Is it Joomla or is it me (Preview)?

krizanke · **Joined:** Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:32 pm **Posts:** 18

Hello,

I'm a new user and I can't understand this:

When I write an article I don't know how to preview or find a link to that article.

- there is a preview button but it is useless. Opening in new tab produces an error, while just clicking on it shows me the same thing I can already see in the editor. I can't see how the article looks on my actual webpage.

- yes, you can find the ID of the article and find the url structure (?option=com_content&view=article&id=XX) and combine them. But surely this is not how it is meant to be done?

Thank you.

FreeThinker · **Posted:** Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:38 pm

Hi there

before you post things like this, you better search, read, and watch some tutorials, to learn how to!

Joomla does not suck.... if you don't understand something it does not suck for it!

If you have any specific doubts please post here, if you have doubts about joomla in general, i suggest you take a look to some tutorials and videos.

Cheers m8

krizanke · **Joined:** Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:32 pm **Posts:** 18

No need to get upset, the title was not meant to be insulting.

That said, I think I've done my homework, I've searched quite a lot, but only found the weird solution described above.

I don't know how other people use Joomla but Preview function seems important to me to:
- see how the article looks in the page
- find out the URL of the article

Perhaps I'm using Joomla the wrong way?

FreeThinker · **Posted:** Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:52 pm

not upset....

to see articles use the joomla Preview option.

please be more specific with your doubts (posting images if necessary)

Hope you help your query m8

Cheers

Webdongle · **Joined:** Sat Apr 05, 2008 9:58 pm **Posts:** 1222

krizanke wrote:

Hello,

I'm a new user and I can't understand this:

When I write an article I don't know how to preview or find a link to that article.

- there is a preview button but it is useless. Opening in new tab produces an error, while just clicking on it shows me the same thing I can already see in the editor. I can't see how the article looks on my actual webpage.

- yes, you can find the ID of the article and find the url structure (?option=com_content&view=article&id=XX) and combine them. But surely this is not how it is meant to be done?

Thank you.

One of the points of any CMS is to negate the need to alter every page menu each time a page is added. Create a page, assign it section and catagory(just like a filing cabinet), select or create a menu and add a link to it. Simple Job done. No messing around in the code changing every page that has a menu on it.

techWild · **Posted:** Wed Apr 08, 2009 8:35 pm

Quote:

I don't know how other people use Joomla but Preview function seems important to me to:
- see how the article looks in the page
- find out the URL of the article

Perhaps I'm using Joomla the wrong way?

I do agree with you, the preview for an article is week. It would be better if it would show it to you in a browser window.

What I do to get around this, is to link to the article through the menu system.

I don’t want the public to see my pages that are still in beta. So I will create a new menu in the menu manager. I will call it Test Menu. By default the menu is not visible to the public/front end of your site. I then will create menu button to my test article. After you create the menu item to that article (after you have saved it). Click on the menu item to edit it. That will give you the URL Link. I copy and paste that in a browser window to get a try representation of my page.

Kind of a lot of work just to see your page, but that sounds like what you are looking for. Maybe they will update the preview button in the next major release of joomla.

Webdongle · **Joined:** Sat Apr 05, 2008 9:58 pm **Posts:** 1222

techWild wrote:

Quote:

I don't know how other people use Joomla but Preview function seems important to me to:
- see how the article looks in the page
- find out the URL of the article

Perhaps I'm using Joomla the wrong way?

I do agree with you, the preview for an article is week. It would be better if it would show it to you in a browser window.

What I do to get around this, is to link to the article through the menu system.

Apply the changes and the edit page remains, there is a preview link Joomla menu that opens up new browser tab/window !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

techWild · **Posted:** Thu Apr 09, 2009 2:11 am

I know about the "Preview" button next to the "Save" button. But that opens just the content that is in the editor in a shadow box, no browser/live site type environment. Is there a different one I am missing?
Thanks!

joomador · **Joined:** Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:31 pm **Posts:** 8

krizanke wrote:

Hello,

I'm a new user and I can't understand this:

When I write an article I don't know how to preview or find a link to that article.

- there is a preview button but it is useless. Opening in new tab produces an error, while just clicking on it shows me the same thing I can already see in the editor. I can't see how the article looks on my actual webpage.

- yes, you can find the ID of the article and find the url structure (?option=com_content&view=article&id=XX) and combine them. But surely this is not how it is meant to be done?

Thank you.

Never say that joomla sucks, ever again!! do some googleling b4 you start making those type of questions. Joomla is the most powerful cms

krizanke · **Joined:** Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:32 pm **Posts:** 18

techWild wrote:

I do agree with you, the preview for an article is week. It would be better if it would show it to you in a browser window.

Finally there is one who understands my problems

Here is a picture for people who don't quite understand what I'm complaining about:

Besides that I really like opening stuff in a new tab (or window) because these Javascript shading windows are so slow on my computer.

I've quickly made a plugin to add a Preview button. It opens the article's URL in a new tab (window).. there you can see the article's URL which is also useful.

Here it is.

Webdongle · **Joined:** Sat Apr 05, 2008 9:58 pm **Posts:** 1222

techWild wrote:

I know about the "Preview" button next to the "Save" button. But that opens just the content that is in the editor in a shadow box, no browser/live site type environment. Is there a different one I am missing?
Thanks!

No no no no !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The preview button on the Joomla menu.

Attachment:

preview.png

Attachment:

6820_computer-head-bang.gif

krizanke · **Joined:** Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:32 pm **Posts:** 18

Yes, but that link is always the same and points to your site ( example: domain.com ) and not the article you are editing.

My plugin on the other hand points directly to the article so you can see how it looks.
( example: domain.com/?option=com_content&view=article&id=6 )

techWild · **Posted:** Thu Apr 09, 2009 12:55 pm

Webdongle: Thanks for the replies! But that preview button at the top of the administrator interface does not open the current page in a browser preview for me either. Yes, it does open the site in a browser, but not the current article/extension that I am working on, it only takes you to your site. See what I mean?

krizanke: I tried your plugin and it seems to work so far, Nice Job!

jcklabatt · **Joined:** Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:40 pm **Posts:** 9

Quote:

Here it is.

Hi krizanke,

Thank you for the plugin! I was looking for exactly the same functionality you have described. I can't believe it's so difficult to discover an article's path. Your plugin should be a standard feature included in the next release.

Thanks again.
Jack

krizanke · **Joined:** Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:32 pm **Posts:** 18

It is nice to see that others find my (simple) plugin useful. I have not submitted it to the official list of plugins yet. Maybe I should since it could be useful for many people.

leolam · **Posted:** Fri Apr 24, 2009 7:53 am

krizanke wrote:

No need to get upset, the title was not meant to be insulting.

Well lets be very frankly: I kindly ask you to change that title since it IS offense from pure politeness point of view. You do not use that language on a public forum and irrelevant related to whatever.

Quote:

http://www.tfd.com/suck : Vulgar Slang To be disgustingly disagreeable or offensive..

Besides that you break imho the forum rules: " Keep all commentary civil, and be courteous at all times"

Kindly ask you to adjust your text to something like "What is the best way to preview my site?" and than describe your frustration.

Please change as per forum rules?

Leo

krizanke · **Joined:** Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:32 pm **Posts:** 18

I've looked hard and I can't find the "Edit" button to change the thread title.
If any moderator is watching he can change it.

Still I belive I have raised an important question (and contributed an open-source solution - plugin).

Tonie · **Joined:** Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:13 am **Posts:** 13261

@krikanze. I changed the title for you.

leolam · **Posted:** Fri Apr 24, 2009 12:54 pm

krizanke wrote:

Still I believe I have raised an important question (and contributed an open-source solution - plugin).

Thank you for the understanding and for the plugin. That is indeed a cool widget which I personally believe should be picked up by core-joomla.

What you also can do is post the plugin to the extension directory and I am sure if will receive massive downloads. I did already and tested it and it is extremely helpful indeed! Make sure you read the rules of that section before posting especially related to the license etc.

Kudos for the Plugin!

Note for users: On a new article you first have to click the "apply" button and than the preview button will appear!

Leo

@ Tonie: tnx and no I am not holier than the pope ;-)

yotta · **Joined:** Sun Feb 24, 2008 6:07 pm **Posts:** 18

It is interesting the different ways by which we work Joomla.
Joomla is set up so you can have two sessions per login going at once, the admin and the site. You open up your admin session and edit away while simultaneously having the site session open so you can hit the browser refresh for the changes. (You can have the site session open in another tab or another browser.) I generally have three open: Firefox with admin session and site session, and an IE site session. I've never had a problem with multiple logins/browsers/sessions going at once.
Sorry, but quite frankly, I have also found that Preview button that opens the article in a lightbox not very useful.

leolam · **Posted:** Fri Apr 24, 2009 1:53 pm

yotta wrote:

It is interesting the different ways by which we work Joomla.
Joomla is set up so you can have two sessions per login going at once, the admin and the site.

That does not resolve the issue of preview. If you do not make (yet) a link tothat article you cannot preview the item-id in your site's environment aka template. This is what this plugin does nicely

Leo

yotta · **Joined:** Sun Feb 24, 2008 6:07 pm **Posts:** 18

You are right - I forgot a couple of details. I first create the menu item with special access so that it isn't visible to the general public. Then when it's ready, I just change the access level.

jcklabatt · **Joined:** Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:40 pm **Posts:** 9

Hi krizanke,

In an effort to keep your preview plugin momentum going, I've created an image to finish off your button when in the Article Editor. Here's what the results will look like:

Attachment:

preview_button.gif

Simply add the atached png image (j_button2_preview.png) to image directory:

Code:

.../administrator/templates/khepri/images

In the general.css file:

Code:

.../administrator/templates/khepri/css/general.css

Add the following line (in my case it was line 551)

Code:

.button2-left .preview    { background: url(../images/j_button2_preview.png) 100% 0 no-repeat; }

That's it, you know have a great preview function.

Thanks again for the plugin.
Jack

leolam · **Posted:** Sat Apr 25, 2009 2:34 am

I have added this functionality to the White Paper Feature Request forum. See: viewtopic.php?f=500&t=395634&p=1673641#p1673641

Tnx

Leo

M4nimal · **Joined:** Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:20 pm **Posts:** 2

Hi there

Thanks for the code you did for an article preview button.. couple of questions though:

How do I install it? Does it automatically add in the preview button to the end of the article (I dont see any images in your Zip file)? Will it work in J 1.5.14?

Thanks!

krizanke · **Joined:** Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:32 pm **Posts:** 18

Hello,

the plugin should install like any other Joomla plugin.. I'm not sure if it works with newer versions, I'll try to check it tomorrow and I'll get back to you.

Quasi_Mojo · **Joined:** Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:32 pm **Posts:** 1

The Preview function works fantastically!
But for the life of me, I can't seem to get the j_button2_preview.png that jcklabatt posted to display.
I added the image to my /xxxxxxxx/templates/system/images directory, and found the general.css file in my /xxxxxxxx/templates/system/css directory and have added the suggested code, but the magnifier image won't display.

I'm using the js_earthblog template, and there is no general.css in it's css directory.

krizanke · **Joined:** Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:32 pm **Posts:** 18

Guys I need another day I'm really busy (PHP programming all day)

Webdongle · **Joined:** Sat Apr 05, 2008 9:58 pm **Posts:** 1222

krizanke wrote:

Guys I need another day I'm really busy (PHP programming all day)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-202660/Extra-day-week-unpaid-overtime.html
or

http://www.punny.org/money/add-an-extra-day-to-your-week-no-time-machine-required/

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