Sam Boyer (aka sdboyer) talks about the state of the Panels 3 module, which is described as a "drag-and-drop content manager and layout tool which can be used build complex Drupal sites without any custom code." He talks about how people usually use Panels, some of the new features, as well as looking forward to some of the talk about the future context for Drupal 8.
Like the Context module, Panels is method for intercepting Drupal's request handling as well as also clustering content into the same context. Boyer talks a bit about some of the future plans for Drupal 8 core around providing better request handling.
David Burns did a presentation on the difference between the Panels and Context modules and here are a couple of key slides:
According to Burns, the pros for both the Panels and Context module are that they are powerful, have point-n-click interfaces and are content/context aware. The pros for Panels is that it's also not dependent on template and has more caching options. The pros for Context is that it has a Simple UI. The cons for Panels is that it's path dependent and has a complex backend UI, which since Burn's presentation has had some front-end drag and drop improvements that Boyer presented at DrupalCon. The cons for Context is that it is abstract and has limited layout options.
Burns also talks about different use cases between the two modules. He suggests that some of the sites that you should use panels are:
- Client or site-builders need to move content around
- Complex page layouts
- URL-structured layouts
- Variants give more flexibility
Burns suggests that you should use Context on sites that are:
- Developer-driven site
- Theme provides enough regions
- Context layout gives more flexibility
- Context-driven layouts
For more information, be sure to check out Boyer's DrupalCon presentation called "The State of Panels 3 and More of What You Love"