Show Node Type When Editing a Node [#129259]

As described back in 2004 by Bryght:
http://support.bryght.com/node/98

Especially when you have lots of node types available, it is useful to remind users if they are adding or editing a page, story, category, container, or custom module or what have you.

Changing the first few lines of the add/edit page so that it is clear what you are doing where would be very useful.

Editing Page
Title:

Adding Story
Title:

would save a lot of confusion. Could even have a pop-up on that line to pull down the help for that particular node type.

Please clarify this in the generic edit form.

Mike

Comments

Comment #1

RobRoy CreditAttribution: RobRoy commented 19 March 2007 at 21:00

Status:

Active

» Closed (won't fix)

You could easily achieve this by using the "Explanation or submission guidelines" text on the Content Types page or with a hook_form_alter() module if you want to get crazy. This is probably the best way to do this.

Comment #2

RobRoy CreditAttribution: RobRoy commented 19 March 2007 at 21:03

Version:	5.1	» 6.x-dev
Status:	Closed (won't fix)	» Active

Actually, now that I think about it, it might be nice to allow different text when inserting and updating a node instead of just the blanket text. Anyone agree that this core worthy? (Features go against 6.x-dev.)

Comment #3

mgifford

he/him

English

CreditAttribution: mgifford commented 20 March 2007 at 01:20

Hey Rob,

This is a persistent usability thing.. And I'm looking into hook_form_alter module. But really, this is something that would be useful.. The only other way to easily find out what node type an object is (for a user), is to search through the Content directory. There are times when the type matters a great deal when editing or trying to duplicate data. It's also useful for troubleshooting.. We've had issues trying to track down problems between containers, categories, stories & pages in the past. It should always be obvious to the user what they are editing. The state of the document (creating a new one or editing an old one) is also good.

Mike

Comment #4

RobRoy CreditAttribution: RobRoy commented 20 March 2007 at 01:59

Actually I was saying that instead of just the "Explanation or submission guidelines" there would be "Explanation or submission guidelines (when creating a new Story)" and "Explanation or submission guidelines (when updating a new Story)" under Administer >> Content >> Content Types.

Comment #5

mgifford

he/him

English

CreditAttribution: mgifford commented 20 March 2007 at 03:28

Well, it's definitely not a brilliant module, but it's my second time hacking away the nodeapi, first time in Drupal 5. Good experience doing something relatively simple. Unfortunately I don't think that the hook_form_alter module deals with the titles. If it did, I must have missed it. The way it is right now the order is a bit out. I'll upload it here:
http://openconcept.ca/explicit_type_module

And do appreciate your clarification about the submission guidelines.

Mike

Comment #6

hobo CreditAttribution: hobo commented 20 August 2009 at 20:12

I'm having this issue right now. Evaluating someone else's work.. Starting to expand on it.. It would be really helpful if i could see what kind of node type something is by editing it. Right now (besides writing a module which is overkill for this project) i'm listing the content and looking for the matching title.

I think there should be a string just below the title Node type:page or whatever node type.