Page History

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h2. Story

Magnolia should let me navigate and browse my web site structure by using a mouse, a keyboard and using a touch device. 

In the site structure view, a tree is used to visualize the page hierarchy. I can select one or multiple pages and execute a command on them (such as deleting or publishing them). Some commands, however, are only applicable to a single, selected page, such as editing a page.

The view shows selected, common data of a page in the site structure view, such as its name, its navigation and page title, and allows me to edit it directly in the table.

h2. Description of desired behavior

Magnolia offers to view the structure of a site in a tree view.


h3. Browsing the site structure

Navigating the [tree view|Definition of terms#tree] showing the web site structure is handled in [Navigating trees], while working with items in the tree is described in [Focusing, selecting and opening items].

Selecting an item shows additional page details in a preview view. Focusing on an item for a longer time also causes the page details to be shown. An important element of the preview view is a thumbnail image showing a small rendering of the page.

h4. Show, hide and rearrange table columns

All columns except the "Page name" (page URI) and the column containing the checkboxes can be visible or hidden. Additional columns not initially visible may be offered for display by the tree view.

Columns are shown in a configurable order, but the "Page name" and checkboxes column are exempt and remain fixed at their initial position.

When using the keyboard, the columns displayed can be selected by focusing on the last element of the header row, opening the context menu and selecting the columns to be shown or hidden. The column order can't be rearranged by using the keyboard only.

h4. No sorting or grouping

Since the main purpose of the site structure view is to visualize the page hierarchy, this view offers no options to sort pages e.g. by last modification date or page title, not any grouping options as the [page list|Use the page list#Uselist#Using page list] does.


h3. Inline editing of page attributes

Some page attributes shown in the list or structure views may be edited directly within the view. Among these are the page URL, the page title and navigation title. To enter _inline editing_, select an item, then click or tap on it again after a short delay (to avoid actually double-clicking it) or hit ENTER on the keyboard.

The attribute you clicked or tapped on will then become editable. When using the keyboard only, the first attribute of all editable attributes in the currently selected row or of the currently selected item becomes editable. You may select to skip to a different item by repeatedly hitting the tabulator key.

For a list of all commands defined, please see [Usage summary#Inline editing in tree or list].

h4. Showing errors or warnings

The page name is a mandatory attribute and only accepts a limited range of characters. If validation discovers that the input is wrong or missing, a small overlay is displayed with a message describing the problem. The overlay can be removed by dismissed or closing it - in this case, the value of the field is replaced by the previously entered value.

The overlay must be visually connected to the field and it muss be clear that dismissing or closing it aborts the edit operation.

For commands defined, please see [Usage summary#Inline editing in tree or list].

h4. Inline editing restricted to simple attributes

Note that *inline editing will be restricted to work for simple attributes only*. While e.g. changing a page template in the structure view was possible in previous versions of Magnolia, it won't be supported in version 5. Changing a page template can be a complex operation and may require you to enter values for required attributes, both of which is not viable using inline editing. Complex page attributes thus may only be changed by actually editing the page properties in a dialog or by opening the page for editing.

The list of editable page attributes contains:
- page name/URI: mandatory, must not be empty, only accepts characters valid in a URI
- page title: optional, if empty, page name is taken
- navigation title: optional, if empty, page name is taken

Not editable are the page template, status fields, the author name and any dates.


h2. Mockups

h3. Browsing the structure

(No editable mockup here because Balsamiq Mockups was constantly corrupting my mockups)

!Web page - site structure.png|align=center!

h3. Warning and errors during inline editing

{mockup}