[DUG-TO] A problem to contemplate

[Evan Leibovitch]

Alex De Winne wrote:
> In general, many of the "standard" form elements in a 'node add page'
> visibility is dictated by the permissions granted to the user who is
> creating the node. So I'd recommend you have a look at creating roles for
> these types of users and then assigning only the permissions required for
> them to do what they need to do on the site and see how many field elements
> are left in the content types at that point.
>
> To remove additional fields, I believe would require custom module coding
> with overrides, but I could be wrong.
>   

Thanks!

Actually, I was so used to using the system in admin mode that I had to
logout and log back in under a test user (with only "authenticated"
privs) to see this in action. So I'm generally fine there.

Now... what about exploiting all of the unused real estate on the data
entry screen?

Instead of

First Name: ______________

Middle:   _______________

Last Name: ________________


I'd like to do

Name:
First              Middle              Last
_________        _____________    _____________



(This may not look good in fixed width font but I hope you understand
what I mean.)
I looked into doing custom tpl.php files but that seems to work for
display only.

I think I can have the suffieient control I want over output using
Views. It's the input forms I'd like some more control over.
The module "form panel" claims to "Easily Rearrange Input Form Elements"
and gives some examples of exactly what I'd like to do. But then
"easily" becomes a relative term as the module seems to require both
theme and programming modifications -- and it's documentation assumes
the implementor knows the existing secret developers' handshakes.

Any other ideas or modules that might give similar results?

- Evan