Pods 2.0 UI Improvement Group

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If anyone is interested in working with me on the Pods UI for 2.0, please check in here :)

I'm going to be posting screenshots as I work through some ideas and would love to see some your designs/sketches and hear some ideas.

Feel free to kvetch ad nauseum about the current UI so we can make this one the best it can be.

~Kyle~

p.s. any sketches I personally publish do not indicate a representation of what Pods 2.0 may look like - they're simply simple ideas from a simple man. Those big decisions are up to these guys.

asked Sep 11 '10 at 5:03

thecorkboard

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12 Answers

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The screenshot link does not work. It displays a blank page without image on it. Can you fix it? Thanks.

answered Sep 12 '10 at 3:20

Masino Sinaga

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@Masino

Yea, I'll host it at my site instead of at Twitpic. Seems to be an issue there.

I'll edit the post, but here it is:

Full Screenshot

answered Sep 13 '10 at 1:03

thecorkboard

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edited Sep 13 '10 at 1:06

Thank you. I do love the interface so much. Can't wait for it. ;-) – Masino Sinaga Sep 14 '10 at 5:50
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Pods Landing Page Idea

I've been fudging around with Keynote (what I use to wireframe & do a little design) to think about the landing page when Pods opens up. In the 2.0 dev discussion and at this post it was said that a tighter integration with the look and feel of WordPress was desired. Hoorah to that!

Also, in a brief e-mail with Scott it was brought to my attention that maybe the linguistic focus should be less technical, more user friendly in terms of getting people up and going with Pods creation without even thinking. A fine approach since in the current UI you get smacked with lingo right away.

So this landing page idea, which I dub the Pods Dashboard (original, right?), attempts to do just that: 1) Focus people on Pods creation (top-left box) 2) Let people see at a glance what has been created (top-right Pods Analytics box) 3) The three boxes are built with the same code as the WP dashboard.

I've started to organize the sidebar menu but it is still very much a rough idea. I'll probably post more about it later.

My questions for you:

  • With the aforementioned goals in mind, what other boxes - if any - should be included?
  • Is the timeline idea even feasible? Especially the "most publicly accessed Pod type."
  • Is there anything else in the analytics box that would be of use?

The Screenshot: (Full size here)

Pods Dashboard

answered Sep 11 '10 at 5:27

thecorkboard

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edited Sep 13 '10 at 1:12

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I like the stats on the right, very nice. I also am for the idea of adding 'menu' items on the left to make things less complex. The current 'setup' area pushes everything together and the best idea would be to split the advanced stuff into that other panel. Great so far, we'll want a big call out for the Pods site though and direct links to the User Guide, Chat, and Q&A. I do like the Help panel, we could possibly pull some RSS feeds in there with latest blog articles / etc (we're putting together a new blog structure on our site for easier community contribution).

Keep up the great work! Your help here is very appreciated, we've all got our hands full on the code side at least until mid-October when WP 3.1 has it's feature freeze.

answered Sep 13 '10 at 3:07

sc0ttkclark

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Not sure about timeline though, hadn't crossed my mind, but technically could be possible (at least some of those, the views may be a bit much to track) – sc0ttkclark Sep 13 '10 at 3:08
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This is an awesome start! I'm hoping to devote a number of evenings to some concepts and I'm thrilled you've provided a leg forward. Once I've got some suggestions I'll be sure to post back here.

answered Sep 13 '10 at 9:34

jchristopher

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Manage Structure Layout

I've come up with two different layouts for the manage structure page which encompasses pages and templates. I find the second layout to be more clear.

Layout 1: Two column/ Two Row boxes

The left column is for templates, the right for pages

Full size here

alt text

Layout 2: Two Rows

Top row is for templates, bottom for pages

Full size here

alt text

answered Sep 17 '10 at 4:49

thecorkboard

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I'm not entirely convinced 'Structure' is the best term for these items. We should also have links to the User Guide on each of these sections vs having to add a new page / template to find out more. I'm partial to the column layout vs rows.

answered Sep 17 '10 at 3:11

sc0ttkclark

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Noted on the user guide links. I'm still thinking about how to structure it without unnecessary wizardry and as close graphically to WP as possible - the problem is that WP doesn't really do help pages well (and I deplore contextual help menus - they're hidden). On structure: I felt that this most accurately represented what templates and pages do. They provide the skeleton, structure, within which the content is placed. No? Rows vs. Columns: I'd be happier with the columns if the content was pushed into two boxes instead of four. It then would represent some continuity like the rows do. How do you feel about that? – thecorkboard Sep 19 '10 at 7:32
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Agree with Scott on this one, "Structure" can be improved upon, why not just "Pod Pages & Templates", and also columns instead of rows +1 here.

answered Sep 17 '10 at 4:50

tomhermans

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Putting pages and templates into one settings page represents an overarching theme: structure or what-have-you. I'd like to not use the word "Pods" more than necessary (necessary = Pods content as that's what a Pod is). Keeping it simple with words like "page" and "template" and "structure" sounds a little more recognizable. Although, I'd argue that the word "Page" is misrepresentative when compared with what is considered a normal page in WordPress... – thecorkboard Sep 19 '10 at 7:39
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I think Pod Pages + Templates + Helpers should go into the same area, under Advanced Features.

Also, we'll need a new item for Customize, and also one for Manage Forms

answered Sep 19 '10 at 9:06

sc0ttkclark

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customize what, exactly? – thecorkboard Sep 20 '10 at 3:56
Pods UI will allow for the ability to create custom menu items for your pods, so you'd have the ability to customize which columns show in the list, etc.. – sc0ttkclark Sep 21 '10 at 1:42
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Also, I have good reason to stick away from the "Structure" terminology ;)

answered Sep 19 '10 at 9:09

sc0ttkclark

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any chance you could e-mail me or point me to a dev convo to help me become privy to your thinking/super-secret knowledge?

if some of my thinking is way off based, I'd like to straighten out to make these mockups more effective.

thanks!

answered Sep 20 '10 at 3:55

thecorkboard

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I'm an outsider with this but, it would seem to me that the PODS dashboard should follow suit with the overall dashboard concept. Look at WP's dashboard, it has several common tasks that can be performed, lets you know what's going on with the sites comments and content, gives you information on plugins that integrate with the dashboard and lastly information about what's going on in the community. If you look at the NextGen gallery dashboard, it gives very similar information. Scott mentioned adding some things on there like feeds and links to important pages on the podscms.org site. Maybe that would be a better starting point. Your mockup is real clean and looks great. Best of all it follows suit with how wordpress looks. Maybe it should follow suit with how wordpress works. Just my 2 cents... – chriscarvache Sep 20 '10 at 8:14
Keep the comments coming, Chris! I'll add a few boxes: probably content from recent Q&A, Pods Blog, a quick help box, and recent packages if feeds are available (which I don't think they are at this point...). – thecorkboard Sep 21 '10 at 2:03
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@thecorkboard - Pop into the Pods Chat channel sometime or get on Google Talk and I'll explain a bit more

answered Sep 21 '10 at 3:56

sc0ttkclark

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we're set for gtalk sometime. I'll pop in the chat room occasionally as well. – thecorkboard Sep 21 '10 at 5:51
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