[Resolved] Six feature requests

[Author]

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[davidM-17]

Hi Toolset Team,

I am a fan of Toolset and would like to pass on some suggestions:

1. It would be fantastic if we could use Layouts for creating Content Templates. The current method is serviceable but seems dated. This was really made clear to me after using the Themify Post Type Builder on a project. Diane Laidlaw has a nice video showing how it works. At around the 2-minute mark, she shows how to use the Template Editor. It is an easy to use drag and drop layout editor for your Custom Post Types. This suggestion seems like it would be low hanging fruit and would benefit a huge number of users.

2. A huge time sink for me has been working with Schema.org definitions for my Custom Post Types. I spent days reviewing plugins before I ended up writing my own, limited solution. It seems logical to me that we should define the Schema.org settings when creating a Custom Post Type.

3. A couple of times I’ve needed a 5-star rating option for my Custom Post Type. Yes, I found the threads in the Toolset support forum related to this. Again I ended up writing my own rating plugin for personal use, but it would have saved me a ton of time if Types had this built in. My suggestion is that the Toolset team investigates adding something that on the backend is something like a “Percentage Field”, where the value entered is a factor of 100. For the user and output, have options for display as stars, progress bars, pies, etc.

4. A lot of people have suggested an events calendar. It seems like a natural extension to Toolset. My suggestion is not to go for a full event management solution, but to add a “Recurring Date” field type to the Types plugin. I imagine something along those lines would cover many use cases.

5. Calculated fields are another feature request, like an Events Calendar, a rating field, and schema.org support, that continually surfaces. Calculated fields would energize the CRED plugin and add a feature that all professional forms plugins have.

6. Toolset was inspired by some of the cornerstone Drupal modules. It makes sense, then, to pull another one from Drupal over to WordPress, and that is Drupal Rules. WordPress is sorely lacking a native “If This Then That” automation plugin. Such a plugin would be a power tool, like Views, that would make Toolset stand out and be indispensable.

Once recorded feel free to mark this as complete. Thank you for considering these ideas.

David

[Beda]

Hey David

Let me reply to each request.

1. This is implemented already.

It's called Content Layouts.
When you install the Layouts Plugin and head to a Post, you can see a button "Content Layout Editor" button, press that to achieve what you describe:
https://toolset.com/documentation/getting-started-with-toolset/design-individual-posts-and-pages/

For "repeating" Layouts (to use on many posts) just create a Template Layout, it will replace the content, just like Content Templates, as long you do not use Custom PHP to integrate Layouts.

2. I am not familiar with this Scheman.org.

It seems it recognises standard HTML tags in a Template?
If so, that is not related to Toolset, as with the plugins you will define Post types (and they are irrelated to Templates) and display, edit, create and control them.
But the Display part is mainly related to the_content() part, hence, not related to whole templates.

But I am eager to learn better here.

3. I understand the need of this, but the developers and I believe there are many other solutions for this.
The Plugin repo seems to have a lot of options to offer.

The problem here mainly is that whatever we could implement, it would never satisfy all users.
Some want stars, others one to five, even others 1 to 100, and so on.
Since we do focus on data creation, display and control, we do not focus on rating/counting/social interactions.
Perhaps this can be an idea for very far future projects, although we do have many pressing such projects, like data providing, step forms, and so on.

I think our Developers and Management would eventually be interested in some cowork, if you (or others) write cool plugins and want to "integrate" them with Toolset, I think that is the "user friendlier" way to go?

4. Yes, I know this.
And it has been in our heads too.
Also here, we have several other major pressing tasks more related to Toolset, but as well here, I will keep this as warm as possible.
But this cannot be done soon, so much is sure.

5. Agreed as well, and as well here we do not yet focus on this, also because the possibilities here are unlimited, and our resources and also the objective of Toolset is limited. Hence we would never satisfy all needs.
But I have on my plate such requests, also including calculation shortcodes.
But there is not even an accepted request yet.
I will keep it as warm as possible, but for now, I can't promise anything.

6. Is this like the HTML conditional?
Sorry, I am a simple WordPress born guy, I am not familiar with the Drupal features.

If it is like HTML conditional, I have personally filed requests to make that GUI even better.

All claims above make sense, and I consider them and will eventually also increase the Developers appetite for them, but I cannot promise a lot, unfortunately.

[davidM-17]

Hi Beda,

I hope you are doing well today. Thank you for the nice reply. I'm following up to clarify a few points that I didn't communicate well:

1. I see that I didn't include the link to the video. Here it is hidden link. They are a competitor's product, much simpler without as many bells and whistles, but the building of a Content Template is very nice. Around the 2 minute point is where that is shown.

I was talking about the "Content Template" screen that you get to from the menu on the left under Toolset. When you create a Layout there is the option under Lists and Loops to add a "Content Layout," a "WordPress Archive," or a "View". What you add there are created in the other screens, like the Content Template Screen or Views screen where there is no drag and drop layout. My enhancement request is that we add Layout functionality to those screens like you can see in the video. If you would like to try it out, I can set it up for you on my demo site.

Of all my 6 ideas, this one would be most in line with what the team is currently doing and would make Toolset easier for users.

2. Every modern theme implements Schema.org markup. You can see it when viewing the page source. The Schema is the language that search engines read. The problem is when we create a Content Template for custom post types or when we create a Layout, there is no Schema markup. The suggestion is to please add the ability to specify the Schema.org markup when using Types to create a Custom Post Type and the ability to output it using Content Templates and Layouts. All of the major search engines from around the world use it. I'm happy to discuss further if it is not clear what I am asking. Custom Post Types need the Schema added to them. Right now it is a manual thing we must do, but it could be defined in Types.

3, 4, and 5: I'm asking for 3 new field types - recurring date, percentage, and calculated field. Of those three, recurring date and calculated field would be the most widely used. I'm not asking for an events management solution, for example, but the tools for users to create our own solutions.

6. Rules allow site builders to bring a measure of automation to their sites. Rules enable developers to configure events that will be executed whenever certain conditions are met. That functionality is not part of Toolset or WordPress. It is something that people who use Drupal are familiar with. Since a lot of Toolset ideas were inspired by Drupal, I thought it might make "fit". That would be something totally new.

I understand that you cannot promise anything. I'm just asking that the feature requests be added to the lists, so when developers periodically look at what people are asking for they can see the suggestions.

I don't have any screenshots right now, but if there are still questions then let me know and I can create something.

Thank you,

David

[Beda]

1. I see.

And it is exactly what you can do with Layouts, of course, it looks different and has different options, items and elements.
But with Layouts, you can do exactly that:
Create Templates for Single Posts or All Posts of a kind, or even archives, and more, by Drag and Drop, using Bootstrap HTML/CSS elements.

We will not add that to Content Templates as that is an HTML editor, and that will stay as is.
I consulted that in the past with the Developers and since we have Layouts, providing this feature (and a lot more) we will not add it to Content Templates as well.

2. I will pass this "scheman.org" topic to the Developers, it seems a widely used feature, and eventually, we can consider this.

3, 4, 5. The recurring date field somehow makes sense.
It would mean you select "June the first", and that recurs every year, for example, right?
Or "13:00" and that repeats every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, and so on?

About the other two fields:
Percentage and calculated, I do not think we will add them, as they will just cover a very single, particular part of the whole range of "math" that you can do.
For a Percentage, I think it is easier to use a tiny Custom ShortCode, and for math, as well, using two simple fields and then custom code, to calculate.
I will thou discuss them for sure with the DEV.

6. This would implement a probable new Plugin - not just a single new feature.
While it is an excellent idea, I doubt we will add it.
But I will consult with the management directly.

I think everything is clear now, and I took note of this here and will discuss and pass to the developers as needed. Thank you.

[davidM-17]

Hi Beda,

Thank you for taking the time to dig in and understand. It looks like you have a good handle on what I'm referring to. I'll leave it to you to pass the appropriate information along.

Best regards,

David