Link to some usability remarks about MODx revolution

Just to make sure that the information is getting to the right place, here’s a link with some comments by someone about the usability of Revolution: http://www.webmasterworld.com/content_management/4068217.htm
Some of these comments might be useful food for thought...

That is a quite interesting link.

I have to be agree with him, for now, MODx Revolution’s manager is more geared toward developpers than users.

And i don’t like the top menu with js link either.

We’ve already addressed many of those issues in post-beta5 commits, such as the JS in the menu links.

If he doesnt understand how to edit System Settings, he should just read the text right above the System Settings grid, which says to double-click or right-click. That’s his fault for not reading. Plus, I dismiss his comments about Resources terminology - every CMS has different terminology. If he’s going to complain about that, then he’s not being realistic about using software.

Most of his complaints can simply be solved by reading the documentation, or spending more than 30 minutes getting familiar with the product. (Such as Form Customization for hiding fields, looking in Security for Manage Users, not clicking the big "Preview" button when he complains about not being able to preview the page, etc)

I would gladly have a usability (note, not 508) discussion about Revolution. I find it more usable than Evo, on any given day.

I must admit that I prefer Revolution too (yesterday I had to use Evolution again - and I immediately missed a couple of things), but I do think he partly has a point regarding the settings pages:

• If you’re looking for a setting (without remembering the name/key correctly) then you have to look through three pages without any clue whether to look at the first page, the second or the third. It would for example be nice if all settingcategories (folded in) could be seen on one page.
• And I must admit that changing the settings could be more userfriendly. For example: if I click on the value of a setting ("Yes") and type N (for No) I would like the value to change - but it doesn’t. And even if I doubleclick and type N -> no change.
• It would also be nice if tabbing (using the tab-key) through the settings would be possible.

But these are (probably) small things that could be included in a later version - I wouldn’t suggest to delay the full release of MODx Revolution for these points.

Quote from: Black at Mar 09, 2010, 09:33 AM


If you’re looking for a setting (without remembering the name/key correctly) then you have to look through three pages without any clue whether to look at the first page, the second or the third. It would for example be nice if all settingcategories (folded in) could be seen on one page.



Well, while a good criticism, there are a few problems with that mindset.

1. How would you know where the setting is if they were folded? Also, prefolding would eliminate effective pagination.
2. The settings grid is dynamic grid, in the sense that it can be filtered, searched, and have a dynamic # of settings in it. 3pc settings can also be included. So any sort of alternate, compact viewing must account for that.
3. Search in the grid searches both the key, name and description. It should be fairly easy to find a setting with it.

That said, RC1 includes a ’Filter by Area’ combo, so you can see all the available areas and filter by that. This fix solves most usability issues with the grid.




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And I must admit that changing the settings could be more userfriendly. For example: if I click on the value of a setting ("Yes") and type N (for No) I would like the value to change - but it doesn’t. And even if I doubleclick and type N -> no change.

It would also be nice if tabbing (using the tab-key) through the settings would be possible.

But these are (probably) small things that could be included in a later version - I wouldn’t suggest to delay the full release of MODx Revolution for these points.
Those sound like good FRs for JIRA: http://bugs.modxcms.com/

That said, agreed - these will most likely not be in 2.0.0-rc1 (or maybe not in GA, depending on their complexity).[/list]

I wanted to mention that the search filter for system settings is *very* good. If you know, or can guess, any word that is in the name, key, or description, it will get you the settings you want (try SMTP, rich, or mail).

This beats the heck out of organizing them in to groups, IMO.

In addition, you can edit the descriptions to add tags of your own if you want to group some combination of settings for quick retrieval.

That said, RC1 includes a ’Filter by Area’ combo, so you can see all the available areas and filter by that. This fix solves most usability issues with the grid.

Indeed; that sounds great!

Those sound like good FRs for JIRA

Thanks, look here for the result: http://svn.modxcms.com/jira/browse/MODX-1745

That said, agreed - these will most likely not be in 2.0.0-rc1 (or maybe not in GA, depending on their complexity).

At the moment I have added it in Jira for release Revolution-2.1.0-alpha-1.

I wanted to mention that the search filter for system settings is *very* good. If you know, or can guess, any word that is in the name, key, or description, it will get you the settings you want (try SMTP, rich, or mail).

Ok, but still: searching is not the same as having overview - especially for new people (who wouldn’t know the right phrases to look for). But still: a good search system is very nice too of course.

In addition, you can edit the descriptions to add tags of your own if you want to group some combination of settings for quick retrieval.

Great! (thanks, I didn’t know that)

Probably one of the big advantages of Revolution is that people (much more easily then in Evolution) will be able to addapt it to their own requirements (or to the requirements of their clients/end users) - and that is of course something that is not immediately clear for people evaluating the new environment for the first time.