revolution first impressions

The biggest first impression I see in the admin section is menu inconsistency. My eyes are always having to search for a function on one page and then have to search again on a different page. Other than that I’m really excited about the overall seperation (organization) of elements and contexts (pages). I am a little concerned with all the changes in buzzwords, though. Some of the choice of buzzwords requires more ’wrapping your head around it’ than necessary. Is it really a crime to stay with industry accepted buzzwords? Just the use of ’context’ seems more ambiguous that it really needs to be.

@splittingred:  System settings seems a little confused indeed...it is not setting the System (which includes a lot more, then MODx: PHP, MySQL, Apache...etc)

Why not call it simply "MODx Settings" ?

the biggest drawbacks for me are the inconsistencies in the user-interface/useability. For example when clicking on a page in the leftside structure i get a horizontal menu in the right side with f.e. edit, duplicate, delete etc. This makes sense. But now i go to the configuration option. I now get a list of all the options, but nowhere is a menu with options. I do have to find out myself that by doubleclicking on an value i all of a sudden get a dropdown or edit box so i can change it. There doesn’t seem to be a logica in how to work the navigation of the backend: do i have to single click, double click, right click? to do what i want?
For me the current UI of the backend is definately a step backwards from the current 0.9.6, and not only because i am used to that
But i see the potential, and i am sure it will work out fine!

Olaf

There doesn’t seem to be a logica in how to work the navigation of the backend: do i have to single click, double click, right click? to do what i want?

I sometimes have to go hunting to see what will popup, but the second time around I already know what to do and it is much faster to have the options at your fingertips. I noticed that in most pages there are clear instructions that describe the actions needed (however, if you need to read the instructions it may mean something is not clear in the interface).

One thing I miss, as a mac user, is the ability to click on the icon in the doc tree to get the contextual menu (rather than command+click). In 096x if I click on the title it takes me to the info screen, but if I click on the icon it will open the contextual menu (us mac users don’t have a second mouse btn and need to hold the ’command’ key to simulate the right-click action). Since 90% of designers use mac, this will be an inconvenience to say the least (having to use both hands to access the contextual menu). Yes I know I can get a PC or a 2 btn mouse, but if it worked in 096x..

LOL ... I’m a 20+ year Mac user and never even realized the icon-click had been put in place. I long ago transitioned over to Logitech and MS for all-things-mice.

Yes, that command + click is hard to do when you’ve got a turkey sandwich in one hand!

How would you all feel about double-click loading the page, and single click opening the menu?

Quote from: splittingred at Oct 07, 2008, 03:08 PM

How would you all feel about double-click loading the page, and single click opening the menu?

I think that would be great if you mean that double-click would load the page for *editing* as it does with chunks and snippets. I almost never want to load a page unless I intend to change it. "View" is on the menu for people who really just want to look at a page. One of the most frustrating things for me now is when I click on the tree and get the "view" page. It’s important that the same click event in the tree does the same thing for all elements, IMO.

I think that right-click should still open the menu as it does now -- it’s what you would expect it to do.

So for any element:

Single-click, right-click: open menu
Double-click: open for editing


As the OP (I think) suggested, the System Settings screen needs a message about double clicking on an individual value to edit it and right-click to edit the whole thing. I thought I put this in Jira quite a while ago, but maybe I forgot.

BTW, are people really still using one-button mice? That’s some hard-core Mac cognitive dissonance. Do they have color monitors? I’d say that over 80% of my mouse clicks are right-clicks. Using TortoiseSVN or my code editor would be a nightmare without it. YMMV.

Mac laptops only have the one button. I use a USB mouse, but if I don’t want to carry that around with me, I’m stuck with a trackpad with a single button.

@splittingred,

To me the single click to show resource info and double click and right/command click to show context menu makes most sense. As BobRay has pointed out we need to make it nearly impossible for users to make a mistake. I think multiple actions for the context menu would work if it can be done.

@everyone else. If your comparing Revolution with 096; Revolution does more than 096 could ever do and that requires new terminology and new interfaces and changes that people will find uncomfortable (as I have) but as you play and push and bend and develop workflows you will get to see the difference.

What we can all do to help:
1. Continue to play.
2. Report inconsistinces in the UI here but also if it is broken or really borked it should go in Jira.
3. Offer a reason for your issue other than it wasn’t like that in 096.
4. Suggest one or more solutions--even if they seem wacky. Yes, you might be called crazy but dismissing a crazy solution is better than none.
5. If there is a term you don’t understand first look here and then ask here. The development team has named things very accurately and they are not without reason although sometimes it doesn’t make sense until we understand the depth of the terms. They have also compromised where greater understanding resulted.

Don’t be afraid to post statements like: "I really wish when I did x, y would happen"
Don’t be afraid to mock up visually how you think it should look. Fire up your copy of Fireworks, Photoshop, Illustrator or GIMP and edit a cap of the interface to show. Many of us are design folk and we grok pictures.

I’ll be the first to admit that I rejected many of the new terms because it wasn’t mind blowingly obvious from a single dictionary word what it meant. That’s what user guides and documentation is for. I’m finding the love and finding solutions as I play.

Cheers,

Jay