Views development - Page or block?

A view can become a page or a block. There is no difference in work between a page and a block. A page needs a path to display the page. A block is assigned to a region to display the page. There might be a few seconds different to set them up. After that, you can blocks in far more ways than usually shown in tutorials.

Blocks have their uses including constructing complex pages. The content of a page is usually the content of a node in the content region. A view replaces the node to display a list or some other small variation of content.

Next you are asked to make the view more complicated. You scratch your head. What you really need is a collection of views displaying different content. You could use panels and a bunch of other complex approaches. Think about the format again.

If you want a list of different views. You can make each one a block then place them one after the other down the page. Consider a shop.

A shop might list the top selling product in each category with a view sorted by category. The marketing manager then asks for the categories in a different order. The CEO wants some categories to list the top three. The product manager wants one category to list only one product but all the colours for the product.

You could make each category a separate view with each view in a block. Each view can have different criteria. You can give your CEO, sales manager, and marketing manager access to the block admin page and let them fight over the sequence of the blocks.

What method do you use to determine when to use multiple views?

Use the one view when you list data one set of data. Use multiple views when people want different data selection. For example, some product categories have colours but not all product categories. Some product categories have multiple packs but not all product categories.

If the one list has to be by category then colour or pack size and all the products use the same content type, you could use one view to sort by category then colour then pack size. There will be no overlap or conflict or missing data.

The same list becomes more complicated when each product category has a different content type and each content type has a different set of attributes. You might be able to product one list in one view but it will be sensitive to change and management will want change. Start with two views or more views stacked as blocks to form one list.

Another example is a book shop where novels have different descriptions and content types compared to other books. Cook books may have a special content type to allow listing by food type, country, major ingredients, and the reality television show paying for the cook book.

If the data is exactly the same for each view but the display is different, consider multiple displays on one view. The technique is described in another page. you make the first view a page to list the data and validate your data selection. You then add some displays to create the blocks. Each display might vary by as little as selecting a different content type.

Top ten lists are popular and soon take up too much space. People start talking about variations. Perhaps the top three items, including teasers, followed by the next seven without teasers.