Template Blocks & Synchronized Blocks
Stranger
--- TEMPLATE BLOCKS
I would find it quite useful to be able to create "template blocks," which can then be inserted into a page like any other block. These could be great for creating modular templates for when you have similar pages but which require slightly different information.
With these, we could do things such as creating a single page of mini-profiles for NPCs that don't warrant their own pages. We could also modularly modify pages from existing templates, such as different blocks for cities, towns, etc on a preexisting location template, or elements that only some characters need on a preexisting character template (like divine powers and domains for gods, or PC-unique blocks).
These blocks may need to be their own special type of "page" which can contain only one block each, and account for blocks within blocks, like a table inside a layout.
--- SYNCHRONIZED BLOCKS
Another useful use of these: "synchronized blocks." With these, any time you edit the "root/master/parent" block, it updates all other instances of that block wherever it has been inserted in the project, including on templates. (This would be slightly different from synchronized articles.)
This would be great for information that might appear on multiple pages, such as lists or info boxes for things like factions, shops, gods, links to other articles, etc.
Synchronized blocks would probably warrant being stored in a separate tool folder, like templates, and they'd need to account for what happens if the inserted/child blocks are edited, perhaps by disabling the ability to.
--- Tagalong Feature
For both of these ideas, it would be useful if each of these blocks could index what pages contain them, and pages could index what blocks it contains, or at least synch'd ones, similar to tags.
Dalmasca
Perhaps a key differentiator for this feature would be whether to sync just the layout/theming of the block, or just the content, or both?
Actually, let's expand that and think ahead to the future of LK, where more color, font, and layout customization is present: this feature could be a more robust version of templates, where you can select which aspects of the block (or full-fledged article) are sync'd, either from the parent (a "push" sync) or the child (a "pull" sync). That's a powerful tool!
In my experience, articles that I template are often ones that I'm
scaffolding
(i.e. the structure is the same, but not the content). If "future-me" discovers a better scaffold, I usually want all
the existing templated articles to benefit from it. This synchronization also presents a better long-term solution than a competing feature proposal: applying templates to existing articles (a one-time act). If you have lots of articles based on the template, that's still a lot of work!The push/pull options also avoid the complexity (for Braden) of figuring out how to merge a template with an existing article. The
user
chooses by opting-in at the appropriate level, allowing consistency for both structure and content, where appropriate across a wide range of articles with differing needs.Stranger
Dalmasca
100% agree.
The most common struggle I have is when I want to make changes to character/location templates. I have been operating under the presumption that being able to change only the template and not the content would be hard - and while still a lot of work, an index of which articles each template & sync blocks are in would at least provide a faster way to navigate those and not miss any. The only other solution I could think of was form-fillable templates, but that could still be tricky.
Template blocks - which would be very different from template pages/articles - are another possible solution, in my mind. Syncing only singular blocks could minimize potential content loss. If you're able to keep a backstory section totally separate from the rest, you'll have more confidence changing other areas without risking losing a lot of writing.
My biggest fear with whole-article template syncing is losing content. Article history, from what I understand, is stored in your browser's temp data, which I clear fairly often. I've lost a lot of work because of this.
Alan
There are already suggestions for two of these:
Stranger
Alan
I saw the transclusion suggestion, but this felt significantly different enough to warrant a separate post. My biggest fear with whole-article syncing is losing significant amounts of content, since the articles I'd most need synch'd would have a ton of important content. And history being saved only in browser temp storage, which I clear fairly often, has already lost me a lot of work before, especially because I only recently learned that's where it's stored.
But I didn't think to search for the term "snippet" when searching for existing suggestions. Thank you.