I've been looking into October CMS for the past couple days but there is one thing that is really bothering me, and I can't seem to find any answers to what seems like a simple question. I'm messing around with the Static Pages plugin, trying to see if I can put together a backend that is client-friendly enough. My plan was to build pages in a modular fashion, where they are made up entirely of snippets, sort of like what can be done with Craft's Matrix blocks or ACF repeaters in WordPress.

My big issue is with properties within partials. They take three different types: string, checkbox, and dropdown. So if I have a simple partial such as this:

<img src="{{ imageUrl }}"></img>

I can just set up a property for the imageUrl field with type "String" and that works fine. Okay, but what about from a client's perspective? I'll add this snippet to Static Pages, so that clients can insert the partial directly into the WYSIWYG editor. But, when the client adds the partial to the page and goes to modify the properties of that partial, they are presented with a very user-unfriendly text box which requires them to type in the URL to the image asset.

I understand that since the property is of the type "string" that generally the input should be displayed as a text box. But, that's not always the case. In this particular instance, I want the client to be able to pick an image from the Media Library, which would then insert that URL into the value for the imageUrl property behind the scenes.

Another case of where a property is a string but it should not actually be entered into a text box: colors. I don't want clients to have to type "#af39b2" into a color field, rather, they would be much more comfortable choosing a color using a standard color picker.

So the question is: what am I missing? Is there a way to use the image picker/color picker widgets that already exist as an interface to the string-type properties of partials?

Hoping I can make the switch from (expensive) Craft, but this is holding me back. Any help would be appreciated!

Last updated 7 years ago

Here's an example of how the feature looks in another CMS (Bolt CMS): https://camo.githubusercontent.com/59320730a493b639f50d4584fb0c314c6d37a444/687474703a2f2f672e7265636f726469742e636f2f304c59546279705547722e676966