BT - Philosophy and Plugins

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sburch Aspiring developer Posts: 2 Reg: Sep 12, 2012 Pleasant Hill 3,070	confirm \| cancel 09/13/12 06:18 PM (13 years ago) BT - Philosophy and Plugins Ok, have spent a couple of days here at BT and am very impressed but have a few questions, mostly because I've played with other designers: Can I have multiple plugins on a page, or is it 1 to 1? If I want to design a page with buttons, text and numeric and date input, etc., what I really do is make a plugin with all this stuff, then drop this onto a blank page? Is BT development more about making plugins and tossing them onto a blank page? Thank you! Title Comments Ok, have spent a couple of days here at BT and am very impressed but have a few questions, mostly because I've played with other designers: Can I have multiple plugins on a page, or is it 1 to 1? If I want to design a page with buttons, text and numeric and date input, etc., what I really do is make a plugin with all this stuff, then drop this onto a blank page? Is BT development more about making plugins and tossing them onto a blank page? Thank you!

GoNorthWest buzztouch Evangelist Posts: 8197 Reg: Jun 24, 2011 Oro Valley, AZ 1,000,000	09/13/12 10:26 PM (13 years ago) Hi @sburch, Welcome to buzztouch! Each screen basically represents a plugin. So, you could have a Menu List screen, using the Menu List Plugin. One menu item might connect to the Notepad Feature Screen (Notepad Plugin), or a Quiz (Interactive Quiz Plugin). Another might connect to an HTML document (HTML Document Plugin)...get the idea? You can use the same plugin multiple times in an app, but each screen itself is a single plugin. To do what you want, you select the plugin that has the features you need (or design a plugin from scratch with them), and then configure it the way you want the user to view it. What they see depends on the options of the plugin. Does this help? Mark Comments Hi @sburch, Welcome to buzztouch! Each screen basically represents a plugin. So, you could have a Menu List screen, using the Menu List Plugin. One menu item might connect to the Notepad Feature Screen (Notepad Plugin), or a Quiz (Interactive Quiz Plugin). Another might connect to an HTML document (HTML Document Plugin)...get the idea? You can use the same plugin multiple times in an app, but each screen itself is a single plugin. To do what you want, you select the plugin that has the features you need (or design a plugin from scratch with them), and then configure it the way you want the user to view it. What they see depends on the options of the plugin. Does this help? Mark

David @ buzztouch buzztouch Evangelist Posts: 6866 Reg: Jan 01, 2010 Monterey, CA 78,840	09/13/12 11:46 PM (13 years ago) @GoNorthWest said it well. I might add that because you mentioned that you've "played with other designers" you may or may not be comfortable with our approach yet. This is normal. There can be a steep learning curve. As much as we'de like to think this is simple, it's not for everyone. Consider some complexity a trade off for flexibility. We hope you stick around long enough to "get use to the system" and find yourself smiling in short order. If all goes well, you'll be part of the gang soon! Welcome again. Comments @GoNorthWest said it well. I might add that because you mentioned that you've "played with other designers" you may or may not be comfortable with our approach yet. This is normal. There can be a steep learning curve. As much as we'de like to think this is simple, it's not for everyone. Consider some complexity a trade off for flexibility. We hope you stick around long enough to "get use to the system" and find yourself smiling in short order. If all goes well, you'll be part of the gang soon! Welcome again.

sburch Aspiring developer Posts: 2 Reg: Sep 12, 2012 Pleasant Hill 3,070	09/14/12 07:18 AM (13 years ago) Mark and David, Thanks for your replies. In the past (pre-Mobile) I've done component design that was essentially re-usable pieces of UI that could be added to a screen. This sounds a little like that. Although with BT it seems like I can a) design a complex screen, which is really a plugin, and b) a piece of functionality (which may have little or no UI interaction), that is a plugin. I'll see where I get with this this weekend. Steve Comments Mark and David, Thanks for your replies. In the past (pre-Mobile) I've done component design that was essentially re-usable pieces of UI that could be added to a screen. This sounds a little like that. Although with BT it seems like I can a) design a complex screen, which is really a plugin, and b) a piece of functionality (which may have little or no UI interaction), that is a plugin. I'll see where I get with this this weekend. Steve

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