I have been searching unsuccessfully for a solution for days, so now I turn, desperate, but hopeful, to the hive mind....
In the simplest description, I want a list to flow from one column to the next. I have Views2 with the Panels Bonus Pack, and Panels3, but I can't seem to achieve my desired results. Here's why...
I am creating a contact page for a college website. I have a content type called "People" with multiple taxonomies. I want this list to show all "Staff" (which includes admins, techs, deans, student assistants, etc), but sorted so that it breaks out the staff further classified as a "Dean" first, then the rest of the staff. Across two columns.
--I can successfully get this list with deans and staff differentiated in one column. (using 2 views and inserting one into the header of the other)
--I can display either deans OR staff across two columns. (using panels bonus pack with one view)
--I cannot for the life of me get the correct list in columns. (the panels bonus pack does not include the header in the columns, and the 2 column layout in plain ol' Panels doesn't flow from one column to the next)
Here is what i want to achieve with drupal, as seen on the college's current hard coded contact page: http://www.coe.gatech.edu/about/staff.php
Any help mucho appreciated!!
Comments
HTML doesn't support this
As you've undoubtedly discovered, HTML doesn't support this. See http://www.alistapart.com/articles/multicolumnlists/ for an extended discussion of various hacks and workarounds, all of which involve killing a kitten.
If the size of your staff is fairly stable and you just want the data updated automatically, try this approach:
1. Use a Panels page, dividing the content area into two columns.
2. Create a block view of Deans. Put it in your first column.
2. Create a block view of Staff members who are not Deans. Put it below Deans in your first column, and pass a LIMIT of nine (or so).
3. Place the SAME block view of Staff in your second column. Pass an OFFSET of nine, don't display a title, and set the LIMIT to some ridiculously high number.
This isn't exactly what you asked for, because if your staff grows by five, the overflow will all be in the right column and your page becomes unbalanced. But it gets you most of what you want.
(If anybody has a better solution, I'm all ears.)
Recycling a block view by passing arguments, limits and offsets is one of the most useful tools at your disposal, and really helps keep your Views collection from developing bloat.
not as automated as i was
not as automated as i was hoping for...but i'm so grateful for a WORKING solution! thx a bunch!