Article Sort Order

[nanogeek]

Hi,

I am having trouble getting my article lists to sort in the order I want.
I have a menu choice set as Section Layout (Displays a list of Categories in a Section. )
When I click on the menu I am presented with a list of Categories sorted by Order. To get this result I selected Parameters - Advanced > Order > Order in the right pane in the Menu Item Edit Window.
When I click on a category link from the list I am presented with a list of articles in an order I cannot fathom.
Where and how do I specify the sort order for the articles presented?
Why is there no Global setting for this?
It seems that only Menu Items can specify a sort order. How do you define the "Default" setting for this sort?

Can someone help me out here?

I am using Joomla 1.5 with JApurity template Hebrew Laungauge RTL setting (although this is true with other templates in English as well)

Thanks for your help
nanogeek

[svgroeg]

Great question. I also have that issue. On top of that, I'd like an answer to why one can only get a list layout, not a blog layout after clicking through the category. I posted that question here http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=428&t=268626

[CommodorePeter]

I have had the same problem for months. The category list is actually in reverse order of creation (possibly a sloppy db call?). The response I got to a post was there seems to be a missing feature. However I was a newbie and didn't know how to get such a request into the stream, since I couldn't figure out how a solution could be developed (as with pagination) these constructs don't exist in a locatable place. When I get the time I am thinking of simply locating the query and adding an orderby, that way you could at least play with the order to get the desired result.

There is an extension under development called SECTIONex which you can set params such that a "weak fix" to this problem develops. The developer has published it and I have used it, but it is both more than what is needed and not enough of what is needed, but give it a try, It was just published yesterday and this morning. If we work with the developer he probably will customize it to the desired form. I have done some testing and comment on it so far.

Alternatively some one needs to request this as an enhancement.

Cheers.

[nanogeek]

This is the sort of thing I find very frustrating.
I am a n00b. I would describe myself as an active hobbyist. I am building an intranet at work and found Joomla! an interesting alternative.
I played with 1.0x a bit but found it a littel awkward. 1.5 seems to have smoothed some of the administrator interface. BUT Things that seem to be very basic (like the sort order) that worked in 1.0x don't work in 1.5!
I naturally assume that I just don't understand the way to make it work. I post a question and either I get no reply, or find out that other people have the same issue and there is no help in solving the problem forthcoming.

I would think that a proper functioning method for sorting articles would be a very basic requirement for content management software. Why is it broken or missing? Why is not fixed when reported? Where can I find help?

Maybe crowdsourcing _doesn't_ work?

Any help wuld be appreciated.
TIA
nanogeek.

[nanogeek]

I went back and looked at the Joomla! 1.0x category edit window, and in fact there is a place to specify "Ordering" Default is latest first.

CategoryEdit1.jpg

In the 1.5 Category edit window there is no such option. There is a category order option, which lists all the categories! What it is for and how or why to use it is beyond me.
There does not seem to be an ordering option for the articles.

CategoryShouldAsIs.jpg

The help page for the category edit screen does a screen shot that _Does_ contain an "Ordering" option! it appears http://help.joomla.org/workshop/images/ ... ry_new.png

CategoryShouldBe.jpg

The images are attached for viewing with greater detail.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
If this is a bug, to whom and how do I report it?

Nanogeek

[CommodorePeter]

Don't loose hope. Joomla 1.5 is one exceptional product at an exceptional price. Any measure of scalability, extensibility and functionality all show joomla to be outstanding and as a real plus you don't have to be well trained to use the product. The problem you face here is a common one (faced amongst all software development both pro and open source), how do you get minor low priority issues resolved without resorting to hysterics. I wish there was some bug stream where we could get these irritating issues escalated and resolved. (Report a security bug and it is often fixed in 24 hours.)

Anyone know how to bump this up, any developer want to be a hound dog and work off these minor annoyances?

As a stop gap try this extension http://extensions.joomla.org/component/ ... Itemid,35/

As for reporting it go here (and get in line) referencing your last post which is the best description by far: http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/joomla ... cker_id=32 In fact given the clarity you have added someone might whip up a fix for a SVN.

And there is always the alternative, spend some time learn the code and make your own fix. I have often found that some of these things are easy to fix even though I too haven't yet learned php or html.

Cheers.

[nanogeek]

Thanks for your words of encouragement. It is true that the price can't be beat, and it is relatively easy to use, even fun.

... how do you get minor low priority issues resolved without resorting to hysterics...

I don't think that something as fundamental as sort order is a low priority item. This should be a core function of the software. Obviously it was there in V1.0x. Why is it missing or broken now? Is there a project manager? As there people who troll the forums looking for problems that need fixing?

Thanks again
nanogeek

[circumpunct]

Yes, Joomla is a great bit of software, but I've got to agree article sort order is pretty basic.

I could understand it being left out of the RC, but the Stable?

PRETTY PLEASE, FIX IT SOON!

[tinamama]

i just came across this thread while looking for how to sort articles on the list page...so i see i'm not alone on this problem...has anything come of this? its been quite a few months since this thread was last added to. i HOPE something has come of it since then!


tina

[nanogeek]

Near as I can tell nothing has come of this issue.
I used the fix suggested by CommodorePeter

As a stop gap try this extension http://extensions.joomla.org/component/ ... Itemid,35/

That did the trick for me, for now. Good luck
Nanogeek

[davidey]

Hi,

This was driving my newbie brain nuts until I read a post elsewhere. The article (and category) sorting is managed in the menu for the display. Articles, categories etc. are the raw data -- a menu (in a module) is a particular "view" of that data. You could have different menus that provide differently-sorted views.

dme

[Joe Martinelli]

Here's an easy work-around: The hard-coded sort order seems to put the newest article first. So just change creation date of each article until you get the sort order you want.

[11PWFSL99]

It really is very simply, go to ADMIN>Menus> and choose the menu that contains the articles you want to put in order. In "Menu Item Manager" open the individual item you want to sort, go to "Paramaters Advanced" on the right and set the 2 order lists to "order". This will then allow the order you assign in the articles list to take effect.

As you will see there are other options available, just play with them to see their effects.

Have fun

[Jxrgen]

As a complete newbie with about 48 hours experience, I am very proud to say that I found an even easier way to solve this issue.

I'm sorry if the words I use aren't 100% right; I'm using a Danish translation of Joomla.
Go to the Article editing page (the one where all the articles are listed). Click the Sort column to sort the entries after which sorting they have (Yo Dawg!). Then You type in the order of which You want Your articles sorted and click the little icon of the disk at the top of the sorting column.

I hope I make myself clear - it is a little difficult to explain, but I hope You get it.

Btw, I tried change the editing dates first and it didn't work for me.