Template Tab Redesign

[neocotic]

I've had an idea on how to completely redesign the layout for the Templates tab in the options page. This is pretty much a brain dump so please bare with me here.

The page layout will be changed to list templates in a table.

Rows can be dragged and dropped to rearrange the sort order.

Templates can also be dynamically filtered using a search box (possibly including auto-complete functionality) and the number of templates displayed can be limited and dynamic pagination will be used for navigation.

Each row will have a check box that will allow group actions (e.g. Delete, Import, Export) along with a check all box, which will obviously check/uncheck all boxes.

Clicking (not dragging) an individual row will open a dialog box which will allow the user to modify it. The Add button will remain and will also open this dialog when clicked, without any information pre-filled. This will also provide the following actions; Save, Delete, Export, Reset, Cancel.

Save

• Performs validation when clicked
• Disabled unless modifications are detected
  • Tool tip text should be used to explain this

Delete

• Disabled if template is predefined
  • Tool tip text should be used to explain this
• Modal dialog will be used to ask the user to confirm this action

Export

• Opens Export dialog with the template pre-checked
• Asks user if changes should be saved first if modifications are detected

Reset

• Resets all fields to their original values

Cancel

• Closes the dialog without persisting any changes
• Warns user if modifications are detected
  • User can ask that this warning not be displayed again

The down side of this process is that - once again - the user will be required to manually save their changes, although I think it makes more sense in a dialog context.

Finally, a sidebar navigation menu will be added (much like the one in the Guide) which will only contain one link (for now), My Templates. In the future, after #112, this will contain another link, Library. Once added, this will dynamically load the templates hosted on template-extension.org and allow the user to download them.

[neocotic]

It's worth updating all screenshots capturing the options page as it will have changed drastically because of this issue as well as #115.

[neocotic]

This functionality has now been delivered as part of #129, though a lot of minor features have changed slightly as they didn't really work well during testing. I may revisit these in the future but not really a priority.