A plea for layouts
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From reading through the forums, I know that in general, use of layouts seems to be discouraged because, as many of us seem to have discovered, they don't work very well--or at least predictably.
As a non-developer but frequent implementer, evangelist, and user of Concrete5, I'd like to make a case for layouts being supported better. I frequently need to make a page that's just a slight variation on an existing page type--need to split a main area into a couple of columns in one page section, for example. I would rather not involve a developer to create a new page type for me for these one-off situations. Layouts, when they work (and sometimes they do, although if there's a pattern, I can't find it), are a great solution for us non-developer users.
For whatever it's worth, the particular instance I'm battling with right now is a v5.6 site, so perhaps this has been made better in 5.7. I hope so, but in the meantime before I can upgrade, any advice would be appreciated.
As a non-developer but frequent implementer, evangelist, and user of Concrete5, I'd like to make a case for layouts being supported better. I frequently need to make a page that's just a slight variation on an existing page type--need to split a main area into a couple of columns in one page section, for example. I would rather not involve a developer to create a new page type for me for these one-off situations. Layouts, when they work (and sometimes they do, although if there's a pattern, I can't find it), are a great solution for us non-developer users.
For whatever it's worth, the particular instance I'm battling with right now is a v5.6 site, so perhaps this has been made better in 5.7. I hope so, but in the meantime before I can upgrade, any advice would be appreciated.
That said - I'm not sure what your "plea" is. Since layouts exist in all versions of C5.
Thanks Michael. Maybe I should have used the word "case" instead of "plea." I just want them to work better and was putting the plea out there to whomever manages the base C5 code to not just abandon layouts as an option (from what you say about 5.7 sounds like that didn't happen, so that's good news) and maybe fix the code.
Example: two pages on the same site, same theme, same framework, same page type. I put a layout section on one page and it worked perfectly. Three columns, four rows, laid out easily and renders correctly. Second page, trying to put in a single layout section with three columns, just simply can't be done. Looks fine in edit mode, blows up when published. Content blocks all over the page. I've fought with it for hours; finally probably going to have to pay a developer to build a new page type. Super frustrating.
Example: two pages on the same site, same theme, same framework, same page type. I put a layout section on one page and it worked perfectly. Three columns, four rows, laid out easily and renders correctly. Second page, trying to put in a single layout section with three columns, just simply can't be done. Looks fine in edit mode, blows up when published. Content blocks all over the page. I've fought with it for hours; finally probably going to have to pay a developer to build a new page type. Super frustrating.
Are you on the latest version of 5.6? I know there was some wonky stuff in earlier versions of 5.6 but the latest seemed better and less finicky.
In 5.7 it's certainly 10x better, and may potentially get even better. The markup is nicer and if your theme uses a framework such as bootstrap/foundation, then you can tell the layout to make use of that grid.