[thesite] friday is a good day..

[jeff]

matt,

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: From: Warden, Matt
:
: Well, the only misuse is really that it isn't
: being used for a security reason, which is why
: PRIV was created (right?). Setting a category
: to a PRIV of 5 would be correct except for the
: fact that we're doing it for an odd reason.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the trouble is that we still have to choose to use the PRIV column criteria
on a category by category basis if we do that.  for example, suggestions,
jobs, and faq aren't supposed to be displayed in the homepage article query.
however, when viewing these categories we don't care who the user is.  the
job category simply lists it's most recent content in a different location
on the site (the sidebar).  the suggestions category content is only
viewable when selecting the suggestions category from the category dropdown.
however, the category should still appear in the dropdown.  the same is not
true of the faq category.  it should not appear in the category dropdown at
all as its content is not intended to flow in with the rest of the content
of thesite, but still use the same display (though slightly altered)
mechanism.

when the use of the PRIV column is integrated into thesite, the categories
listed in the category dropdown will change depending on the user's PRIV
setting.  the articles they can view within a category will be affected by
their PRIV setting.  the determination of whether or not they can even view
a certain category will be determined by their PRIV setting.

consequently, using the PRIV setting as a means to control what's displayed
on the homepage only serves to complicate the issue.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: I'm not sure what you're getting at. What you
: describe above is what we want. We don't want
: those categories to show up in the category list
: drop box.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ah, but we *do* want them to show up in the category dropdown.  suggestions
and jobs being the most obvious ones that don't display on the homepage
article listing, but still need to be accessible to everyone.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: (though the submission page currently does not
: restrict articles from being submitted to the
: FAQ category).
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the only reason it's not restricted from the submission page category
dropdown is so that if we choose to task a non-admin with writing/submitting
evolt FAQ material they will be able to do so without having to change their
PRIV setting.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: Do you see any other problems? The only problem
: I have with this is that we're restricting display
: based on a security column but for non-security
: reasons. However, it might be better than adding
: another column just for the display control.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

correction: you're suggesting selectively restricting display based on a
security column as opposed to restricting display in all cases based on the
security column.  that's the problem.

make more sense?

thanks,

.jeff

name://jeff.howden
game://web.development
http://www.evolt.org/
mailto:jeff at members.evolt.org