This proposal is initially presented in two parts. The first deals primarily with a review of the current implementation of Dynamic Layouts and the proposed changes directly to it moving forward. The second deals with complimentary issues that need to be addressed and resolved in order to make the proposed direct changes to Dynamic Layouts possible and effective.
Further sectionalizing or additional parts may be needed as the discussion develops, hopefully, into a consensus. A brief summary immediately follows. The detailed presentation starts in the Rationale section.
Part 1Review of current and proposed direct changes to Dynamic Layouts.
Review the current implementation of Dynamic Layouts (DL from now on), specifically where the the three DL dependent <div> tags are being dynamically relocated to under the selected User skin's default structure during mainspace page view and the concerns that process may or may not raise in moving forward. We then take a further look at the performance and usefulness of DL's features and functionality, such as default hover-highlighting and hide/show toggled display of embedded page numbers.
Propse changes to DL based once a better understanding of its current implementation is formed by participants in the prior review stage. The primary focus here is to have the three DL dependent <div> tags relocate to a more logical point in the default skin structure while common templates, such as navigation headers and license banners, remain outside & render separate of the contained-text block and its DL formatting. Remaing points deal with the removal of the hover-highlight feature from the main code to an optional gadgetized feature and expanding the embedded page number display to show, inline or off choices.
Part 2Proposed changes to elements that compliment or affect Dynamic Layouts indirectly.
Redesign all the basic navigation headers used in the various namespaces away from the current table-row, column-cell approach to an all <div> based design. All the current parameters, tracking and sorting remain intact but are no longer lumped into a single main template. Current parameter "rows" become sub-templates that appear by default but can be removed/inserted/swapped as the situation at hand dictates (in short - mimic the French WS approach to header templates).
Have the mainspace navigation headers (and footers - when called - plus any license tags) load and render independent of the DL feature and its manipulation of the contained text content/block. Remain mindful of error messages, proofreading progress bar, featured-type icons, sub-page text links, etc. in the process.
An ability to designate a specific DL for certain works as the default first-click-in view for all users - logged in or not.
