Thanks John. I couldn’t find it! I gonna read it
np took me a while too because its in discussions and not issues. will turn into an issue once we have a better path on what we want to do so your feedback is forsure welcome
My feedback : This is necessary to have that kind of editor for non technical end user. A kind of builder but in a very light mode allowing to change content without breaking structure.
More so looking for feedback on the type of editor. Will it be sufficient to allow clients to adjust existing structure? For example, an image exists and they can change the image src. But they can't add a new image to the canvas. Same thing with text. Modify a paragraph but not add a new one.
I see this as a form of "enablement" for the user to fix typos, rephrase a sentence, correct/update a price for an item on simple websites, etc.
For end user
Edit image > Yes
Replace image with a video > Yes
Edit content > Yes (but I think blocking paragraph creation is maybe a little restrictive)
Change strcture > No
paragraphs are tricky. each paragraph is its own component so this would be changing structure. hm
if you can add any instance at all, you can as well break any structure
@Zmove what you seem to imagine is that user has a special predefined area/parent where they can add a paragraph, though its not how this would work, because defining these areas on itself is difficult and a builder would have to explicitely define such areas.
if anything this would be this way:
either user can't add a. paragraph anywhere at all or they can add paragraphs anywhere they want
Ok I understand, true that the end user can break structure if he add 30 paragraph in a place where only one is planned. At least, letting them to shift + enter to add linebreak would be ok
I believe webflow works like this, you define what are editable areas, and I think it's a right decision, cause even for simple text or image... there are cases where you DONT want the customer to edit text (for example the agency copyright text in the footer for example 😅 )
In a perfect world I would imagine 2 modes that can be combined :
- Add an "is editable by client" checkbox as setting for most components, that would make it editable by end user
- Add a new component "editable" and all it's children are editable to make editable a whole section of the website (don't exist in webflow and can be a nice addition from webstudio)
but the first solution would be enought, second is the cherry on the cake
i like these suggestions. the first one we've discussed and seems like a good way to go. Second is interesting. I can see those sections getting royally messed up tbh lol
why adding a component if there is already a checkbox?
it would let anything be added to it
the checkbox would be to just edit content of the component checked, when you want to edit a full section, it can be more convenient to put everything in the "editable" compoennt than checking all checkbox individually
another idea (I'm in brainstorming mode, sorry 😅 ) the "editable" component could have option to allow content control only, or full control, allowing to alter structure of elements inside it for just that part of the website
that is not an easy task, but IMO it's necessary if you want to convince webflow users to switch
If you do like you did until now, copying what webflow do well, and improve what can be improved, it will be a big win. You did an amazing job until now
You mean children would be not editable even if the parent has checkbox on?
I think the checkbox affects all children, that's why I don't know why component
Or the other way around - component could be a good option, then no checkbox needed
having that setting checkbox on every component settings certainly adds clutter if we only want to add that to specific places
no, the invese, all children of that new editable component would be editable
everything you put as children of that compoennt, would be editable
Right, so you don't want all children, you want only children of that one specific component
Maybe that's actually even better, more constrained to allow doing the right thing
the checkbox would not even be necessary for that children. Or by inversing the paradigm, the checkbox would become "this is not editable" and you have to check to make them not editable even in that component. Can be useful if you want to make editable most of children except one
On that special component there could be a setting: allow all children to be editable or only this component
what the option "only this component" would do ?, as I imagine it, the "editable" component is theorical, it's just a kind of folder / wrapper to group editable elements inside it, what could you edit for the component itself ?
a little like the collection component you have
I mean exactly what you said above, the component defines the area where editor user can add new instances, but by default they can't go into existing instances unless its allowed on that component
instead of adding a checkbox to every instance, only having that on a special component removes the clutter associated with that setting everywhere
ah, you mean that when "component only" is selected, you can just edit content of it's children, when "all children" are checked, you can add some new elements inside it, like another paragraph or so ?
More so, having a component defined by the designer, we can also define a fixed list of components that can be used inside instead of supporting everything or only paragraphs.
Not sure to understand so
there is "Editor Allowed" component or something
By default you can add instances intisde that component, but not inside it's children.
Then having a checkbox that allows editing it's children in "Editor Allowed" instance settings
ok, so I put my Editor allowed component in my navigator. Then a heading and a paragraph inside it, then a box. I would not be able to put another parahraph in that box by default, right ?
if youw anted this box to be editable, put Editor Allowed component
ok, and If I check "all children" in the Ediror allowed setting tab, I could add the heading inside that box ?
or I put another editor allowed component as child of the first editor allowed component ?
and don't know how webflow is architectured, but doing like that seems simpler to you than adding a global "allow to edit" to all (or at least most) components ?
Its a lot of clutter having that setting on every instance settings
it's harder to have the checkbox on all component you mean ?
to me, both solutions would be ok, so the simplest to implement is probably the best solution. The only drawback I see about "allow to edit" component is that it can clutter the navigator with one more level of parent child, but it's not a big deal
no, its easy to have that setting on every instance, but its a clutter
"allow to edit" component is that it can clutter the navigator with one more level of parent child,
Yeah that's what I thought at first, but then I think you really as a builder want to define areas where user can insert stuff and you want to see those areas in the navigator, they shouldn't be hidden
its like you need to expect shit to happen there
do you think so? A small checkbox on all the components in the settings, often quite empty, doesn't seem so cumbersome to me.
I am saying as a builder, you want to see at a glance where your editor can destroy stuff
its more obvious in the navigator than having to click on every instance to see where editor will fuck everything up potentially
you could fix that by adding a small icon, or special color to editable components in the navigator
yeah, that is not easy, lots of things want to go there
navigator is very limited in what it can displat
I know 5 other things people wanted to be visible there
its not gonna happen, navigator will mostlly stay as it is, there is no space
Assumption I am making is that editors mostly want to add children to one parent
if navigator can't show what is editable, so component is probably better choice
webflow doesn't show it etiher in the navigator
I think you have no idea whats editable by editor when you open the page
yes, and it's annoying ^^
and most likely there is no reason to be able to add instances inside any children
you really only care about a single parent that takes children
it's a place where webstudio could stand out ^^
it stands out already in 20-30 places
from what I've seen, you've made nothing but good decisions so far, so I'm confident.
I would like to also vote for this basic editor view. I've never used Webflow, so I can't speak of a comparison, but I do like the idea of having a simple view to change text and images for clients. That seems like the first step, but it would get my end clients 90% of the way there. It would be a huge win for me personally. Hopefully others as well.
