Simplify your life with Panels

http://2015.midcamp.org/session-proposal/simplify-your-life-panels

MidCamp 2015

#MidCamp

Chris Hill

krisahil (drupal.org)

Bonnier Corporation

http://sandcastle.bonniercorp.com/

A platform for high-functioning media websites.

Not the Drupal-famous "Chris Hill" of Weather.com fame.

Good ways to build,

and bad. :-(

Best practices is about learning from those who have succeeded.

Goals

Discuss block-placement strategies.
Convince you to do my our way.
Stay away from the weeds.

Who here is perfect?

We've all "architected" solutions we're not proud of.

Printed HTML in page TPL?
Programmatically rendered a block in a node's body?
Added inline CSS to node's body to achieve weird layout (like that's gonna be responsive)?
Added CSS or JS outside of drupal_add_css/js()?
Added SQL queries in template files instead of by preprocessing?

A better way

Plan your next site!

Research and decide modules before starting build. No fun, I know. :-)

Page layout

Header
Content
Sidebar
Footer

Big question: How to place blocks into those regions?

Core blocks administration

Deceptively simple
Each block can be placed into only one region.

Context module

Provides intricate control
It's not Panels. :-)

What is Panels?

Comprehensive suite to manage blocks across all regions.

Simplify your life with one toolset.

Drag-and-drop interface to place blocks.
Layouts: Avoid CSS for basic layouts!
Contexts: Blocks are always aware of what's available.

Panels tools

Why so many?! Their titles can be confusing.

Page manager
Mini panels
Panelizer
~~Panel nodes~~
Panels everywhere

Prereq 1: Layouts

Page manager page with arguments example

Each section is a "region".
The "blocks" can be regular blocks, Views, menus, etc.

Layouts provided

Plugin method: Declares the regions, template, and CSS.
Can be stored in theme or modules.

Prereq 2: Contexts

What type of data is available on this page?
Only appropriate blocks are available for use.

Page manager

Replacement (mostly) for hook_menu() for custom pages.

Arguments in URL become contexts (e.g. node ID becomes full node).

Page manager: Variants

Selection rules determine which variant gets used.
Don't get too crazy with the rules.

Mini panels

Group blocks together as Panels layouts.

Can be used as blocks throughout site.

Panelizer

More checkboxes than you can shake a stick at!

Read tutorials before starting!

Remember, with great power comes... great complexity.

Panelizer: Why so great?

Allows editors to choose a Panels template per node.
Customize the Panel for one specific node. Powerful, and dangerous!
And both of these for each view mode for each node!

Panelizer: So many choices!

Screenshot of Panelizer choices on a node edit form

Panels is greedy.

What is Panels Everywhere?

Frees you from core's blocks and regions.
Control the header, sidebars, and footer in Panels interface.
Variants allow easy switching of page layout and blocks.

How to use?

Use a supported theme.
Try to use from start of project.
Variants allow easy switching of page layout and blocks.