I'm impressed and excited by this module's potential, but it's severely lacking in necessary documentation to implement the module's features. For instance:
1) At "admin/config/media/flexslider" there is the possibility to build option sets to alter the behavior of the slider. (great!) However, there are no instructions on how to use these option sets. Adding settings to the Default option set doesn't appear to affect the slider built through Views. (& integrated with views slideshow)
2) On the advanced tab, there appears to be an option to build and implement different themes. But how? How are themes built? Where are they located so that the system can find them by clicking the "clear cache" button?
3) Since flexslider is a self contained module, what benefit is derived from integrating it with views slideshow? Why is views slideshow needed at all?
4) How is the temporary css file created at "sites/default/files/css" and how can one alter the css that is created?
5) How can more than one image be included in the slider so that it functions as a carousel?
While there is some additional slider information on the (new) flexslider site, it doesn't help in understanding how the module functions. Just a little extra information would be TREMENDOUSLY helpful and might reduce the number of issues that pop up.
Comments
Comment #1
minorOffense CreditAttribution: minorOffense commentedWe've spent a lot of time cleaning up the code in the admin interface. We've removed some features which didn't need to be there and we've updated the README files to include some extra information.
We're also going to write some posts on sample usage for the module.
If you have any further recommendations please let me know.
Thanks a lot and thanks for using the module!
Comment #2
rivimeyCan I agree with the issue poster :-) It is really hard to know where to start and though the module looks great it wont get used if peeps can't use it! As requested, therefore, here are some thoughts about the docs:
Suggestions for the docs:
If you want inspiration, I found the andromeda_slideshow quite easy to get going admin-wise, though it was fixed width and the current project needs a flexible width, hence being here...
I don't have experience using views slideshows, though I do know about using views to display lists of nodes etc. My current need would be satisfied by the answer to (1) above, if you can do so in the next day... I'm on a very tight schedule though :/
HTH,
Ruth
Comment #3
minorOffense CreditAttribution: minorOffense commentedI've noted each requested example and will do my best to incorporate as much as possible. Unfortunately I don't have time to create the docs you require in the timeframe requested. Docs will be accompanied with the full 1.0 release which should be ready at the beginning of April (shooting for April 1 but that may slip due to bug with flexslider_views)
As for ordering, if you use flexslider_fields with a multi value image field, you should be able to order your images in whatever order you want. Using nodequeue to order views may be possible as well, but I'd have to research that more.
Thanks and please keep the suggestions coming. Or if anyone is feeling particularly adventurous, writing some step-by-step guides and posting them ;-)
Comment #4
rivimeyminorOffense: I am very grateful for the work you've put in here! The v1 release was great!
Thought I'd try to provide a start for some of those docs. It's not great but ...
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FlexSlider module uses the Javascript library created and maintained by mbmuffin at http://www.woothemes.com/flexslider.
Installation:
Install the Drupal flexslider module in one of the standard places and the library in folder "libraries", which you may have to create, next to the modules folder. So for example, if your Drupal module is in /a/b/c/modules/flexslider, you should install the Javascript library in /a/b/c/libraries/flexslider.
Configuration:
Single Node:
Optionally uses: nodeblock
One way to configure FlexSlider is to:
1. Navigate to Administration->Configuration->Media->Flex Slider and create an Option Set for your slideshow. You can use the set named "Default" if you wish, but it's probably best to use one named appropriately.
2. Use or set up a content type that has a multivalued image: that is, an image where the "number of values" is set to more than 1, the default. Field: Image, Widget: Image is fine.
3. In the display properties of this content type, for the Image field set the display format of the field to "flexslider". After selecting it, click on the Configuration button beside this and in the expanded form select the name of the FlexSlider module option set you set up in step 1. Click Update.
3a. Optionally: set up the Image for Teaser and other modes in the same way.
4. Create a node with this content type and supply several images for it using the standard Drupal tools. Save the node. It should now display using FlexSlider.
5. If you want to change the order of the images, you can do so by changing the image weights in the node edit form (probably by dragging the + on each Image row). You can also tell FlexSlider itself to randomise the slides' order or to start from a slide other than the first using the FlexSlider Option Sets.
6. If you want the images to appear as a block, rather than as a node, convert the content type to be available using the "nodeblock" module.
The downside of this style of configuration is that it is not possible to associate a URL with a slide, as there is nowhere to store them.
Multiple Nodes:
You can also configure a slider using multiple nodes, each of which contains 1 image and, possibly, other information.
Requires: Views
1. Configure a content type (or taxonomy to select from an existing type) for a node with an Image and, optionally, a link field.
2. In the Add new View page, configure the title and path and select Display Format "Flex Slider".
3. Select "Save and Continue" and, in the Fields area, add in the Field that contains the images for your content type. When configuring the image field, leave Formatter as "Image". If you wish, you can select an Image Style other than Original Image to change the image size/resolution provided to FlexSlider.
4. Select Save (top right) to save the View.
Comment #5
minorOffense CreditAttribution: minorOffense commentedThanks, I'll review the text and incorporate what I can.
Comment #6
LRonHoward CreditAttribution: LRonHoward commentedHi. I'm a new Drupal user and am trying to configure this as a Flex Slider slideshow with images plus associated links. I setup a view per the last four instructions that rivimey posted but I just can't get the links to appear/work - images display in an unordered list but with no URL. The images are rotating beautifully but without links I can't really use it.
For use as my content type, I added fields to my existing Article content type: an image field and a link field (type text). For now, I'm hard-coding a URL in the "link" field.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
Comment #7
LRonHoward CreditAttribution: LRonHoward commentedCrickets.
Comment #8
minorOffense CreditAttribution: minorOffense commentedI've been a little busy lately and haven't been able to keep up with the issue queue.
Are you trying to create a slideshow where the images link out to something? Or are you trying to make the caption text link out.
If you don't mind, could you create a new issue for this? That way we can keep the discussion here about improvements to the documentation.
Thanks!
Comment #9
fahadurrehman CreditAttribution: fahadurrehman commentedThumbs up to Flex Slider Module, This seems to be cute, simple, easy & most useful slider module for Drupal. The current documentation is very easy to understand @ http://coldfrontlabs.ca/blog/using-flex-slider-drupal-7 - but I think the multi valued image field hint need to be included under Flex Slider Fields heading.
Comment #10
BarisW CreditAttribution: BarisW commentedWell, I'm trying to create a custom module which incorporates this. But how to use it? When I look at the module code I see that flexslider_add() has two arguments (element ID and optionset). So I tried calling it using flexslide(NULL, 'myoptionset'); but nothing happens.
Can you give a bit more explanation on how to implement this through code?
Comment #11
minorOffense CreditAttribution: minorOffense commentedI've added a flexslider.api.php file with some example uses of flexslider_add().
I'm moving this issue to the 2.x branch since we'll have to update docs for it and backport whatever is relevant.
Comment #12
minorOffense CreditAttribution: minorOffense commentedWe've added some new docs to v2. We've also some a Features module export of some sample configurations we're including to help people get started. The README will also be updated.
I'll close this issue and we can open issues specific to each piece of documentation as it arrises.