Stacks4Stacks

Many solutions already exist for RapidWeaver; with regards to sorting and re-ordering content. Truth is, most are "one trick ponies" geared towards one specific task. Our SortStack is multifunction and runs-off a really small codebase (so your web pages continue to load swiftly). In the SortStack settings you can choose to display your items in one of the following orders:

• Normal order, all items are displayed in the same order as you added them to the page
• Random one item, only one item is displayed at random as the page loads
• Some items at random, where a small selection of items are shown
• Random order, all items are displayed but in a different order to how you added them in the page
• Ascending order, based on the numerical 'score' you gave the items
• Descending order, based on the numerical score you gave the items

You can also apply up to 6 tags to each item. Tags are hidden and not displayed in the published webpage. However tags can be connected-up to customisable buttons, permitting simple filtering of your items. The filtering capabilities offered in SortStack are by no-means a replacement to those in our Filter stack, but are ideal for quick and basic tag filtering, which a lot of RapidWeaver users have asked for.

SortStack would be perfect for displaying a portfolio of work, allowing your website visitors to filter work based on simple parameters. Ascending and descending ordering is useful for displaying league tables or other numerical data. The random sorting options are brilliant for displaying one random image or advertisement as the page loads; or a grid of thumbnail images.

Examples

Here are some working examples of SortStack. In this first example we display one image at random, from a group of eight as the page loads. The image chosen at random also acts as a link.
 

 
A random quotes example. A total of 10 random quotes where loaded into the stack as text stacks. One is chosen and displayed at random when the page is refreshed.
 

 
Displaying 5 items at random, from a group of 16 items. Items can either be displayed in a grid or as a vertical stack.
 

 
Displaying 16 items in grid format, in a random order.
 

 
Displaying 16 items in ascending order. Ordering is based on the numerical score you give each individual item, in the stack settings.
 

 
Displaying 16 items in descending order. Ordering is based on the numerical score you give each individual item, in the stack settings.
 

 
Displaying 16 items in their normal order, but with buttons for applying a filter. We can filter items, based on tags you apply to items.
 

 
Displaying 16 items with no sorting applied on page load, with buttons to re-sort items into either ascending or descending order.
 

Setup

Follow these instructions for getting a SortStack working in your webpage:

1. Once installed, drag and drop a SortStack into your Stacks 3 page
2. Add items to your SortStack, by clicking the blue '+' button or by duplicating existing items
3. If you want to sort items in ascending or descending order give each item a numerical score. Likewise if you want to eventually filter items, provide a space-separated list of tags
4. Optionally give each item a link
5. In the main SortStack settings, customise how you want your items to be sorted, the style of the item presentation and optional filter buttons
6. Preview your page in RapidWeaver to make sure everything looks and works as-expected. Publish the page when done.

It is possible to use multiple SortStacks in the same webpage, as we've demonstrated above. You can place just about any type of content inside SortStack items. However beware that when using audio or video and applying filters; content may still be audible after a filter is applied and there might be other odd quirks like flickering.

A SortStack can comprise of an unlimited number of items. You do have the freedom of returning to SortStack at any time to add new items, change the order or items or delete items; without needing to delete and rebuild your SortStack again.

Filtering

Filtering is simple and works using the allocation of tags onto each one of your items; just like how you would tag or categorise blog entries. A tag is just a short, lowercase word. Once you have tagged your items, you can open up the Filter settings can create new filter buttons; based on each one of your tags. When a filter is applied, we hide all items and just display items which match the tag. Using the example of a design agency, you could have a set of thumbnail images displaying different completed projects; with the ability for potential clients to filter projects based on them being print, advertising, design or web projects. Alternatively a person could click on the 'all' button to see everything.

We have purposefully kept the filtering system used in SortStack extremely basic. If you require more advancing filtering (like the ability to apply multiple filters or search for specific keywords) then our Filter stack is a better stack to use.