Posted by David Haynes on 01/25/06 18:00

bryan wrote:
> I have a situation that's pretty delicate that I need some help on.
> I've been stumped for awhile I just need some advice on the best
> possible solution.
>
> The problem:
> I have a site I'm making where users can have profiles (as with most
> websites) but each users home page (profile page) will/should have the
> ability to be dynamic and drastically different. For example if user1
> wants to have a 3 column layout with christmas colors..cool. If user2
> wants the basic layout/template we provide..cool. So user1 and user2's
> layouts vary drastically.
>
> Another problem: Users can have multiple "objects" displayed determined
> by "weight" so if they want their picture to be in the top right hand
> corner, they give the "picture" object a weight of 1...etc.
> I need to know how to make this scalable so I can write several
> layouts/template color schemes and tie them in dynamically depending on
> user preference so that users can upload their own/people can make
> their own. i need some help with the technical terminology as well.
> This is my first attempt at something like this and to be perfectly
> honest I'm not too sure how to start. Any help is appreciated.
>
This is a variation of the "tiled window" problem. Perhaps a google
search on that will help. One strategy that worked was to make window
placement analogous to a chess problem where each object vying for
display real-estate is seen as 'attacking' surrounding objects. The
relative strength of the 'attack' provides data into the size of
real-estate the object is allowed.

It's not a simple problem to solve from scratch...

-david-

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