have a collection of very basic stuff in the core - building the UI above is merely a transition to that.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Powerbob on November 16th, 2012, 05:57 AM
Sounds good to me Arantor :eheh:
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Farjo on November 16th, 2012, 07:09 AM
Quote from Arantor on November 15th, 2012, 10:31 PM
No... people who've responded is people who've clicked 'Yes, I'm coming', 'No, I'm not coming' or 'I'm not sure yet', as in they've actively made some action to indicate interest.
Sounds perfect, thanks.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Shawn on November 16th, 2012, 07:33 AM
I think a calendar could work for some niches. Take for example my Skywarn forum. Skywarn (nationwide) has annual training date, I use the calendar for that forum to allow members and staff to post the training dates. I actually have members that will only check my forum for the training dates instead of their local NWS forecasting site.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 16th, 2012, 04:18 PM
Of course it could work... which is why one is currently under development :P
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: godboko71 on November 16th, 2012, 09:36 PM
Considering there is a day for just about everything I could easily see holidays not being included at all and letting admins add "events" for what ever holidays are important to their user base. Lang packs are not a bad idea and I do like that select screen.

Maybe at a later date someone could build a Holiday Plugin that requires the Calendar plug-in, they could be stored in the DB easy to add/remove/hide what ever holidays make an easy xml import for different country holidays.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 16th, 2012, 10:16 PM
I really don't want to go down that route. Holidays, as designed/implemented, are a very specific subset of events and ones that IMO should be kept separate from events. Events potentially have things like time[1] and date, as well as multi-day events[2] but there's also things like RSVP/sign-up-to-event[3] and notifications of events, which is all stuff that holidays do not need. Keeping them separate allows separation not just technically but thematically and logically.
 1. Not in SMF, but they will here.
 2. Even SMF can do this.
 3. Coming in this plugn.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 17th, 2012, 03:34 AM
I'm having lots of fun tonight, now that I'm actually making all the post code tie up. Then I realise that there is a fun condition, even in SMF, whereby you can elect to tie an event to a topic but cause the topic to be created without the event as well, though it's a bit harder to trigger in SMF (but still entirely possible)

I feel a little like I've bitten off more than I can chew.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Farjo on November 17th, 2012, 07:27 AM
Sorry to hear that. Go for a walk this morning, get some air.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 17th, 2012, 04:43 PM
It sort of explains why the calendar is the lame duck, it's like even its original developers didn't really care about it.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Farjo on November 17th, 2012, 09:38 PM
And there's that SMF article about how to speed up your messageboard where it says "Turn off your calendar"!

Was listening to Radio 4 earlier to a programme with business leaders discussing starting new companies. They were saying that when the company is small it's important to be able to change your mind - they called it the pivot. So maybe Wedge, being a small enterprise, should change its mind about the calendar and drop it for now. And then much later come back to it to see if there's another way (a rewrite from scratch of something basic, a bridge to an existing product, something else that doesn't exist yet).
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 17th, 2012, 10:07 PM
Yup, although I know the reason why that's the case - and it has a lot to do with the design of the calendar/post linkage. I find it interesting that IPB's calendar does not link to forum topics but instead maintains its own post + comments structure outside the forum. Doing the same would actually cut most of the performance hit right out straight away.

I understand where you're coming from, but in all honesty that's not going to happen. Wedge and its plugins represent something for me that I don't expect many other people here to understand, but it's going to be the culmination of my contributions to communities. It should be clear to most people watching that I'm not happy about writing code for free and giving to communities so once Wedge is out and has everything that I want to see Wedge have, I'll be disappearing. Having a decent calendar is one of those core things that the ecosystem needs, IMNSHO.

Let me put it a bit more simply. I don't want to see Wedge compete with phpBB/MyBB/SMF. I want to see it able to compete with IPB. As a minimum it needs the same breadth of facilities as IPB offers. Once that's in place, there's very little extra that I feel I need to do.

Establishing Wedge has done something I swore I'd never do after my experiences with SMF: giving people expectations. I don't like feeling like I owe people, and we've already had enough trolls for that around here. So once my obligation is fulfilled, I'm gone. In the meantime, I work on what I feel I can and what I choose to spend my free time on. Right now, I've already put my other projects on hold to make this happen, and while I respect what you're saying, I don't like being told that I'm wasting my free time on a project that I've chosen to take on.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: spoogs on November 17th, 2012, 10:34 PM
Quote
I find it interesting that IPB's calendar does not link to forum topics but instead maintains its own post + comments structure outside the forum. Doing the same would actually cut most of the performance hit right out straight away.
I've never used IPB but I have to say I have always thought this would be the best approach. I only see the forum post as a way to say hey this event has been posted in the calendar. Not sure if you remember but on Arantor Mods I was asking for something similar to this I think I called it an Events Board but the point was having an area separate from the traditional boards to deal with the calendar events.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Farjo on November 18th, 2012, 07:04 AM
"...and while I respect what you're saying, I don't like being told that I'm wasting my free time on a project that I've chosen to take on."
Oh I hope that's not what you think I've said, or that I'm expecting anything (I was trying to take away expectation).

Here's the programme: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01ntjqc The bit on pivoting starts at around 23 minutes.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 18th, 2012, 02:17 PM
Quote
I've never used IPB but I have to say I have always thought this would be the best approach. I only see the forum post as a way to say hey this event has been posted in the calendar.
So, let's take a look at what IPB does: it doesn't cross post to the forum, but instead pushes it to the sidebar for upcoming and whatnot. I am actually now an IPB licence holder[1] and I have my licence deployed to a test site should anyone want to examine it. Just PM me for the link, I don't really want it public.
Quote
I think I called it an Events Board but the point was having an area separate from the traditional boards to deal with the calendar events.
What I'm tempted to do is have the calendar create a phantom board, much like SimpleDesk's (though, infinitely more efficient, not to mention cleaner) and have everything go into that.
Quote
Oh I hope that's not what you think I've said, or that I'm expecting anything (I was trying to take away expectation).
That's the thing: there's only so many ways that "Perhaps you shouldn't worry about this now" can be taken. The calendar needs to be done, because it's an expectation that has yet to be fulfilled. As it is, it had been several months since I'd touched it before, and I've lamented recently about how little it seems like anyone cared about it before.

Ultimately, while I have a period where I feel like caring about it, I'm going to deal with it.
 1. Don't ask what prompted that to happen. It's a long and strange story.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: spoogs on November 18th, 2012, 05:15 PM
Quote
What I'm tempted to do is have the calendar create a phantom board, much like SimpleDesk's (though, infinitely more efficient, not to mention cleaner) and have everything go into that.
I like that idea very much actually.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 18th, 2012, 07:32 PM
Just going to leave this here... it is of course a WIP...
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: spoogs on November 18th, 2012, 08:26 PM
Looks nice there.

Is there an option to state the location of an event?
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 18th, 2012, 08:29 PM
I suppose I could put that in as well while I'm at it. It's one of those things that isn't a big deal either way as far as I'm concerned.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: spoogs on November 18th, 2012, 09:01 PM
 :cool: I think it would be pretty useful, well. At least to me :P

A check box for here meaning just the discussion 'thread'

Option to enter a physical address/venue or s URL
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 18th, 2012, 09:06 PM
Location as it stands is simply a textbox and requisite storage, it's just not a big deal, I'm not even sure it actually even needs a checkbox - either leave it blank or fill it in.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: spoogs on November 18th, 2012, 09:31 PM
Simple enough.
I was going off an event we have coming up where the address is a venue

Opium @ HardRock
adress
city, state zip

and would be nice to enter all of that but its no big deal it cal always be detailed in the event description any
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 18th, 2012, 09:40 PM
And therein lies the other matter - the event won't have a description unless it's linked to a thread, then the thread contains the bigger stuff.

Hence the inclination perhaps to move it out of being a thread. But before I get into that, I'd much prefer to involve anyone else who might actually use the calendar...
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: spoogs on November 18th, 2012, 10:06 PM
What type of info were you going to provide in the faked up board?
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 18th, 2012, 11:49 PM
I don't know yet, this is more a thing in progress.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: spoogs on November 19th, 2012, 01:21 AM
I see, I assumed it was going to be somewhat detailed.... ie:
Name
Date/time
Location
Description
Attendees

Well that sort of thing.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 19th, 2012, 01:33 AM
Never assume :P

I'm very very reluctant to generate more fields, if I'm going to uproot how the calendar works. See, description covers the whole notion of having the main calendar item instead of a thread...
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: spoogs on November 19th, 2012, 04:34 AM
Quote from Arantor on November 19th, 2012, 01:33 AM
Never assume :P
Lol true enough
Quote from Arantor on November 19th, 2012, 01:33 AM
I'm very very reluctant to generate more fields, if I'm going to uproot how the calendar works. See, description covers the whole notion of having the main calendar item instead of a thread...
Indeed go the way you see best :thanks: until I actually use it in practice I'm just brain storming
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: live627 on November 19th, 2012, 05:25 AM
Quote
Never assume :P
Because when you assume, you're always wrong. :P

Oh, wait, that was pessimistic...
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 19th, 2012, 06:28 AM
Because you don't want to make an ass of u and me.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on November 26th, 2012, 03:53 AM
So, I spent some time looking at what IPB does. I see it as the real competition to Wedge, not so much competing with SMF or the other free systems. I figure if it's what people are willing to pay for, I want to see what it demands.

I gotta say, I'm inclined to take the road they did - there's no calendar board, no linked topics or anything, you just have the calendar as an item that people can browse - and there's an RSS feed for it too.

They also provide abilities like restricting who can see individual events, plus a per-day view (as opposed to SMF/Wedge which currently only offer month/week views, because it can't handle times on events, there's no need for a per-day view), plus the ability to support multiple calendars rather than just one, though I'm honestly not sure how useful that part is.

It does make me seriously wonder how much of the calendar is worth salvaging.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: elyparker on January 14th, 2013, 06:18 PM
Quote from Arantor on November 14th, 2012, 12:53 AM
OK, OK, don't get your hopes up. It's NOT going back in the core. NO.

However, while I let other things simmer until they're done, I'm curious to hear what people would like to see in the calendar.
events, sometime some post is event is good if is possible put events and ors sync with another calendar as facebook calendars or google calendar
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on January 14th, 2013, 06:25 PM
I love how people don't read the topic where I explain what the calendar will and will not do.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Powerbob on January 14th, 2013, 11:30 PM
I for one would need a calendar, and preferably link event dates to posts. Also events spanning multiple days would be super. The idea to make it into a plugin is a cool idea as not everyone needs it for their forum.

Bob
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on January 14th, 2013, 11:31 PM
Well, yeah, a calendar is a given. Why the need to link event dates to posts? Why not just allow people to have the ability to comment on events?

Even SMF's should be able to span multiple days...
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Powerbob on January 14th, 2013, 11:34 PM
Actually I see it the other way around :eheh: I can post more info in the post than the message in the calendar, thus maximizing exposure for the event.

SMF's can span multiple days :)
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on January 14th, 2013, 11:36 PM
Read a few posts up, reply 54. That's where I'm going.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Powerbob on January 14th, 2013, 11:41 PM
hmmmmm, Bob bumbles off to dig out his "paid but not used" IPB software and see what Arantor is on about :whistle:
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on January 14th, 2013, 11:43 PM
Exactly what I've just asked about, essentially. You don't link to posts, instead you have a big old textbox for describing the event and people can reply to it - without having a physical linked topic.

Not having the linked topic means bypassing all the crazy hooking into topics which has a fairly beneficial performance saving.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Powerbob on January 15th, 2013, 06:09 AM
I see what you mean now (installed test copy IPB to check ::) ) works for me :lol:
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Nao on January 15th, 2013, 07:20 AM
But it also bypasses the ability to search for posts in these...
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on January 15th, 2013, 05:21 PM
You realise I'd already thought of that? ;)

When I said about IPB, I really meant looking at *everything* it does. Their quick search has a dropdown, to be able to select forum/blogs/calendar, as well as that being in their main search, something we can't do.

The whole point of pulling the calendar topics away from main topics is very seriously about performance - adding another query to every topic view to fetch linked events is not cheap however you slice it.

Having dedicated calendar topics would solve that particular little performance hiccup.

Common sense suggests that having a 'calendar board' would be the way to go, except that I'm not convinced it would be particularly intuitive - it would require users putting the board in, setting visibility on it and so on, not to mention having to actually implement some fashion of actually diverting things between custom board types; the way MessageIndex works thus far is fine for what it does but we will need to expand upon that in future, and this would certainly pre-empt it.

The thing is, though, even doing that doesn't really solve the issue related to search, it might actually be an improvement to, instead, have the calendar search as a separate dedicated routine that's integrated from the search (the way IPB does it), which means the experience can be tailored better for the user and allow them to search things that can't be done currently.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: live627 on March 17th, 2013, 10:23 AM
I have here two layouts which I would like to show everybody. One has the two mini calendars on the bottom (SMF style) and the other with them in the sidebar (which I really like, tbh)..

Let me explain something: the blue highlight is where the mouse  hovered and  the white square with the red text is  today.. Clicking a day updates a sidebar block with the appropriate date and any events, holidays, attached to it.

Which do you like better?
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on March 17th, 2013, 03:11 PM
I suppose you already got the sidebar so it's not like you'd gain any width on the matter. The bit that bothers me is that for folks like me, I keep the sidebar collapsed to the bottom, so I'm not going to see things... :/
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: godboko71 on March 18th, 2013, 06:54 PM
Quote from Arantor on March 17th, 2013, 03:11 PM
I suppose you already got the sidebar so it's not like you'd gain any width on the matter. The bit that bothers me is that for folks like me, I keep the sidebar collapsed to the bottom, so I'm not going to see things... :/
If he made it the first items on the sidebar it would be no different then the "classic/smf" look really. I dont think anyway never used calendar much.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Arantor on March 18th, 2013, 07:03 PM
True, it wouldn't - but I was referring to the fact that if they were on the sidebar, that would be at the very bottom of the page for me since I always have the sidebar folded below. The other problem is that it might be possible to have them aligned oddly depending on exactly what order they're in the sidebar.
Title: Re: Calendar
Post by: Powerbob on April 5th, 2013, 09:35 AM
Quote from Arantor on January 15th, 2013, 05:21 PM
You realise I'd already thought of that? ;)

When I said about IPB, I really meant looking at *everything* it does. Their quick search has a dropdown, to be able to select forum/blogs/calendar, as well as that being in their main search, something we can't do.

The whole point of pulling the calendar topics away from main topics is very seriously about performance - adding another query to every topic view to fetch linked events is not cheap however you slice it.

Having dedicated calendar topics would solve that particular little performance hiccup.

Common sense suggests that having a 'calendar board' would be the way to go, except that I'm not convinced it would be particularly intuitive - it would require users putting the board in, setting visibility on it and so on, not to mention having to actually implement some fashion of actually diverting things between custom board types; the way MessageIndex works thus far is fine for what it does but we will need to expand upon that in future, and this would certainly pre-empt it.

The thing is, though, even doing that doesn't really solve the issue related to search, it might actually be an improvement to, instead, have the calendar search as a separate dedicated routine that's integrated from the search (the way IPB does it), which means the experience can be tailored better for the user and allow them to search things that can't be done currently.
Sounds good to me.