I recently used Omeka S to collect an archive of diagrams with my students and build an initial site. The site can be viewed here: https://diagrams.jrosborn.georgetown.domains/
In the process, we learned quite a bit about the possibilities and limitations of Omeka S, and I wanted to share some questions. I apologize in advance for putting all these in one long forum post. I have looked through a number of forums and posts, but haven’t found specific solutions to these issues. If solutions exist on other threads, please direct me to them in the responses. I have collected the specific questions under general topics as best I can.
A. Site Pages, Files, and Asset Organization.
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Is there an easy way to organize pages on a site or place various pages into folders? If I move and nest pages on the site navigation panel, the pages will appear with a similar structure in the Sites pages panel. But I have not found an easy way to organize subpages for pages that do not appear on the site navigation.
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Similar question for Assets: is there a way to organize project Assets into folders. This question was also asked here. Alternatively, is there a way to search for Assets in the page builder interface. When I add an Asset to a page, it simply gives a list of Assets with the most recent Assets at the top. As the number of Assets increases, navigating this becomes increasingly difficult.
B. HTML formatting questions
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Items: Omeka Classic allow you to use inline HTML formatting when inputting elements. Is there a module or plans to support similar functionality for Omeka S Properties? (Side note: consistent terminology across Classic and Omeka S would be a big help). For example, I would like to use an inline html link to an external page as part of an item description. I know that I can add a URI for any property, but this is listed as a separate line rather inline as part of a longer text.
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Sites: Is there a module that easily inserts html links to specific site pages and/or specific items when using the Text Block on the Site Builder? Currently the text block allows you to insert html links, but–as far as I can tell–every link needs to be hard coded. This means that if I rename a page or alter anything on site, all of these links need to be recoded by hand. Is there an easier option for linking to pages on the same Omeka S installation? For example: a drop down menu for searching pages on the current site or the option to search for and link to a specific item?
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My Big Dream for site building: A module that supports modular web design. In other words, rather than simply adding new blocks to a page (and fiddling with left/right/center alignments), you have the ability to drag blocks and arrange their location and size on a grid.
C. Item Management:
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Next Item Module? Is there a way to scroll through the items one by one rather than returning to the list of all items. For example, if I needed to update a particular property, I would like to go through my items one by one. This is standard functionality in Omeka Classic, but I haven’t been able to locate/recreate it in Omeka S.
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Can Item sets be nested in each other? Item Sets Tree module seems like a good option. Are there other options or modules that can accommodate this?
D. Workflow:
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Is there a way to add instructions or blocks of text into a resource template? This would be text that appears on the template when someone is editing Items on the Admin Item page (e.g. “The next section of Properties uses controlled vocabularies”)
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As the collection of items grows, new properties are added and other properties are updated with new controlled vocabularies, etc. In a complex project with multiple users, we also have different people using different controlled vocabularies to code different properties. These various tasks (adding new items, coding different properties) are often done asynchronously. Has anyone devised a useful way to track these overlapping workflows? For example, some items are up to date with all the controlled vocabulary descriptions, whereas other items still need to be coded with the controlled vocabularies. Has anyone devised a way to monitor workflows across multiple items on projects and sites with multiple users? A module that allows specific properties to be flagged as “needing review” might be very useful.
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Is there a way to hide certain properties from certain users when editing items? I tried to accomplish this by setting up different templates but once a property is filled out, it appears on the item page regardless of the chosen template. For example, I want a simple template that includes a few basic properties for those uploading new items. Other users would then be able to view more complex templates for coding those items. Alternatively, is there a way to nest properties so that certain collections of properties can be expanded or hidden with a single click?
Thanks. I know this is a lot of questions, and I’m happy to spin some of them into separate forums. But I felt it easiest to put them all in one place to begin the discussion.
-J.R.