Panels 3 Basics

On this week's podcast, Bob will show you the basics of version 3 of the Panels module and give an overview on when and where this module can help you lay out some cool and interactive pages. He will look at the basics of how the module works, find some bugs, and show you how to have context sensitive pages using task handlers. He'll also talk about some pointsa for and against using this method for laying out your pages.

Great introduction to panels, Steph and Chris gave a great presentation in Denver about the combo of Panels and skinr. http://drupalcampcolorado.org/sessions/are-panels-and-skinr-future-point... Perhaps a future episode could demo the new skinr module, it seems to be a huge help to themers from what I have heard.
posted by:
Tim Hill
very nice! but, i still don't understand working with arguments. for example how do i build something like this: Panel 1 | Panel 2 ..... Panel 3 ... so, the content of these panels belongs together. for example in "Panel 1" theres a picture of a car. in "Panel 2" there's a description about this car. and below in "Panel 3" there's a whole gallery of pictures of this car model. now, for example i've got contents about a corvette, mustang, bmw z8 and so on .. so far, i'm doing an extra panels page for each car. and that is because i don't know how to use arguments. but i'll end up in hundreds of panels pages like that .. so maybe someone could tell me how to solve this with the usage of arguments in panels?
posted by:
Dude
Sorry for that, I just wasn't sure which feedback you still followed so took the safe route and asked in different :). I thought Panels was the only way to solve the issue where you have different layouts in different pages. Like, one page has 3 columns while another has only 2. Is there a better way then? Marcus
posted by:
Marcus
Marcus, If you're wanting multiple layouts, this is what drupal theme template system is intended for. For example, you can have multiple page.tpl.php templates..even a different one for every node if you wanted...same things with nodes or blocks or comments. Check out the template suggestions page on drupal.org
posted by:
Bob
That Earl just presented the new UI of Panels. http://www.angrydonuts.com/new-panels-3-ui-screenshots Keep up the good work. I like the new concept and find it very fair to pay some bucks for your very helpful screencasts. p.s.: I see the captcha below. How about switching to Mollom?
posted by:
dddave
Doh! At least the new screenshots look way better than the versions I showed!
posted by:
Bob
Hey Bob, I love your screen casts. They are a priceless resource for anyone getting started with Drupal. I did have one suggestion: It would be helpful if you came up with imaginary scenarios for each of your tutorials. Instead of saying "mypanel", maybe invent a use case. Say we're making a dashboard and add all the things necessary for a dashboard. Something like that. I think real-world scenarios are a lot easier to learn form. Just a thought. Thanks for all your work!
posted by:
Jeremy
Hey Bob (aka Rob), Learned about you about 6 months ago from a post by Jeff Eaton (Lullabot) - found Mustardseed and your Geeks & Gods podcast and love it. Thanks for all the great stuff you do. You and Matt are great on G&G. Sorry to have missed Drupal4Design http://boston.design4drupal.org/ - would have liked to have met you there. Rick
posted by:
Rick Hood
Hi, I'm with you, panels doesn't make life better for designers or themers. But I still think it's worth considering, especially where you are building a drupal site where you know that non-designers will be editing content. Using custom panel layouts (when they work!) you can make it really simple for content creators to update and even create new content without having to delve into html, css or drupal theming. I know that users are big fans of panels, even where you could do it quicker yourself, its worth considering making life easier for your content creators by using panels. Jana
posted by:
Jana Mills
I must say, this video has really got me hooked on Panels. I have been messing with it for almost two weeks now and, even as designer, I really enjoy this module. Especially on the smaller jobs that I have to do for clients where I don't want/need to spend to much time on it. As a note, the 'Flexible' layout style that Panels has is one of the best ones to use if you just need to layout something quickly. Anyhow, great video!
posted by:
Josh Tate
In relation to your previous Post about Custom Taxonomies with Views: How can I still use panels yet a custom taxonomy with views and "taxonomy content" ? Or would you do this another way with panels and it's taxonomy override feature ?
posted by:
eque