fplanque wrote:

In b2evolution version 4, I am considering removing the blue menu bar in the admin interface in favor of having every feature accessible through the evobar dropdown menus. This should result in less clicks/pageloads to access the subtab/subfeature you want.

Great, this toolbar already breaks in 2 lines with Russian locale on 1024px screens

fplanque wrote:

In place of the menu bar I am considering having a "breadcrumbs path" showing exactly where you are in the admin, for example:

• Dashboard > Blog A > Analytics > Hits > referred by search engines

Good idea

My prefer admin skin is Chicago.

It will be great if we could apply skins for admin the same way we are using skins for the blogs.

I actually prefer the blue menu bar over the evobar because it's easier to use.

We actually a had similar question on our website where a usability organisation was evaluation our site and their message was that a bigger menu is usually better in sense of usability.

I think the evobar is a great feature in the blog side of b2evolution where you can easily move to different sections of the admin area. But I wouldn't like that it would be the only way to navigate the admin area.

The blue menubar is more intuitive and clear to use in my opinion.

I like the idea. I have always wanted more features available through this menu so I could go straight to a specific page in the admin console from the blog.

Breadcrumb also a great idea.

L

Slamp: actually, there has been a system for making admin skins for several years but no one ever made one ;) I'm not sure different admin skins are really needed ;)

Hypocrite: so far you make the only argument against removal of the blue bar, so I would be very interested in getting more details from you.

You talk about "a bigger menu", what if we make the evobar as big as the blue bar? (text size may be configurable)

Would that work?

Are there other concerns? What else makes the blue bar easier to use than the evobar?

Thank you for your feedback.

PS: what do you guys think about the colors of the menu bar? So far it tries to match your OS/browser color scheme. Good? Bad? What alternative would you suggest?

I know that at work (where I don't control anything of the settings or installed features) I can not use the dropdowns in the evobar.
As mutch as I like it, and use it at home, if that was the only thing left, perhaps other people would miss functionalities too.

just 1 admin layout is fine. perhaps it can be widgetized in version 5 ? ;)

fplanque wrote:

Hypocrite: so far you make the only argument against removal of the blue bar, so I would be very interested in getting more details from you.

You talk about "a bigger menu", what if we make the evobar as big as the blue bar? (text size may be configurable)

Would that work?

Maybe, I just kind of prefer a simple and intuitive design for the admin panel. I think the evobar is a nice feature which is an easy way to move to a place in the blog.

But I have also noticed that some users don't seem to catch the evobar when using the blog engine.

I think that the admin panel should be as easy to use and simple to navigate as possible. If we would only have the evobar, I think it would easily get crowded and hard to navigate.

One opposite example of this is for example Microsoft Office and browsers. All of them have moved away from typical menus and dropdowns and try to make the user interface as clean as possible. See for example Mozilla Firefox future plans:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Projects/3.7_and_4.0_Theme_and_UI_Revamp/Direction_and_Feedback

I think moving only to evobar is moving backwards a bit towards more complicated and unintuitive navigation system. That is because I feel that I need to remember where everything is under the evobar and how I could get to places.

I prefer simple and clean. :)

Hypocrite, your argument about "having to remember" intuitively made a lot of sense to me.

However, on second thought I realize that the blue bar doesn't show you more things than the evobar. it shows you one top level of navigation, but you still have to remember what's hidden behind each main entry, don't you?

I guess there's something else that can make the bluebar appealing but it may be more subtle?

Now, about the breadcrumbs path, if you wonder how it looks like, I posted some screenshots here:
http://www.stateoftheevolution.com/breadcrumbs-path
including some more design headaches ;)

Well, I think the main attraction is the size and clearness. But of course I don't ban the idea of evolving the evobar further.

I think the breadcrumbs system looks good. It's always good to have them.

To answer your question. To me this option seems more clear:
Dashboard > Blog A > Contents > All items

As there are more and more 16/9 screens, the evo skins is a great one.
having the menu on left, keeps more place to write posts.

Anyway, moving item from the menu bar to the evobar is nice.

Also the dashboard is a little too complex for "normal users"

Yes, I'm thinking that if I'm keeping the "blue bar", it should probably go to the left... (same for the "white blog selection bar" which should probably be a dropdown on the left too)

If the dashboard is too complex, does it mean we should remove stuff? What should we remove?

First of all I would first maybe increase the size of the evobar. It is sometimes a bit hard to notice for new users and as slamp said, maybe a bit too complex to crasp at first.

I would try to simplife the evobar by removing some of the options. For example the Manage dropdown is a bit crowded. Actually I don't I have never even used that one.

The most important things in the evobar in my opinion are:
1. Write
3. User profile
4. Logout :)

Maybe I would only list in the Manage tab:
1. Posts
2. Comments
3. Files

All in all, I would maybe put the following items to the main evobar:
1. Dashboard
2. Write
3. Manage Content
4. User profile
5. Blog/Admin change
6. Logout

Would have think further what would be needed under each item.

But if there would be fewer options, we could increase the size of each item and maybe make them visually a bit more attractive. Away from the Windows 98 look. :)