Reorganise Admin Icons and Layout? [done]

[pmjd]

Since there seems to be a few changes to the UI of nuBuilder, I'd like to offer a suggested layout change to the home screen.

I find it can take a few clicks to get somewhere and I think this layout could be improved to make everything easier to get to, and maybe reorganise under categories that fit together better, and also change the names a little to make it easier to understand, especially for newcomers like myself.

So there would still be three tabs. The "User Home" button would be moved up to the nuActionHolder section, as it makes more sense to me for it to be universally available (it's in blue because it's a quick mockup and my coding skills are not as advanced as some)

So first up there would be the 'Build' tab, containing many commonly used buttons, split in to two sections

Build.JPG

Next would be the 'Settings' tab, containing buttons related to users, localisations etc. and also changing the wording of the checkbox to hide system forms to Block Access to System Forms, because to me it makes it a bit more descriptive of what the checkbox does.

settings.JPG

Lastly we have the Database Admin section, which is all you'd expect it to be. The Cloner button has been moved to the Build tab and renamed 'Form Cloner', as I think it fits better in that section. The info on the DB and File versions of the installed nuBuilder are also moved to here.

db admin.JPG

So what are people's thoughts?

[kev1n]

Thanks for your suggestion. In general, I would rather have settings that you make only once or change very rarely in a last tab or at the bottom.
E.g. Time Zone or Email Setup is normally just done once.

What could also be done to simplify the interface is to combine certain buttons E.g. "Procedure" and "Run Procedure" could be shown as:

proc_run.jpg

Finally, one must not forget that the translations have to be adapted when the captions are changed. It is already a big effort to find volunteers who can do this reliably.

Let's wait and see what the others think.

[pmjd]

I agree about moving the less used items, just forgot to do it with the Timezones etc.

The adding of shorter function buttons is a good one too.

[kev1n]

I have made a new attempt to optimise the admin page. My idea is to group similar functions together and to move functions to a dropdown.

E.g. you would have a button "Forms" and a dropdown button to show functions related to it:
- Add
- Fast Form

This allows you to reduce the complexity and remove some buttons.

Example (not complete yet)

new_home.gif

[kev1n]

New draft. This could become the new "compact home" form which can be chosen instead of the "classic" one.

admin_home_new (1).gif

[Gnu]

I like the last draft.

[kev1n]

The "compact" view is now available on Github.

Activate it by setting

Code: Select all

$nuConfigGlobeadminHome				= 'nuhomecompact';

in nuconfig.php

Or under Setup -> Settings: set nuhomecompact for $nuConfigGlobeadminHome

compactview.png

[kev1n]

I'm going to set this as "done" since there's now a new "compact view" and the possibility to set a custom home for the globeadmin.