Call for Feature Ideas

#21

I agree with this comment and progression. Over time, as I had more usage issues with Pulse and less time to devote to trying to sort it out, I just switched platforms to get my work done. To be fair, the previous team and forums always responded to issues. I am sure a percentage of the problem is me, as I am not a coder or developer and did not/do not want to dig in as some have and fix the code as they saw fit, I just want a tool that I paid into to work, as other tools I have purchsed do :slightly_smiling_face:

PulseCMS can be a developer tool. But I think the main target is IT, designers, consultants and marketers working on small-midsize projects.

This is our use case. Thanks for recognizing it.

4 Likes
#22

I want to apologize for my previous post.
I may not have used the right way, but the goal is to help Pulse.

For Pulse CMS versions 3, 4 and 5 I made language translations (SK, CZ, PL, HU) + (Imperavi Redactor) and smaller recommendations, which you can find on this forum and on the page „ https://github.com/search?q=user%3AIvaRoSoft+pulse ".

I am an old man, I wrote my first code in the eighties of the last century.

Maybe that's why I have a different opinion on some issues, for example:
website address, two words in the page title, blog title, etc ..

When creating a website, think like a site visitor, don't think of a programmer.

For a site visitor, it doesn't matter what you name the text file on your site or blog.
This is also not crucial for web search engines like Google.
So what is important for a site visitor?

intuitive navigation that clearly shows which page you are currently viewing.
Another helper for site visitors is breadcrumb navigation (tags/breadcrumb)
= displayed correctly in each language version.

Code example:
uvod.txt / o_nas.txt
Example display:
Úvod / O Nás

English version:
home.txt / about_us.txt
Home / About Us

Of course you can create any page, e.g. "abrakadabraka.txt" and name it "Čáry-Máry".
breadcrumb example:
Úvod / Čáry-Máry

Enough, now my suggestions.

In future versions of Pulse CMS when creating a new page
offer the option to enter a page title.
Example:
page123 .txt => page name for navigation "my_page123"
that is, add a new text box in the page builder section.

Thank you for correcting Pulse 5.
However, in the future, we may not correct what we may do initially.

Instead of Unishop, allow in the administration, creation and editing of Json files.
Json for content gallery, warehouse, store, users and many other options.

Forget about third party applications and Cloud services.

My question is:
What is the reason for unnecessary (forced) extensions, add-ons in the basic installation?
Do you want to have everything installed on the web?
Definitely not.

For me, the future will tell whether I stay with Pulse.

I wish you a lot of success.

IvaRo

#23

Hi all and @IvaRo ..
I am listening and I agree! I might not reply to every comment here, but I definitely read them!

I hope to make the core Pulse more stable and resilient. If you can unzip and have it "just work" with no maintenance, that is ideal.

I hate clunky installs that break. Especially as a coder. Thanks for your work in the translations @IvaRo !

From the beta patch we made as new owners- which addresses long-standing issues and adds stability to blog lookup- I hope for more of this.

For a site visitor, it doesn't matter what you name the text file on your site or blog.

I agree 100%. One step at a time tho! :slight_smile: We now have multi-word as a first step, without breaking the architecture.

Also, I want to ensure everyone can understand how to use Pulse, and even have Code Tours so people who need to deep dive can do so.. See what I have so far.. Not done yet, but the docs will be great:
https://pulsecms.snazzydocs.com/docs/

It's early days. I want to say- there are times I'm sure I'll need to focus on pure monetary plays.
But overall our vision is to focus on making the core more stable, better docs, even more resilient...

I'm enjoying all the community interaction. Thanks for participating!

1 Like
#24

Hi Simon
Thanks for the beta and the quick fix on the two-word page title/navigation problem. That works perfectly and so glad to see it happen so fast.
I have already mentioned the upgrade problems of the past - ie sometimes a new version just breaks or adds new problems. I know that this is something you are keen to fix.
I do not expect end clients to be upgrading the CMS but it ought to be possible for them to do so. The Update function in Admin has never worked for me - not once, so really should be removed until its bulletproof.
Most updates occur in /pulsecore/ folder so can I suggest that /pulsecore/storage folder is somehow protected, or moved somewhere else? So that user settings are not changed in the process.

Also, typography controls should be in a single place, like the template CSS file. I alsways have to change the blog.css which lives inside inc/tags/css and that makes no sense for an integrated site. It should have its own section in main css.

We have talked about ecommerce already, but I think that unishop should go already. Its not consistent with the rest of the platform and doesnt work properly.

Now, GeoIP is a great idea, and one which I have not really had any success with. I would love to see this looked at. I know that the providers seem to chop and change, and sometimes merge. But having a fully functioning GeoIP service is very useful for developers and clients alike.

I previously had massive issues with calling the blog anything other than blog. For instance, projects, or news. This was solved by creating a new page and copying the code from blog page into it. Then changing blog url prefix in settings. This is only now just working properly, as before, if you clicked on the title - the page would still open as blog/the-big-news-item/20200814105127008 instead of news/the-big-news-item/20200814105127008

What do we think about having a simple and centralised way to change the title of the main blog?
Changing the actual title of the blog page caused problems once the site was installed.

Also, there was talk a while back about removing the file id from the end of a blog post, so that for example it would just display sitename.com/news/the-big-news-item

Thanks again, and hello to Tim Plumb who is a top man and has helped me and many others in the past. You could have him on the team for sure! And hello to Mark as well for bringing us here in the first place. Cheers
James

2 Likes
#25

I'm using Blocsapp, I purchased Pulsecms simply to add cms functionality to my blocs sites. It seemed at the time the easiest option. I have not renewed my subscription due to the troubles that I have had, like most other users. So for me, having something that works painlessly in Blocs is important. But I'm a small time website creator. I make most of my income from other things, Computer Consulting, Drone Pilot, etc. I can't pay $300 per year to keep up a subscription. I think my login at one time showed I could re-up for $99. $99 is easier to take than $300. The $99 option is gone now.

Or come up with a "lite" version? I really don't need all that you offer.

2 Likes
#26

Hi @jdloudon and @kbclovett!

Read your posts. It will be a while before I will understand pricing. I see your point there and I am mulling that over.

@jdloudon this is excellent as a list of things to do next. Tho I do see some more urgent items. The blog “tags” seem to have inconsistent behaviour in a few cases. Mentioned by @Raimo . That is my next target.

I think we should call them Blog labels not tags. Since we already use the word tags.

I will make another forum post to discuss that fix specifically.

I like GeoIP. I agree it’s useful and a quick win.

OK big question- the installer.

So I can either take it out. Or double down. Michael said it was a much requested feature.

But I’m more thinking- why not use a CDN to make it dead simple for all? Yes there is GDPR but it’s easy to have a CDN in the EU region and various data residency regions.

Now some files will always need to be local. But this case eliminates a lot of pain.

For example- http:://$region.Pulse.com/$ver/myfile.js

Users can then upgrade revert, etc from the admin panel without even touching FTP.

I would always, always keep a local option. But I wonder if this will remove the pain for the 80% of small customers.

Thoughts?

In sum- upgrades are a big thing to improve. I love painless upgrades. But maybe we should totally rethink it? Because in this case there is little architectural change so it won’t break old code.

1 Like
#27

A CDN sounds like an interesting idea. Although I usually reckon that the fewer external assets a site needs to load in order to function and deliver the message, the better.
But I am in favour of things working right as well. How does WordPress manage to do its updates automatically and without breakage? Its a humungous program full of potential points of failure, yet seems to do this aspect right.

#28

Id have to look into it.. But I think it's one of those things they had to get right, so probably invested a lot of energy into.

We also can get it right. Analogous to blog logic- we could:

  • Incrementally unzip to prevent notorious PHP timeouts.
  • Provide a pre-install report of what files will change
  • Highlight any custom files.. With checksums of last build, it can make it easy to skip custom files. (checksum is different than last build -> customized file.)
  • Finally, ensure that the update is complete and that all checksums are perfect.

I've heard of some issues where- due to the large filecount, the install fails. I think that's one thing to solve.

But please list- would what I wrote above solve the problem? You'd then need to manually merge any customized files... How does WordPress handle that?

The reason I dont want to do install just yet is its a big delivery.. So I'd rather add improvements to like 7 key items than be stuck on one big long term delivery, especially as customers wonder if new management will do updates :slight_smile:

#29

Thanks Simon,
That makes sense certainly. I am perfectly happy manually upgrading as long as any major changes to structure are well documented and handled. An auto updater that works properly would be a great thing to have, but at this time its not a priority really. There are more pressing issues.
All best toy you and team
Cheers :slight_smile:

#30

Even if this sounds interesting for deployment and updating perspectives, it would break existing sites as soon as this CDN would break or be gone.

#31

Years ago there used to be a CMS system called PageLime that would open up your static HTML pages, look for markers in the code, and update the content before saving the file back as an updated (but flat) file. A CMS that ran from a CDN could work well for this sort of system as if the CDN went down or became corrupt then all that you'd lose would be the ability to edit the pages.

I agree that adding core Pulse functionality into a centralised location sounds like it could be a single point of failure.

#32

Also: would referencing files from a CDN be DSGVO-compliant (in Germany) respectively GDPR compliant? I think not, so I fear that most people in Europe wouldn't be able to use Pulse any more...

1 Like
#33

Good points for the CDN from everyone. I dont think a CDN is an option for now. If I understand correctly, a CDN would be compliant since you would use the CDN in your region. I've worked at mega-large companies, so I definitely understand- compliance is the law.

I'd like to refocus this thread on shorter-term, since we're deciding 5.3.13/5.4...

Please provide an order of preference, with commentary:

  • Pulse Mini- Basically, we offer a version of Pulse with fewer files, just the core. We still offer the full Pulse, but have a "Pulse Mini" option.
  • Better, granular installer- Upload ZIP, see list of changed files, choose ones to replace. (And, fix some issues with the ZIP upload/timeouts.)
  • Branding- Make Pulse easier to brand (ie for agencies). Have had some concerns here.

On top of this, there will be fixes. But we want at least 1 "bigger" thing on top of fixes, otherwise its just a fixpack.

I'll be away and returning mid next week, but the other staff are around and I'll try to pop in.

#34
  • Better, granular installer- Upload ZIP, see list of changed files, choose ones to replace. (And, fix some issues with the ZIP upload/timeouts.)

I think this is at top of list, as it is close to the way I work. I just upload core folders, then I upload a saved version of storage into pulsecore folder. Then files from root last.

  • Pulse Mini- Basically, we offer a version of Pulse with fewer files, just the core. We still offer the full Pulse, but have a "Pulse Mini" option.

sounds good - what would be lefty out from the full version?

  • Branding- Make Pulse easier to brand (ie for agencies). Have had some concerns here.
    Certainly, though I have not found a problem with branding, butt I am sure it could be easier and more effective.

Thanks

#35

Ok sounds good. I will factor this feedback in.
Installer: Yes, I keep hearing people want to see exactly the files they update, so might as well make that easier/granular.
Pulse Mini: I think this may come later. I'd need some research to see how I can lower the file count. Granted, with a strong installer that does checksums on individual files and notifies you of the changed files to update, I wonder if Pulse Mini wont be as important?
Branding: There was more demand off support than in the forums. Lets save that for a later version. There's already a new branding guide here.

So, it looks a better, more robust installer is lined up as the next major feature. (In addition to minor improvements/fixes.)

1 Like
#36

I'd like to see other developers get involved with their plugins and themes, as used to happen with Pulse 4. I have used a couple of themes as starting points for sites in the past. The very talented @TimPlumb would be great to have on the team as a consultant and contributor for a start.
We dont want a free for all, just a few carefully chosen and curated things to help beginners, and speed things up for professionals.

#37

Yes, I am talking to @TimPlumb . He has a few urgent things in the immediate term but I hope to have him involved, as you say.

Any themes you liked from Pulse 4 that are gone now? I'd like to bring them back.

We are working on a new default theme and already in talks with some people to potentially provide themes. (If anyone wants to contribute, let me know.. We will promote them on the email list and website.)

Here is the upcoming new default theme, so far (very rough):

preview-new-template-pulsecms
preview-new-template-pulsecms1279×734 237 KB

The concept is- the default theme should look good with almost zero work.

If you need to turn around a website in 30 mins- pick a new background from Flickr creative commons. For logo- transparent is nicest, but you can even use your client's often awful blocky white logo until you make it nice and transparent. It is designed to be expedient, responsive and easily iterable.

The main image is automatically darkened by CSS so you dont need to fiddle with Photoshop. It will be some time until this is released. If you have comments/concerns about it, let me know.

#38

Any ideas of what else could we do to encourage people to build themes and plug-ins?

#39

I'm still up to my eyes in projects at the moment but this all looks very promising. I can't wait to get involved again.

A couple of things to mention while I think of them;

  1. @markf will remember the version number but one of the original versions of Pulse (later called classic) didn't have any concept of pages or a blog and simply edited blocks on a static page. A lot of people loved it because it was just so stupidly simple to use and to convert a static site into something your client can update (or ruin). Maybe Pulse Mini goes back to that as a starting point.

  2. In terms of how we can encourage people to make themes I think the best option would be if Pulse supported any template you opened. There are millions of great templates out there (free and commercial) so allowing a Pulse user to choose one, install it and let them define things like the content area or blocks areas would be ideal. Maybe this is a tool rather than part of Pulse but it would be good if you needed to add or update a template on a current project.

  3. In regard to your Flickr comment I was looking at the Unsplash API a while ago (https://unsplash.com/developers) with the idea of allowing users to search for and add images without having to download them first (99% of my clients don't see any problem with adding a 4Mb JPG to their site!). The idea would be that the code would curl the image to the local server, compress it and insert it into the page.

  4. Lastly (for now) have a look at Carrd (https://carrd.co/) if you haven't already seen it. It is aimed at creating clean, simple and stylish single page sites and does it really well. I can see Pulse (or Mini) doing something like this but on your own server. Want a landing page site, a vcard site, or a simple contact form for a project? This is the thing to turn to. Upload, choose a theme, add your content, go home. :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#40

@markf will remember the version number but one of the original versions of Pulse (later called classic) didn't have any concept of pages or a blog and simply edited blocks on a static page. A lot of people loved it because it was just so stupidly simple to use and to convert a static site into something your client can update (or ruin). Maybe Pulse Mini goes back to that as a starting point

I can still remember that very well. From simple snippet insertion came the switch to templating.
I don't know the exact version number either but in v1.9 there were definitely no pages, but the blog did :wink:

I agree with @TimPlumb absolutely, that is enough for many people if you just offer a few blocks to change.

Everybody has his own feature wishes, but a killer feature for me would be the possibility of YAML to build your own backend user interface (example: Kirbys Blueprints ) It doesn't need to be that complex but I noticed in the last years that it makes things so much easier for the clients.

My last projects I made with a combination of a Modified Pulse 4.5.2 version and FlatCMS.
This was also the last version without pulsecore directory. Maybe you just have to take a step back.

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