NG Navigator Block

I applied your patch, but was unable to get the block to display. It did show up in the list of blocks, but I couldn't see the block at any point. I did clear all caches, and was looking for it from an image page.

However, I just thought of a killer feature. If we could make relationships of Previous Image, Next Image, First Image and Last Image for views, then people could completely build their own navigator blocks from scratch, even displaying thumbnails and whatnot.

Thoughts?

Found the problem. It was configured to show on all pages *except* node/*, which is the only place it works.

That said, it's okay, but it has two things not going for it:
1) It's duplicating functionality of the current navigator "bar", but my perception is that the navigator "bar" is less intrusive and takes up less real estate than the block
2) It's not very user configurable.

Let's scratch this approach unless you think you can make it work. I'm more a fan of views-based blocks. What do you think about the relationships idea?

You would pass the current node id in, and then, using the relationship, you could get *any* field off of the related node. So, you could display the title, imagecache thumbs, or anything on the related nodes of the next and previous nodes in a block. Just like how the parent gallery relationship allows you to get at anything on the parent gallery within the scope of the current image.

Does that make sense?

I'll put together some POC code. An example view is worth a billion words :)

Well, it doesn't seem like what I want to do is quite possible: http://drupal.org/node/976774.

I think at this point we should just yank the current block stub code and not plan on creating a Navigator block until we get a few feature requests for it. I can't think of what a nav block would be useful for frankly. I'm afraid we'll spend a lot of time developing something that no one uses, or everyone thinks should have been done differently.

I could see maybe a block with a vertical jcarousel in it, but that belongs in it's own module, not in NG core.

Thoughts on marking this as postponed?

Removed the code and committed to dev.

Hallo, justintime! Hallo, scroogie! Just applied the patch. It's really Amazing! You are Genius! But the right implementation of the idea is - moving Node Gallery jCarousel in block. Like it done at Flickr. With this powerful feature the Node Gallery become #1 Gallery solution in Drupal. Now everyone can launch his/her own full featured Flickr (or even beat it)! Just do it, guys. Please! Probably remain a couple of lines! But it will be a huge step forward for the Node Gallery. Believe.

Regarding use of navigator in block. In my gallery I set such presets which enables visitors to view images in high resolution. But at the same time image (viewing with anchors) occupies all the space in the browser window from top to bottom. Accordingly, there is no way to place a standard navigator within sight of the user. In such case the block-navigator is simply irreplaceable. In pair with default navigator (I make default nav small and invisible) it provides an excellent opportunity to move through the gallery using the arrow keys with great possibility contemporaneously use classic links: first, previous, next, last, which appears in sidebar. In terms of usability it's just cool.

While I understand the request for the navigator in a block, it seems more natural to me to offer node_gallery_jcarousel in a block -- it lends itself to vertical orientation much better IMO.

But if the users truly want text-based navigation in a block, it should be pretty doable.

Right now I trying to manage this (carousel-in-sidebar) challenge with styles like:

.jcarousel-skin-tango {
  position:absolute;
  left:640px;
  top:150px;
}

It's possible, but block will be much more better, sure.

Vertical carousel is good as an option. But horizontal - much more convenient. The best solution - give user everything he needs, not forcing him to engage in excessive search (or resort to scroll the screen, there is one and the same). The best solution - give the user everything he needs at first screen. Vertical carousel will take place, which could accommodate perhaps 3 blocks. In this case user will receive much less on the first screen, than he would receive with horizontal carousel. He will have to scroll the screen more often. And it's definitely not good user experience. Of course, it's possible to solve this problem by extending the center (content) column. But it will be ugly template.

If we take 640 x 640px as a basic preset (as on Flickr) with a total fixed width 960px (as in Zen), we have two columns: 640 and 320px. Applying 60 x 60px preset to our carousel, we can easily place a horizontal 5-items carousel in sidebar. At the same time, text-based navigation in separate block surely will be additional significant advantage.

P.S. Speaking of navigation, NG definitely beat Flickr with amazing "Named Anchors" feature. It's really cool. This is the most convenient way to move among images that you can think of.

Thank you so much, Scroogie! But the JCarousel (as_is) is absolutely useless when it comes to the galleries, which bringing together more than a dozen images, not to mention the hundreds. The JCarousel does not provide by default the MOST important function, without which any carousel, in my opinion, did not have the slightest sense. In short, the JCarousel does not show the current image. Therefore it's useless, as a car without a dashboard.

I think the NGJC - the only module for Drupal, which provides a carousel with an indication of the current image. And this is a HUGE plus for the Node Gallery.

And, of course, it would be Great (!!!) if you could implement NGJC in block (or change the JC so that it displays the current image). This would add tremendous value to Node Gallery, in particular from the perspective of developers who have no programming skills. Thank you in advance ))

Yummie! That sounds like a awesome feature.

Very well then - let's move the jcarousel discussion over to the Node Gallery jCarousel issue queue.

At this point, I won't be adding new features to the D6 version. If features are wanted for D7, please post a new issue.