BlogHarbor Home Page
FAQFAQ  SearchSearch  MemberlistMemberlist  UsergroupsUsergroups  UsergroupsRSS   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 
Form mail & preview
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    BlogHarbor Community Forum Index -> Beginner's Lounge
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
gristgal



Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Posts: 209
Location: Mississippi

PostPosted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:47 am    Post subject: Form mail & preview Reply with quote

John, I just wanted you to know that I had much less trouble implementing the feedback form than I'd expected, based on your comments when you mentioned it a couple of months ago.

However, I had a problem when I was adding the component to layout. After putting it where I wanted it, I quite naturally wanted to preview. The preview came up just fine, but ... the new component wasn't there! I fiddled around some more, then went back and tried again. Still no luck.

Mentally crossing my fingers, I saved it anyway, and all was well. Nevertheless, I'm contemplating changing my layout Real Soon. When I do that, I definitely want preview to work right.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
john
Site Admin


Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 3434

PostPosted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 2:46 pm    Post subject: Re: Form mail & preview Reply with quote

Unfortunately, one limitation of the Preview function is that it can not preview custom components.

However, I'm not quite sure you would want to add an email form to your sidebar: I don't think there would be quite enough screen real estate for it. I would suggest adding the form to a Web Page instead, and linking to that Web Page either in your header or sidebar.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
gristgal



Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Posts: 209
Location: Mississippi

PostPosted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 5:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Confused Oh, dear. I see our familiar problem with talking past one another is working full force today.

I put the link in the sidebar. Frankly, I can't even imagine how to put the form itself there. Can you? I had a tab open to the page with the HTML, and another open to the page with the instructions, and I followed 'em. The web page creation module made the custom component, although I wasn't quite sure of that at first.

It was then my job to puzzle out where it was, so I could put the component on the page (as I believe was suggested in the instructions). I had thought I would have to create the component separately but it was already there. Most disconcerting was the fact that it didn't show up in a list on the components page. I then had to figure out exactly what Blogware had done with it

Aside from the problem of getting the custom component module to accept this long string of HTML commands as a component, the font would be microscopic from being constrained by the width limitations for that column, don't you think? Something like this, perhaps. Or, at best, this. People would need a microscope, or binoculars, or something. Razz

Questions:

My feedback form title wrapped! Can I rename it so that it fits, or do I have to create it again, with a new name?

Does "no custom components in preview" mean that if I had a custom template, I wouldn't be able to preview it?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
john
Site Admin


Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 3434

PostPosted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 12:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I see our familiar problem with talking past one another is working full force today.

Sorry to hear that, I reread your previous post and can't see what part I misinterpreted.

I put the link in the sidebar. Frankly, I can't even imagine how to put the form itself there. Can you?

Yes, I can imagine how to put the form in there, but as I noted earlier, I would not advise trying to put the actual email form in the sidebar; it just won't fit.

My feedback form title wrapped! Can I rename it so that it fits, or do I have to create it again, with a new name?

In order to make the link look the way you want it to, you would need to create a custom component containing the link to your Web Page.

Does "no custom components in preview" mean that if I had a custom template, I wouldn't be able to preview it?

No, it does not mean that.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
gristgal



Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Posts: 209
Location: Mississippi

PostPosted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 9:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Component name:

John wrote:
Quote:
In order to make the link look the way you want it to, you would need to create a custom component containing the link to your Web Page.

Why would I want to do that? A new component to hold a link? I think it would be cleaner to just recreate the form with a shorter name. It's a shame it's not possible to just rename it.

I don't want or need extraneous junk in the list of components. It's garbaged up enough as it stands. Blogware is an amazing attempt to be "all things to all men". It astounds me sometimes just how good an attempt it is. But it means there are many things about it that I'll never understand, because I don't want to do those things. Of course, the corollary to that is there are things about it that I might find useful that I'll never know are there. And then there are the otherwise simple things that I should be able to do, but can't. Confused
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
gristgal



Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Posts: 209
Location: Mississippi

PostPosted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 10:54 am    Post subject: Adding vertical space below form link Reply with quote

How can I add space below this link in the sidebar? If I can add some space below the link, it will look a lot better. Whether I do anything about the file name or not, I need to have a visual break below it. I'm guessing there's some code to add, or is this a css issue?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
john
Site Admin


Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 3434

PostPosted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 2:18 pm    Post subject: Re: Adding vertical space below form link Reply with quote

Personally, I don't like the way this works either and have asked our developers to look at changing it, it creates such an ugly sidebar component and IMHO doesn't work the way it was supposed to when we originally spec'ed it out.

Here's what I would do... Don't save your Web Page with the Create a component checkbox checked. Just uncheck it and click the Save Page button.

Now let's go create our own custom component, it's a lot easier to control the look that way. Our How To Create a Custom Component page showed that the HTML shell looks like this:

Code:
<div class="component">
   <div class="componentHead">Put a title here</div>
   <div class="componentContent">
   And put your content here.
   </div>
</div>


Since the URL of the page you want to link to is this:

http://gristandgristle.blogharbor.com/blog/_WebPages/GristGristleFeedbackForm.html

We can construct a link in HTML like this:

Code:
<a href="http://gristandgristle.blogharbor.com/blog/_WebPages/GristGristleFeedbackForm.html">Grist & Gristle Feedback Form</a>


which would create a link like this:

Grist & Gristle Feedback Form

If we add that link into the HTML shell and add a title you would have something like this:

Code:
<div class="component">
   <div class="componentHead">How about some Feedback!</div>
   <div class="componentContent">
   <a href="http://gristandgristle.blogharbor.com/blog/_WebPages/GristGristleFeedbackForm.html">Grist & Gristle Feedback Form</a>
   </div>
</div>


You could leave the title out as well:

Code:
<div class="component">
   <div class="componentContent">
   <a href="http://gristandgristle.blogharbor.com/blog/_WebPages/GristGristleFeedbackForm.html">Grist & Gristle Feedback Form</a>
   </div>
</div>


I think that would work a lot better than what we've done for you by default... Definitely an area that needs some improvement.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
gristgal



Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Posts: 209
Location: Mississippi

PostPosted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 4:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks. Not sure just how soon I'll get to this now, but at least you've given me a solution. I just wish there were a way to insert a bar or space in the same way as we can in the post text editor. Smile I guess that would have been too easy.

It does seem that when it comes to the very few things that Blogware doesn't make super-easy, it makes those very difficult - or at least a pain, or an elaborate kludge. Maybe it's in compensation? Razz
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Search all BlogHarbor support resources.
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    BlogHarbor Community Forum Index -> Beginner's Lounge All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum