I was wondering if anyone was working on a "panels ui" module for Drupal 8 that utilizes layouts since this is something that is not being added to core. Pretty much a way to build pages through the admin but that uses the new Drupal 8 layout system.

Comments

WorldFallz’s picture

I'm sure panels will eventually be upgraded to d8.

John_B’s picture

The Drupal 8 core Layout initiative, called the Scotch initiative or Blocks Everywhere, is supposed to replace Panels at least to some extent if not entirely. It is not clear to me how far it will replace it, or what the upgrade path will be from Panels. Currently Drupal 8 core has the Layout module (disabled by default in a standard install) but does not seem to have any UI for it.

As an outsider to this Scotch initiative it is very difficult to get a handle on where it is at. The issues for it are here https://drupal.org/project/issues/search/drupal?issue_tags=Blocks-Layouts and here https://drupal.org/project/issues/1441840. To an outsider, it looks like both the least ready and least active piece of Drupal 8, and it may be the Panels maintainers (at least one of whom is heavily involved in Scotch too) want to see where it goes before deciding the next steps for Panels.

The best thing to keep up to date is probably to ask the people involved, and there may well some sessions (available on video) or BoFs (you have to attend in person) at DrupalCon Prague on this.

Digit Professionals specialising in Drupal, WordPress & CiviCRM support for publishers in non-profit and related sectors

WorldFallz’s picture

Looks like a lot of stuff didn't/won't get done, so I'm pretty sure there will be some version of the panels module still necessary.

EDIT:

see #1818142-9: [meta] Unified Blocks and Layouts (SCOTCH+WSCCI+Spark+Field UI)

oddz’s picture

There isn't much in the layout module. Pretty much all that exists right now is an API. No admin UI or anything. Which is where this question arose. I can clearly see see the code isn't there to offer the flexibility panels would or what was proposed in the prototypes. Looks like all the cool stuff is slated for 9 unless the community kicks in with a contributed module or panels is updated or something. Really a shame because having a panels like editor right within core would have been icing on the cake. Now we are probably going to have to wait 6 months to a year for anything like that to come around which pretty much makes layouts much less useful than they would have been had manipulation been possible with an admin UI. The admin UI task is actually part of the Drupal 9 task bucket currently. If contrib kicks in it would probably be wise to name the module something other than panels. I mean with the way Drupal 8 layouts, plugins, blocks, etc are the module needs to be a complete rewrite anyway. Which is probably why we have yet to see any progress contrib side or a panels 8 dev. Following existing patterns it probably be best to name the module layout_ui and merge into Drupal 9 core. Though I have no idea who is managing that or if anyone has even given a thought to it.

Also, it is probably important to note that layouts aren't really pages. A page is an instance of a layout that is populated with content. So it is probably not appropriate to make the admin UI for building instances and storing their configuration within the layout module. It almost seems more appropriate to revert back to using the pages concept introduced by panels. A page is in the end uses on or more layouts with content assigned to the different regions.

mrf’s picture

Andres Mejia’s picture

Panels with Drupal 7 is a powerfull tool to build Custom Pages. With Drupal 8 is not clear. I make a trick, building Views and inside the theme I say where to show the view.