Admin Facelift. Take 3

Ace of Dubs · 2006-08-20 16:54:07

jameslomax wrote:

Check this out guys

Very interesting indeed, James. While this plugin does not have the more advanced skinning features we have discussed, it is a smart step in the right direction. Unfortunately the hardest part of this project remains to be touched… and that’s the restructuring of the admin’s features so they are more semantic and easily read. It seems this facelift has evolved into full on liposuction! :p

Logoleptic wrote:

Just found this thread, and I’m astounded at the brilliant efforts that are being made toward a revised admin interface for Txp.

Cheers! :)

I also think that the active tabs might not be marked clearly enough, however. Highlighting them in a manner similar to the second version might solve this problem. The only other criticism or suggestion I can think of is that there isn’t enough contrast in the non-active tabs/links in both versions. Low-vision users (or web developers who’ve been staring at their monitor for hours on end) might have trouble making those out. Same for the “log out” and “view site” links.

Good call, LL. I’ve updated the design a bit to address these issues…

I tried coloring the background of the active tabs, but it really mucked up the cleanliness of the original. Hence the above revision..I think the indicators are much easier to read now, without being too over the top. I’ve also bumped up the contrast on the link colors a notch. Feedback, as always, is welcome.

To: Mary
Have you guys reworked all the html for Crockery yet? Do you have any raw html templates you could post? I could probably get some working demos up pretty quickly if you guys have already gone through the trouble of 86ing the table, inline styles, etc.

Let me know

Last edited by Ace of Dubs (2006-08-20 16:55:07)

Mary · 2006-08-20 18:48:18

Have you guys reworked all the html for Crockery yet? Do you have any raw html templates you could post?

No. Crockery is subject to drastic change.

Logoleptic · 2006-08-20 20:17:59

Mary wrote:

<blockquote><blockquote><p>Have you guys reworked all the html for Crockery yet? Do you have any raw html templates you could post?</p></blockquote><p>No. Crockery is subject to drastic change.</p></blockquote>

Just out of curiosity, does that mean “No we haven’t reworked the html” or “No I can’t post templates, because they might be completely different by tomorrow morning”?

Last edited by Logoleptic (2006-08-20 20:18:42)

xjosie729 · 2006-08-20 20:55:00

Ace of Dubs wrote:

I dunno if the current admin will allow javascript, but I like the idea of dropdown navigation.
If this design gets enough votes, I will go ahead and code up the CSS / JS to make it functional.

I’m pretty sure A list apart has an article on making a drop down menu with css.

jameslomax · 2006-08-21 11:07:18

Ace etc: yes, I realise that plug in is merely liposuction. Added with an enthusiastic use of botox.
I mentioned it, in the interests of so-you-know-whats-going-on and to indicate that its a simple and clever piece of code. My problem with the ideas of this thread, as it is with the other thread on image management, is it concerns core-level change which is a lot of work, that takes a long time to manifest. Meanwhile, plug ins can be built relatively quickly that work just as well. Which is not to discredit these ideas, which are great, but to point to the reality of development cycles as they impact on txp development.

I like the last image of Ace – clean, simple, and soft. I think the default txp style is clean and simple, but it’s a little ‘hard’ – it needs softening….

Apart from that: ack, I’ll withdraw, because this is a dev thread ;)

Last edited by jameslomax (2006-08-22 19:15:42)

Mary · 2006-08-22 00:07:28

Adam:

The first question was (emphasis mine):

Have you guys reworked all the html for Crockery yet?

The answer is no.

The second question was:

Do you have any raw html templates you could post?

No, I can’t post templates, because they may be completely different by tomorrow morning.

Crockery is publicly available in svn.

Last edited by Mary (2006-08-22 00:09:37)

Ace of Dubs · 2006-08-22 12:50:48

Hmm…

Suppose my best bet is to simply download Crockery and view source on the admin pages.

I just downloaded subversion, but having a heck of a time figuring out how to use it. The docs it comes with are long and vague. I have also checked out http://textpattern.com/faq/103/how-do-i-fetch-the-current-development-version but that page assumes you know how to install and use svn.

My experience with the command line is pretty much limited to chmodding folders, so if anyone here can explain how to get this working on Mac OS X in three sentences or less, I’m all ears.

Mary · 2006-08-22 14:27:07

http://textpattern.net/wiki/index.php?title=Subversion_Installation_for_Macintosh

rloaderro · 2006-08-22 15:59:41

Ace of Dubs wrote:

Good call, LL. I’ve updated the design a bit to address these issues…

Hi Ace! Checking out this latest design, I think I liked where you were going earlier. This one seems to suffer from the same problem as the current design – there are 2 levels of navigation but the weight of the tabs looks the same – ie. there is little indication that “write” is inside “content” for example. Also, I see you have eliminated the popup navigation menu – I don’t think I have ever used it personally, but I can see where it could be useful for some users if we are sticking with this multi-level tab layout. I would also recommend putting a “prefs” next to the “logout” since the only other way for a non-admin-priv user to change their pass or email would be via the missing popup menu (which is already awkward because the prefs are inside the admin section which they don’t have access to otherwise and are called “site admin” and not “preferences” which are in fact the txp prefs natch).

cheers!

Logoleptic · 2006-08-22 19:09:27

Another bit of info on the matter of a built-in Txp JS library (which should maybe be its own thread): I just read that jQuery is “<a href=“http://drupal.org/node/79481”>poised for inclusion in Drupal core</a>.”

Personally, I’m partial to the libraries produced by Mad4Milk (moo.fx, moo.dom, and moo.ajax). I don’t know if they have everything other Txp designers and developers would want or need, but the M4M guys have recently used them to build a web-based widget framework called Mooglets. If it can do that…

Ace of Dubs · 2006-08-22 23:08:51

rloaderro wrote:

Checking out this latest design, I think I liked where you were going earlier. This one seems to suffer from the same problem as the current design – there are 2 levels of navigation but the weight of the tabs looks the same

The older design you refer to is still in the works as an option. Right now I am trying to figure out how the admin can dynamically spit out different html layouts for the admin. (Switching to full side navigation is outside the scope of CSS.)

I would also recommend putting a “prefs” next to the “logout” since the only other way for a non-admin-priv user to change their pass or email would be via the missing popup menu

Will do

Last edited by Ace of Dubs (2006-08-22 23:09:07)

Mary · 2006-08-23 00:44:57

Right now I am trying to figure out how the admin can dynamically spit out different html layouts for the admin.

That would not be in the realm of an admin theme, by the way.

(Switching to full side navigation is outside the scope of CSS.)

Actually, no, it’s not.

Ace of Dubs · 2006-08-23 10:46:42

So what would you recommend, Mary? I was originally considering both top and side navigation in the html template and perhaps switching visibility on and off for each one. This works great with compliant browsers, but IE and friends dont always play nice.

I would be open to any suggestions

PS- thanks for the svn info :)

rloaderro · 2006-08-23 17:31:15

Ace of Dubs wrote:

So what would you recommend, Mary? I was originally considering both top and side navigation in the html template and perhaps switching visibility on and off for each one. This works great with compliant browsers, but IE and friends dont always play nice.

Yeah, I guess I agree with Mary – positioning elements on the page – whether it’s side or top based navigation – shouldn’t be an issue with CSS. It might be an issue if the elements themselves were dependant on the theme – ie side-based navigation displayed different information then top-based. But even then if there are enough hooks in the HTML it should be possible to show / hide different information using the stylesheet too. The issue is the semantic markup that you’ve mentioned before. Actually the HTML part of it is not hard: headings are h1s, h2s, important text is strong, etc.. The tricky part is coming up with a semantic naming convention for TXP for all those bits that aren’t defined in HTML. We’re not the only ones to run into this problem either:

What’s In A Name
Naming Conventions Table
Elemental Nomenclature

It basically comes down to choosing a style and sticking with it. Are we calling it a “sidebar” or “secondary-content” or “contSec” or whatever – otherwise it gets confusing (the current textpattern stylesheet gets my head spinning with “input.smallbox”, “input.smallerbox”, “input.smallerboxsp” etc..).

Mary · 2006-08-23 23:43:15

So what would you recommend, Mary?

That’s not a question I can answer – I can’t read minds. :) I have no idea what your markup or css looks like, nor your approach or experience. All I can say is that almost anything is possible with pure CSS with the right markup behind it, and that you’ll be effectively wasting your time until that part is finished. Best to stick to concepts via “storyboarding” with Photoshop (or whatever graphic program available to you) until then. Crockery is almost identical to the dev branch at the moment, but it will not be remaining so for long.

Last edited by Mary (2006-08-23 23:43:33)

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#136 2006-08-20 16:54:07

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#137 2006-08-20 18:48:18

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#138 2006-08-20 20:17:59

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#139 2006-08-20 20:55:00

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#140 2006-08-21 11:07:18

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#141 2006-08-22 00:07:28

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#142 2006-08-22 12:50:48

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#143 2006-08-22 14:27:07

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#144 2006-08-22 15:59:41

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#145 2006-08-22 19:09:27

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#146 2006-08-22 23:08:51

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#147 2006-08-23 00:44:57

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#148 2006-08-23 10:46:42

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#149 2006-08-23 17:31:15

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

#150 2006-08-23 23:43:15

Re: Admin Facelift. Take 3

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