Admin Facelift. Take 3

jakob · 2006-06-11 19:22:25

Nice idea, marco. I’m not sure if the concept of nifty corners could produce outward curves as they are notionally ‘outside’ of the element. To stay within the element it styles, it would have to fill out a complex masking shape.

But: the tabs in Example 4 could be an excellent way of doing simple top-rounded tabs like of ace of dubs has them and still retaining colour control via css, particularly as nifty corners no longer needs colour definitions in the new version (i.e. can detect the colour). If I understand it correctly, it uses no images and works with unobtrusive js, so there’s no extra markup. Non-supporting browsers and those without js see normal square tabs. From the other examples, it looks like it can be combined with graduated backgrounds, so things like graduated tabs, the hover arrow or the shadow line across the bottom may also be possible.

The second alternative (and the angled one too) would work as normal ‘sliding doors’ if one is content to have fixed-height tabs (like it is now). The font-size and width could still size up but at some point it would overlap with the height. It depends how much one needs to size it up. In actual fact, the tabs probably run on to two lines before that happens.

<small>I’m sorry, ace of dubs, I really did not mean to sidetrack your thread.</small>

kemie · 2006-06-12 06:44:04

don’t think javascript is the way to go to round corners. seems like overkill to me. a simple sliding-doors approach seems as bulletproof as you can get…

bit · 2006-06-12 09:50:08

Regarding the latest mockup in #77 (and this comment applies to a few other mocks before), I must admit that I think you’ve overstyled the admin pages. I like how only the menus up top are really styled and “flaired-up” while most of the main admin controls below are styled minimally in the current TxP admin sections. I think it would be better to keep the controls simple. Just IMHO.

But otherwise, I love what you guys have been coming up with. Awesome. I hope to see this in a future release. :-)

Last edited by dreamstormer (2006-06-12 09:52:15)

Nonsense · 2006-06-12 10:10:42

I’d go with Ace’s layout since it seems more contemporary than other suggestions so far.
The nifty corners are indeed a great way to produce a stable solution for the rounded corners issue.

rloaderro · 2006-06-12 16:20:37

Obv, I think an admin facelift is a first-class idea :) I guess I will post the modified version that I use if it might help prompt some ideas. It is not very Textpattern-ish: it is purely grayscale so I don’t have to re-theme it for different client brands. And it scales to the size of the screen. Anyway, check it out.

jdykast · 2006-06-12 20:51:57

For what it’s worth, my favorite version is the one posted by rloaderro. There’s a lot of vertical space used but I imagine that’s because it has been skinned for a client install. Especially appealling to me is the simplicity of its look and feel. I’ve loved the direction Ace has been taking things but it seems like the simplicity of things has been eroding.

Press on all; design by committee has got to be the hardest way to design anything.

jameslomax · 2006-06-14 08:34:12

I agree on the option to change themes – some great fruit gum and candy designs here ;)

I think its important that txp becomes ‘softer’ and the GUI is less constrained by a coder’s discipline. I use txp because even though I don’t fully understand this I can see that it’s lean, mean, and efficient.

However txp is not just a code engine, or an information architecture package. On the contrary, using it necessarily involves workflow options – which can be more or less efficient – and real psychological factors that affect quality of work. Colour, together with shape, is a powerful influence on psychology. I think ‘elegant’ is a good design concept, for example in the debate about using icons or not. Not using them is probably more ‘elegant’. But ‘soft’ is also a good concept to consider.

Bring on the nice soft candy…..

mscwd · 2006-06-22 23:23:31

Are these new themes going to come as standard and applied as default in the new release?

I prefer the current simplistic layout rather than the newer ones…

tkn · 2006-06-25 04:05:01

I have to say that I also prefer the current styling better. All I want are the drop-downs on mouse-over, the name of the current blog somewhere at the top and a small thin line at the top in a different assignable color for another indication of which blog I am using…

jamiew · 2006-06-25 15:27:29

Loving this thread.

One request: how about making the color schemes customizable via Advanced Prefs? I always find myself customizing client’s txp color scheme in order to sync with the site (and so I know which site I’m editing!)

Ace of Dubs · 2006-06-26 16:58:10

Sorry guys, looks like I will have to go MIA on this project for a while as I have quite a few deadlines to meet. All your input has been taken into consideration though and I think we can come up with a viable solution for all. The biggest challenge right now is writing the semantic markup for thes pages…its proven to be a greater challenge than I anticipated!

As for the idea of customizeable color schemes, that would be doable, but you can kiss those rounded corners goodbye (Unless somebody here can code up an image generating program that will bang out those GIFs on the fly.)

Once the dust settles on this end, I will dive back into the code andpost some pages for yall to help me debug. As always, comments and feedback are more than welcome. :)

Nonsense · 2006-06-27 09:34:49

All the best to you Ace.
I hope to see some progress on the matter soon.

I’ll sign up for debugging if that’s any help (although there should be plenty of us).

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#85 2006-06-11 19:22:25

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#86 2006-06-12 06:44:04

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#87 2006-06-12 09:50:08

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#88 2006-06-12 10:10:42

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#89 2006-06-12 16:20:37

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#90 2006-06-12 20:51:57

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#91 2006-06-14 08:34:12

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#92 2006-06-22 23:23:31

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#93 2006-06-25 04:05:01

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#94 2006-06-25 15:27:29

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#95 2006-06-26 16:58:10

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#96 2006-06-27 09:34:49

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

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