I don’t know how difficult this would be to implement, but I think it would add greatly to the functionality of BSS.
When we ‘linked copy’ a structure, the receiving pages receive a linked structure, but all the sub items cannot be unlinked individually. It would be really useful to have all the sub item have the linked icon so that they can manually be unlinked.
We can alter the headings and content of individual pages while maintaining the consistency of other elements on the page.
I did manage to create such a structure manually but having this automated will help a lot of users.
I see how this could be useful, but as with anything related to Linked components, there are complications.
It is not possible to unlink a child component while the parent remains linked because this can lead to infinite loops and all kinds of undo/redo history bugs. Instead we can make children linked individually while the parent is unlinked, like you’ve done in your screenshot.
Maybe we can add some type of context menu option to linked components, which unlinks them and links their children instead, but I have serious doubts whether anyone would ever use this feature.
If someone thinks they would be using this, write in this thread to let us know.
All I can say is Adobe did this and they ain’t stupid
If you propagate changes only one way from the parent - template page to child pages this can avoid all recursive changes issues and create a powerful tool like dreamweaver had. I used it many years ago and can’t remember exactly what it was called. You could create a framework of a page and create child pages. It was possible to change elements of the sub pages while maintaining the overall look of the pages.
If you define a template page then there is no need for changes in child pages to alter the parent page.
Imagine this - need to create 10 pages with 90% the page identical.
Create a template page.
Create 10 child pages. Everything is linked until a change is made to an element in a child page.
Edit headlines, edit text…
Any element that has not been changed remains linked. You can change colours, address… on the template and they still propagate to the unchanged elements of the child pages. If you delete an item you have changed then it automatically reverts to a linked item from the template page.
Few minutes work.
This would take much longer in BSS as it is.
From the way BSS affect changes in linked items bidirectionally, it might be quite easy make it just one way - just a thought
I haven’t used it in ages, but the Adobe Dreamweaver feature you’re describing was (if memory serves) called template pages. I believe it was an idea they adopted or adapted from Pagemaker, and it was definitely not without problems.
Pinegrow takes this approach in their software, and I find it to be as buggy and troublesome as Dreamweaver was (especially when you get involved with undo-redo operations across multiple pages.)
When I discovered BSS, and its simple and elegant “linked components” it was a like a huge breath of fresh air.
That being said, I HAVE had occasional situations where I’ve wanted the sort of functionality you’re describing, but they’ve been few and far between, and I found ways to work around them.
Given the choice between master/template pages, and linked components, I’d choose the latter. They’re just much easier to work with, more predictable, and they introduce zero issues with undo-redo, which I find extremely useful in my work.
