Funktastic Programming Adventures in Web Development

I’m in the process of developing the next generation Orvado Intranet application. Technically, it’s a Content Management System which will be used to build and manage very dynamic websites. I have designed a database for universal configuration settings which can be used across all modules but now I need to determine how the settings will be accessed.

In the past I’ve used a system where the settings would be accessible from each page of the control panel. This makes the settings easily accessible and relevant to the current section you are in. The only problem with this setup is that you don’t see all of the configuration settings in one place.

We could put all of the settings for each module in one common area. However, this would require that users navigate away from the section they are currently in to make changes. Then, once their changes are complete, they would have to navigate back to the section they came from. Not the ideal situation.

Another issue I’d like to address is having global settings for the entire site. These are settings that are not specific to on specific module or feature on the site. Usually, I’d put these settings on the home page of the control panel or in a special Configuration area of the site.

I think I’ll put the settings in both areas. Make all of the configuration settings accessible from a centralized location and also make module-specific settings appear in their related sections. This should provide the best of both worlds and (hopefully) won’t be too confusing for the operators.