hi

i would like to add 2 blocks position ( header & footer )

is there any way to do that

I've been contemplating more flexible block structure too. What I think you are trying to do can simply be accomplished by Weighting your blocks so whatever you want on top is 1 and whatever on bottom is the highest number in that column.

I feel sure this must have been discussed but after scouring the forums I didn't not find any thread discussing this topic so I'm reviving this old thread to hear the status of this request from developers. Instead of Left, 3 Center and Right what about completely user configuable slots?

Have a screen where an unlimited number of slots can be created with custom naming. Then on the blocks page instead of the radio button there would be a dropdown select or something that can assign to any slot. Of course this makes the responsibility of theme designer MUCH greater because a misspelling or omission of a block means it doesn't show up and would be confusing to a content editor. But not having looked at the core code enough I'm not sure how difficult this would be. My guess is one more database table and a few mods to the admin menuing. I suspect this might cause a slight hit in render performance but by how much I have no idea. I think the design flexibility far outweighs that concern.

What I'm suggesting is similar to the next level of CMSes like Mambo which I am in the process of evaluating. XOOPS will always have a place in my heart however. :)

Am I the only one who thinks that all the ideas out there for alternate/different/more block positions are a little short sighted?

What I mean is, certain blocks in certain modules are really designed to appear in a certain block position, and really look like crap if they're used elsewhere.

If we had a dozen or more block positions, this would be an even worse problem. The fact is, for all the flexibility different block positions would provide, you're still contstained in all practicality by whatever positions the module writer has decided to design his or her blocks around.

[And Mambo is not the "next level" of CMS. It's just different from XOOPS. That has been discussed elsewhere many times, for instance here:
https://xoops.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=24748&forum=3&post_id=108151]

--Julian

jegelstaff: Thanks, great link. However I completely disagree. To purposely limit flexibility of implementation and design because certain people think it's ugly is short-sighted. From my experience some of the most interesting and refreshing things happen when technology is used and abused. And why should technological limitations dictate "good" design and style? Sharing source and technology is about freedom right? If people want to do crazy stuff let them hang themselves. It often stimulates and pushes innovation.

I whole-heartedly apologize for my comments regarding Mambo not really having really immersed myself in it yet. But it seems that most people don't really disagree that Mambo is a content-management system with more flexibility of layout and content types whereas XOOPs is a community driven site with the future posibility for modular addons that would make is behave more like a CMS, i.e. staging, revision, granular editing process.

To clarify I should say I wish the limitation of XOOPS to 5 blocks would not take it out of the running for certain projects. As far as code implementation I can't say but for many projects the flexibility of design far out-weighs the need for hundreds of free modules. I'm recklessly sticking my neck out here but my guess is that most sites, XOOPS sites included, don't use more than a small handful of the modules common to all CMSes and portal software. If most sites need these basic modules and one has more flexible templating I'd say XOOPS might not nessarily be the best choice. That said I do like what I've seen of XOOPS so far so I'll probably take the time to experiment with it.

one thing we tossed around on the XOOPS sf site was user defined block groups. The XOOPS core would define 5 groups - taking the place of the current block positions, and allow the admin to define additional groups.

To access these additional groups, "hotspots" would have to be added to the theme, giving the site owner full control over the positioning/style of the block groups.

Existing themes that assume the current method of block positioning would not need to be modified.