Drupalcon notes: Usability in D7

Testing done to answer these questions:

• What are the main challenges to new Drupal users?
• Is the language and terminology intuitive?
• How long does it take to do basic tasks?
• Do recent design changes work?

 Results:

• Confusion in page vs story
• Inability to find content after creating it
• Mental model of creating pages not expected
• Users expected WYSIWYG vs. "input format"
• Unable to distinguish administrative layer
• Overwhelming administrative page
• Menu confusion with parent item

UX goals for D7

• Make frequent tasks easy and less frequent tasks achievable.
• Design for the 80%
• Privilege the content creator
• Make the default settings smart

Who benefits?

• Content managers - those who manage, like writers and editors
• Designers and developers - people who spend most of their time building and theming sites

Some of the changes

• Simplified startup options - start with a common set of pre-configured features, or take the advanced route and start from scratch.
• Password verification made more clear. Users now have a better experience setting site credentials
• Info architecture improvements. More concrete categories for a clearer map of the Drupal system. Emphasis on basic CMS tasks (content, structure, people, etc.)
• Recently added content made easier to find. Users can find recently added content by clicking 'content'
• Point-and-click edit. Users can now edit content more quickly and configure blocks more quickly.
• Shortcuts - accelerate by creating shortcuts to most used destinations by role
• Overlays - clear separation of front- and back-end tasks
• Sitewide dashboard - users now have a customizable dashboard
• Clearer content-help text. Rewrote/removed copy, making it more friendly and concise. Make help more helpful.
• Reorganized forms: redesigned fieldsets and compressed forms by using vertical tabs.
• Primary actions separated from tabs. Adding content used to be in the same location as browsing lists of existing content.
• Redesigned appearance - applying a theme is now modernized and easier to understand which theme is active
• Adding features (modules) workflow improved. Modules now have direct links to permissions and configuration settings. Outdated modules can be updated within this UI.
• Clearing cache more accessible. Developers and themers can now clear cache without needing to scroll! YES!
• Upgrade manager: Modules with newly released revisions can now be updated without leaving drupal.

Drupal Gardens

• WYSIWYG integration is easier.
• Media can be uploaded, reused, or added from third party vendors like flickr

Drupal 8 wishlist

• Respect the IA - module developers, please quit carving out your own sections in the admin area and respect the overall architecture
• More testing and solid metrics: drupal gardens will become a platform for user testing and getting access to user data.
• Improve Drupal's page model. Users think about pages top-down: add a page, give it a layout, add widgets, add content
• Block improvements - drag-and-drop PLEASE PLEEZ. Eliminate need to duplicate blocks to place in different regions.
• Fix the scroll issue. Too often you have to click to enable/disable, scroll way down, submit, repeat
• Building and styling forms should be easier. Form builder should be more advanced
• Creating content types and managing fields could be improved

Interaction guidelines

Interaction standards should emerge to answer questions like…

• best practice use of tabs, wizards, buttons,d rag & drop, forms & form elements, etc
• Accessibility standards
• Help standards
• See http://drupal.org/ui-standards
• Inconsistent use of tabs
• Inconsistent terminology
    

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