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#25 2006-06-06 20:45:17
- alexandra
- Member
- From: Cologne, Germany
- Registered: 2004-04-02
- Posts: 1,370
Re: Cosmetic Surgery
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Re: Cosmetic Surgery
From what I see with respect to aesthetic enhancements, Mary, this is great, and I love orange (any shade) so the color doesn’t bother me at all (I’m assuming it’s customizable anyway?).
The admin side — as is — has been in need for version x.0 for a long time, even outside watchers/reviewers of Txp have commented on this repeatedly, but that’s not news to anyone. Unlike some of the … someone used a great metaphor …“fruit-striped” candy themes we’ve been seeing proposed around the boards, this one above is (in my opinion) just change enough while retaining the old sense of style. A true version 2.0, as it were; nothing radical, just an improvement that shows that the admin side is not forgotten.
Most opinions from the experienced forum rats about what should or should not be with the admin side are rather self-centric; that is to say they are from the point of view of how they like Txp for themselves. For my own use, I have no problems with it the way it is. I know it, I’m familiar with it. It works. If nothing ever changed, that’s fine with me.
However, there’s another viewpoint…that of the yet-to-be end-user (such as my future clients, among others). From a workflow or panel presentation point of view, I think a number of changes are warranted. It’s still quite daunting for me to write user docs because there is so much I often have to downplay in each panel; features my user’s will never need to worry about. Yet since it’s right there in their face, and since I want to avoid all the millions of questions I get otherwise, I have to document stuff about what they don’t need to begin with. This suggests something needs done with how certain panels are presented. Actually, presentation in itself is not the issue, the rats can (and have) given countless opinions on that already. Rather what is needed is a presentation per stage of task kind of revamp; this is quite possibly the real formula for success.
In that respect, I like some of the ideas Ace of Dubs is getting at with showing elements based on a particular step in workflow, say writing an article, for example.
Having said all that, it’s not easy, I know. Textpattern is still trying to find what audience it really serves (techies versus non-techies), and that forward look is really what should influence design decisions; i.e., not us rats who can hack whatever we want, but the real target audience who just wants to publish articles, photographs, and files. Yes, yes, people, you can argue that Txp is for the masses already, but it’s largey a subjective opinion; we’ve seen it written time and again that many people find Txp difficult to use. They don’t just say that because they have nothing better to do.
Speaking for myself, I’m looking forward — and very excited — to see whatever changes are made, as I know it will be a step in the right direction…as your screenshot up there suggests.
Yeah TeamTextpattern!
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Re: Cosmetic Surgery
Destry wrote:
Rather what is needed is a presentation per stage of task kind of revamp; this is quite possibly the real formula for success.
I hate interfaces like that. You only need the hand holding for so long and then it becomes a nuisance. I can appreciate the need for it when dealing with new users but if it does go in it better be something that can be turned off.
I don’t think the admin interface will ever be able to be everything to all people. The ability to over write the built in admin pages would open up all sorts of possibilities as people could devise interfaces that meet their needs. That too me is the road to success. Probably something that will come with Bannister. Or maybe Admin plugins can be extended to allow that.
Now where’s my cheese.
Shoving is the answer – pusher robot
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Re: Cosmetic Surgery
Good points all, hakjoon. I agree and stand corrected. I think those ideas about individual customizations is the real key for the long road. Like you, I’m sure they’ve taken that into consideration, with bannister and all; that’s still a blip off my radar.
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Re: Cosmetic Surgery
Mary wrote:
That yellow looks a little strong and slightly to….umm….shiny-ish? :P
Otherwise, I like it. Make sure you get rid of that Javascript stuff. It’s a little annoying.
alexandra wrote:
I don’t really like this design. Looks too 2000-ish. The current design by Mary is nice. Just as I said, tone down the yellow and it would look nice and up-to-date.
Last edited by aarplane (2006-07-14 03:59:40)
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Re: Cosmetic Surgery
My Plans: http://unirrelevant.be/article/79/my-next-project-txp-admin
Last edited by aarplane (2006-07-17 00:46:44)
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Re: Cosmetic Surgery
aarplane wrote: My Plans: http://unirrelevant.be/article/79/my-next-project-txp-admin
And it begins again. ;)
By the way aarplane, in your Weblog post their, you should also mention the efforts prior to Ace of Dubs, like Mary’s very exhaustive work on the original admin facelift plans, and Philippe’s admin facelift 2, equally impressive in input. Both are available for use right now, if I’m not mistaken.
I would also bring to light that — besides the issues of usability — there is also a matter of what will be out-of-box (default) versus skinnable. As for default I’m sure Dean Allen has some strong feelings about this, as he has expressed them several times before in the boards, which is to say he probably won’t want to see any radical change in the aesthetics. I’m sure TeamTextpattern knows knows the score, and I’m equally certain (not 100%) that the design of Mary’s is very close to what will be the new default look for the admin side.
So in your efforts, and anyone elses, to create a new admin model, I would really focus efforts on the skinnable aspect and not get too hung up on one design as a default, because it most likely won’t be the default.
Hence, this seems to pose a problem for new admin side pioneers…if you don’t really know what TT will put under the hood for the admin side, then how can you really focus on the skinnable functions? Seems to me you need to know what the code is ultimately going to be, and as hakjoon already alluded too, it could have something to do with Bannister, though nobody really knows.
Just my cautionary look into the crystal ball, for what it’s worth.
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#32 2006-07-17 10:50:16
- Ace of Dubs
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- Registered: 2006-04-17
- Posts: 446
Re: Cosmetic Surgery
I would have to echo the sentiments of Destry here, Mary’s design is just fine for the default look..we should really be focusing on how to make the admin work better for us.
@ aarplane,
Nice job on your design…simple yet classy and quite “Web 2.0” looking.
As for my design, no worries…I was never 100% convinced either. But things have definitely been evolving, not only from an aesthetics point of view, but also taking into consideration the functionality we want in place. Check out the latest here. Things really start cooking around post #115
The design is still rough at this stage so feel free to contribute your thoughts.
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Re: Cosmetic Surgery
Hmmm, this would suggest a lot. I think Jakob’s ideas there start getting closer to solving some of the issues of customizing admin panels according to needs. I would suggest that this plugin idea that Mary speaks of definitely get added to the Plugins Request, because apparently the “under-the-hood” aspects of the admin side are not as planned for as first thought. A new plugin would be the first step in many ways, no?
Last edited by Destry (2006-07-17 14:01:27)
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Re: Cosmetic Surgery
I’m just throwing ideas at you guys, because TT has made my blogging experience very enjoyable, and I’d like to contribute. I love Mary’s design. Once again, it’s modernized and good looking. A very worthy upgrade to the current tabs.
When (and if) I ever get to coding mine, I’ll be sure to give it away as a mod, like Philippe and Mary in the past have done, for those who want a whole different tab system.
I didn’t necessarily want it as default, I just wanted some ideas to be out in the open for the future.
The near future or the far future, doesn’t matter, I look forward to continue using (and loving) TXP for all aspects of my site and I look forward to the exciting road ahead.
You’re the greatest, TT!
Last edited by aarplane (2006-07-18 04:01:01)
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Re: Cosmetic Surgery
The inner shadow on inactive tabs seems way too dark – it’s taking focus from the rest of the design. I don’t see any reason for much detail at all on them.
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