New admin-side theme

philwareham · 2011-02-24 15:03:30

Stef, you can PM me when you come to relook at the admin side layout (and UI), I’ve got some ideas about how it could all be made more of a semantic, simpler, consistent framework and above all a lot less work to theme.

In fact I’ve done an unstyled HTML scamp of the write page already – it would be relatively simple to make a theme around that, which could also scale down to use on mobile devices. Other pages and UI elements would require a bit more thought though.

philwareham · 2011-03-02 16:58:01

Just a quick update to beta4 – properly fixed wet_quicklink display now.

maverick · 2011-03-02 17:31:11

maverick wrote:

Another example that is not playing nice is MultiDoc. The controls for adding, deleting and moving articles up and down in a collection are way off to the right.

In case it helps, this is an easy fix:

Issue

soo_multidoc_admin css right float

Fix

Edit soo_multidoc_admin
Almost to the bottom is the css for the plugin.
You want: .soo_multidoc_admin .edit_widget { float: right; margin-left: 2em;}
Add margin-right —- { float: right; margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 40em;}
I went with 40em and it looks okay.

As I’ve been mucking around several plugins and source views of my websites lately, I’ve realized how much styling is in the plugins. With an admin plugin it’s just inconvenient to find and change it if needed. With plugins for front side, it’s disheartening after working diligently to separate structure, content, and styling.

It leaves me wondering – is there an easy way to move styling out of plugins?

I know some install their own forms and it seems like one or two add a style sheet. I can envision a collapsable header called plugins on the style tab, under which each plugin installs it’s css style sheet. Still dreaming out loud . . . ied_plugin_composer could have a separate section for plugin style sheet editing, similar to it’s help section.

I know, I know – a crazy idea. :)

Last edited by maverick (2011-04-14 20:23:46)

philwareham · 2011-03-02 18:06:02

I agree entirely. It was only once I started on an admin theme of my own that I realised how inconsistent styling is in the admin side, though I can’t really point the finger at plugin authors since there does not to be any ‘styling bible’ and reusable UI widgets system (or at least nothing I can find in the Wiki pages).

I’d be quite happy to provide UI widgets, HTML structure and styling documentation to TXP5 for the admin side, and I think the aim of the new TXP5 Mercurial repo is to make it easy for non-devs to commit code to the project for review and possible inclusion.

But some harsh decisions are going to be needed on what to do with existing plugins support (especially some of the older orphaned plugins) – best bet is to get this new structure nailed down and documented early in TXP5 development and then certify each new or updated existing plugin conforms to the new structure in a timely fashion.

philwareham · 2011-03-11 13:07:27

I’ve updated this theme to beta5 now, fixes for arc_twitter display issues – requires latest version of arc_twitter
from https://github.com/drmonkeyninja/TXP-Tweet

I’m going to change the navigation to s suckerfish type menu for the next release since this is a much better way of supporting long lists (such as having loads of extensions loaded), after that I’m going to finally submit it to textgarden and move onto watching/helping TXP5 development so that theming is much simpler to do in future TXP versions.

philwareham · 2011-03-21 18:30:29

I’ve update this theme to beta6 now. Changes as follows…

1. Changed to a dropdown navigation system. Better method for supporting long lists (such as the extensions tab when lots of plugins are installed).

2. Added confirmation dialog box on logout.

3. Fixed missing styling on links page form.

4. Added !important to hiding CSS in custom.css, previously in some cases it could be overrode due to the cascade (culprit: evil styling code directly in HTML pages).

This is the final beta (hopefully), so unless any horrible errors are reported within the next week I’ll send if off to textgarden.

Cheers,
Phil

maruchan · 2011-03-21 19:22:31

Changed to a dropdown navigation system

Totally read my mind. This release is great!

One thing that sticks out: When you install a plugin, the preview page seems to display the whole thing right down the page, rather than offering a scrollbar/textarea type thing. Is that intentional?

Last edited by maruchan (2011-03-21 19:22:43)

kemie · 2011-03-22 13:06:31

I love the new dropdowns, really increasing my effectivity. I would like to see larger fonts overall, especially in the textareas. Great work, my current fav admin theme!

philwareham · 2011-03-22 13:56:54

I may look at the font size as it’s been mentioned a few times now – I’ll have to make slight adjustments to the left/right column widths to accommodate but should not be a problem. I also think the line height in the dropdown menus is too much so I’ll adjust that too while I’m at it.

I’ll also look into a solution for the plugin installation page length as flagged up by maruchan.

kemie · 2011-03-24 08:47:17

phil- I’ve made some mods to the stylesheet for bigger font sizes, and there was hardly any need to adjust other measurements. This is what “my” version looks like:

http://snpr.cm/vS8JBm.png

If it’s any use at all to you, I can send you the stylesheet so you can take a look

philwareham · 2011-04-28 09:33:53

I’ve not forgotten about this – just been busy last few weeks. Hopefully I’ll get a final version done over the next weekend. I’ll try to incorporate some of the comments/suggestions kindly made so far.
Cheers, Phil

philwareham · 2011-05-24 21:42:19

I’ve had a bit of a rethink on the layout of this theme, in particular the fixed width nature of it which is a waste of screen estate for those lucky enough to have a large monitor. So I’ve made central areas liquid with minimum and maximum widths – works better I think.

Unfortunately that means quite a recode of the layout and a bit more testing – but for the best in the long run. I’ll post an updated version soon though.

Also, font sizes have been enlarged as this was the single biggest gripe people had with the theme.

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#25 2011-02-24 15:03:30

Re: New admin-side theme

#26 2011-03-02 16:58:01

Re: New admin-side theme

#27 2011-03-02 17:31:11

Re: New admin-side theme

#28 2011-03-02 18:06:02

Re: New admin-side theme

#29 2011-03-11 13:07:27

Re: New admin-side theme

#30 2011-03-21 18:30:29

Re: New admin-side theme

#31 2011-03-21 19:22:31

Re: New admin-side theme

#32 2011-03-22 13:06:31

Re: New admin-side theme

#33 2011-03-22 13:56:54

Re: New admin-side theme

#34 2011-03-24 08:47:17

Re: New admin-side theme

#35 2011-04-28 09:33:53

Re: New admin-side theme

#36 2011-05-24 21:42:19

Re: New admin-side theme

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