A Recipe for Flexible Editing with Drupal, Panels, Kalatheme and Panopoly
Drupal - Blocks vs Context vs Panels
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Transcript of Drupal - Blocks vs Context vs Panels
CONSULTINGDEVELOPMENTTRAINING
& dont forget videos!
Building Pages
Blocks vs Context vs Panels
What is a page? HTML Rendered by DrupalThrough a series of hooks and preprocessors
How does Drupal build pages? Menus
Regions
Blocks
Node
Widgets / Content provided by modules*
BLOCKS
What is a block?
How does the current block system work? Regions provided by theme
Visibility Enabled / Disabled
Path
Roles
Custom PHP in database = BAD
http://drupal.org/handbook/modules/block
CONTEXT The advanced page builder
What is Context? Context allows you to manage contextual conditions and reactions for different portions of your site. - http://drupal.org/project/context
It is a module.
http://drupal.org/project/context
Context UI
What does Context allow us to do? Much more powerful than block system. Menus
Views
Theme
No PHP in DB
Multiple context can exist per page.
PanelsThe visual page builder
What is Panels?At its core it is a drag and drop content manager that lets you visually design a layout and place content within that layout.
PANELS UI
What does Panels allow us to do? Drag-n-drop
Much more powerful than block system. Menus
Views
Theme
Built-in Caching mechanism
Content within page is aware of other content
Not limited to template regions
What are the benefits of using Panels or Context? More efficient
Rapid Development
Control more than blocks
Exportable
The FUTURE
PANELS vs
CONTEXT
Pros Powerful
Point-n-Click
Not dependent on template
Content/Context aware
Caching
Cons Path dependent
Complex UI
Pros Powerful
Point-n-Click
Content/Context aware
Simple UI
Cons Abstract
Limited layout options
When should I use Panels? Client or site-builders need to move content around
Complex page layouts
URL structured layouts Variants gives more flexibility
When should I use Context? Developer driven site
Theme provides enough regions Context Layout gives more flexibility
Context driven layouts