J2.5

Content Parameter Specifications

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Revision as of 06:27, 29 April 2013 by Wilsonge (talk | contribs) (Remove 1.6 and 1.7 tags. Update to 2.5. Mark as needs review.)

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Conceptual Overview[edit]

Content parameters in Joomla! allow you to control which elements show on your site. For example, whether or not to show the author of an article or the article's category.

Parameters can be set at different levels in the content system, each with its own scope of operation.

  1. In Article Manager → Options, which applies to all articles.
  2. In Category → Edit Category, which applies to all articles in this category. (Note that this doesn't exist yet but has been previously proposed for 2.5).
  3. In Menu Manager → Edit Menu Item, which applies to this Menu Item and to drill-downs to lists, blogs, or articles accessed from this Menu Item.
  4. In Article Manager → Edit Article, which applies to this one article.

The goal of having parameters at these different levels is to allow you to save effort in setup but also allow flexibility where needed. For example, if you want a parameter set for all articles, you can just set that at the top level and then let all articles inherit that value. If you need to override in some cases, you can change the setting at a lower level in the hierarchy.

The key concept is that the hierarchy should be ordered from the most general level to the most specific level. The parameters from the most specific level override parameters at a higher, less specific level. A parameter setting of "Inherit" (called "Use Global", in 1.5) tells the layout to use the parameter from the next higher level in the hierarchy. "Inherit" is represented by an empty parameter value in the database.

Content Menu Items[edit]

For 2.5 content, 10 layouts are currently proposed, as follows:

  1. Archived Article
  2. Single Article (either from an Article layout or from a drill-down from another Menu Item or module)
  3. List All Categories (new for 2.5, to show Category hierarchy)
  4. Category List (like in 1.5)
  5. Category Blog (like in 1.5)
  6. Sub-Category List (replaces Section List in 1.5)
  7. Sub-Category Blog (replaces Section Blog in 1.5)
  8. Featured Article List (like 1.5 Front Page Blog, except in List format)
  9. Featured Article Blog (like Front Page Blog in 1.5)
  10. Default Form (like 1.5 Submit Article)

Parameter Hierarchies[edit]

Here is the relevant parameter hierarchy for each page type in order of most specific to least specific:

Archived Article

  1. Menu Item
  2. Global Article Parameters

Single Article

  1. Single Article Menu Item (if it exists)
  2. Single article parameters (Edit Article)
  3. Menu Item (if this article is viewed from a drill-down from a different Menu Item Type)
  4. Category parameters
  5. Global Article Parameters

List All Categories

  1. Menu Item
  2. Display of drill-down to Category List or Category Blog controlled as shown below.

Category List (including when you drill down from Sub-Category List or List All Categories)

  1. Menu Item (Category List, Sub-Category List, or List All Categories)
  2. Category Parameters
  3. Global Article Parameters

Category Blog (including when you drill down from Sub-Category List or List All Categories)

  1. Menu Item (List All Categories, Category Blog, or Sub-Category Blog)
  2. Optionally, single article parameters (Edit Article). See below under Blog Layouts and Article Parameters.
  3. Category Parameters
  4. Global Article Parameters

Sub-Category List

  1. Menu Item
  2. Display of drill-down to Category List or Category Blog controlled as shown above.

Sub-Category Blog

  1. Menu Item
  2. Optionally, single article parameters (Edit Article). See below under Blog Layouts and Article Parameters.
  3. Category Parameters
  4. Global Article Parameters

Featured Articles List

  1. Menu Item
  2. Global Article Parameters

Featured Articles Blog

  1. Menu Item
  2. Optionally, single article parameters (Edit Article). See below under Blog Layouts and Article Parameters.
  3. Category Parameters
  4. Global Article Parameters

Default Form (Submit Article)

  1. Menu Item

Blog Layouts and Article Parameters[edit]

Blog layouts provide a special challenge to this system. A blog layout can be viewed conceptually in two different ways:

  1. As a List layout that happens to show intro text.
  2. As a collection of article layouts that happen to share the page.

For case #1, parameter settings for individual articles should not affect the page display and the Menu Item parameters should control the display (just like in a List layout). For case #2, however, you would say that the blog should be treated like an article layout, where each article should control it's own display. Currently, version 1.5 implements case #2 and allows individual articles to override the Menu Item settings for blog layouts.

A simple solution to this problem is to offer an additional option for blog parameters called "Use Article". For example, the Show Author parameter for a blog would have the options Inherit (from either the Category or Global Article), Use Article (meaning use the setting for the individual article), Hide, or Show. If the "Use Article" is set, and if the Article parameter is "Inherit", then it is the same as if the setting was "Inherit". This would apply to all of the Article parameters for the three blog layouts: Category Blog, Sub-Category Blog, and Featured Article Blog.

Changes from Version 1.5[edit]

Under this proposal, content parameters would work very similarly to the way version 1.5 works, with the following differences:

  1. All Menu Item parameters will be able to be set at the Global Article level. In version 1.5, Basic Parameters for content menu items have hard-coded default values. So, for example, if you always set Blog layouts to 1 column, you will now be able to set this as a default value site wide.
  2. All parameters will be able to be set for each Category. In version 1.5, there are no Category parameters. This will allow an optional layer of flexibility.
  3. The following new parameters are proposed:
    1. Published Date
    2. Drill Down to Blog or List
    3. Include All Child Categories
    4. Date For Ordering
  4. For a single article page, if a Menu Item exists for that article, it's parameters will override the parameters for the article set in Article Edit. This is logical since the Menu Item is more specific than the article. For example, you can have multiple menu items for one article. In version 1.5, the article parameters override the Menu Item, even for a Single Article layout.
  5. For Blog layouts, the user will have the option of using the menu item to control the display or using the article parameters. As discussed above, this will be accomplished by adding the option "Use Article" in the Menu Item parameters. This allows the same behavior as in 1.5 (where article parameters override blog menu item parameters) but also allows greater flexibility.
  6. A multi-Category parameter will be added to the Default Form (Submit Article) to allow administrators to set up category-specific submission forms.
  7. The parameters Show PDF Icon, Section Name, and Section Title Linkable have been removed for version 2.5. PDF conversion will no longer be supported in core in 2.5, and Sections have been replaced by hierarchical categories.

The result of this proposal will be more places to set more parameters. However, these parameters will all default to the current 1.5 values, so no additional work will be required if a user wishes to use the current defaults.

The Category level parameters add a new level and therefore potentially some new complexity to the parameter system. However, these are optional and may be ignored by users who don't need them.

For users who are familiar with how version 1.5 works, the transition to 2.5 should be relatively easy. For new users, version 2.5 shouldn't be significantly more difficult to learn than version 1.5 but allows greater flexibility and potentially easier setup.

Parameter Table[edit]

Below is a table showing all of the parameters and where they can be set. This can also be viewed in a Google doc here.


Affects Global Article Manager Category Archived Articles Single Article List All Categories Category List Category Blog Sub-Category List Sub-Category Blog Featured Articles List Featured Articles Blog Default Form Comments
Article Parameters
Show Article Category Article, Blog Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Linked Article Category Article, Blog Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Show Article Title Article, Blog Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Linked Article Title Article, Blog Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Show Intro Text Article Drill Down Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Whether to show the Intro Text or just the portion after the intro text when an article is shown
Show Author Article, Blog Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Show Create Date Article, Blog Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Show Modify Date Article, Blog Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Show Published Date Article, Blog Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N New for 2.5
Show Navigation Blog, List Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Show Read More Blog Y Y N N Y N Y Y Y N Y N
Show Icons Article, Blog Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Show Print Icon Article, Blog Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Show Email Icon Article, Blog Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Show Hits Article, Blog Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Allow Ratings Article, Blog Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N New for 2.5
Allow Comments Article, Blog Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N New for 2.5
Alternative Page Title Article N N N N N N N N N N N N New for 2.5
Alternative Layout Article N N N N N N N N N N N N New for 2.5
Content Language Article N N N N N N N N N N N N
Alternative Read More Text Article N N N N N N N N N N N N
Key Reference Article N N N N N N N N N N N N
Sub-Category Layout Parameters
Selected Category Description Sub-Category Blog, List Y Y N N N N N Y Y N N N Whether to show the description of the parent Category (the equivalent of the Section in 1.5)
Selected Category Description Image Sub-Category Blog, List Y Y N N N N N Y Y N N N Whether to show the Image of the parent Category
Show Parent Category Sub-Category Blog, List Y Y N N N N N Y Y N N N Whether to show the name of the parent Category (equivalent of the Section name in 1.5)
Show Empty Categories Sub-Category Blog, List Y Y N N N N N Y Y N N N Whether to show sub-categories that have no articles
Show Article Count Sub-Category Blog, List Y Y N N N N N Y Y N N N Whether to show count of articles in each sub-category
Show Category Description Sub-Category Blog, List Y Y N N N N N Y Y N N N Whether to show description of each sub-category
Include All Child Categories Sub-Category Blog, List Y Y N N N N N Y Y N N N New for 2.5. Whether to show all child categories or just the sub-categories 1 level down.
Category Order Sub-Category Blog, List Y Y N N N N N Y Y N N N Where you have multiple categories, how to order the categories.
Drill Down to Blog or List? Sub-Category Blog, List Y Y N N N N N Y Y N N N New for 2.5. When you drill-down on a category, whether to show the list of articles in list or blog format.
Blog Parameters
# Leading Blog Y Y N N Y N Y N Y N Y N
# Intro Blog Y Y N N Y N Y N Y N Y N
Columns Blog Y Y N N Y N Y N Y N Y N
# Links Blog Y Y N N Y N Y N Y N Y N
Multi Column Order Blog Y Y N N Y N Y N Y N Y N
List Parameters
# Links List Y Y N N Y Y N Y N Y N N
Table Headings List Y Y N N Y Y N Y N Y N N
Date Column List Y Y N N Y Y N Y N Y N N Changed for 2.5. Options are Hide, Created, Modified, Published
Date Format List Y Y N N Y Y N Y N Y N N
Filter Field List Y Y N N Y Y N Y N Y N N Changed for 2.5. Options are Hide, Title, Author, Hits.
Display Select List Y Y N N Y Y N Y N Y N N
Blog and List Parameters
Category Description Blog, List Y Y N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Whether to show description of the selected Category.
Description Image Blog, List Y Y N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Whether to show the image of the selected Category.
Category Blog, List N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Category or Categories selected for this layout. Note that this will be available for submit article form.
Primary Order Blog, List Y Y N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N How to order articles on the layout
Date for Ordering Blog, List Y Y N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N New for 2.5. If date is used in ordering articles, which date to use. Options are Created, Modified, or Published.
Pagination Blog, List Y Y N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Pagination Results Blog, List Y Y N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Show a Feed Link Blog, List Y Y N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
For each feed item show Blog, List Y Y N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N What to show on a newsfeed
Show Unauthorised Links Blog, List, List/Drill Down Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
Parameters Removed
Show PDF Icon
Section Name