Dashboard: Where does Concrete5 concretely go?
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I've built some Concrete5 sites based on version 5.4 which has a beautiful and great Dashboard.
Now I've tried out version 5.6 with this senseless small "dashboard". Where's the sense in that? I have a "X" to close some setting contents - wow, but where's the meaning of it? I would prefer a fast and cool Back-Button, but not an "X"!
Now my question: where's Concrete going to? Why is there so much useless "white space"? And why is the "X" such a important part of the UI?
In my opinion the UI is more ordered but the old Dashboard was remarkable better than this one.
Now I've tried out version 5.6 with this senseless small "dashboard". Where's the sense in that? I have a "X" to close some setting contents - wow, but where's the meaning of it? I would prefer a fast and cool Back-Button, but not an "X"!
Now my question: where's Concrete going to? Why is there so much useless "white space"? And why is the "X" such a important part of the UI?
In my opinion the UI is more ordered but the old Dashboard was remarkable better than this one.
That doesn't explains the sense of the "X"-Button on each panel in the dashboard. I'm an UX-Designer and know how and why to change sometimes some ways but it make sense. Otherwise it confuses the user (in this case: me).
You're right in that closing those dashboard windows is a bit meaningless from a UX perspective. But for a non-UX reason, 'closing' a dashboard page allows you to see the day's dashboard photograph in full.
I've lost count of the number of times I've been awed by the daily photo - often they are simply stunning and I want to just check them out. Often the phrase is 'wow, where is that?'
We use concrete5 all the time and when a photo catches our eyes it's one of those nice 'stop and smell the roses' moments, reminding you that it's not all about work and there is a big world out there to explore... :-)
But from a technical point of view, the change from 5.4 to 5.5 saw the implementation of Bootstrap Twitter into the interface - this provided a lot more constancy across controls, but also made it easier/more familiar for devs to develop dashboard screens. I don't disagree with you that the 5.4 dashboard interface is good, but there are quite a few reasons why I prefer the dashboard of 5.5/5.6.
I've lost count of the number of times I've been awed by the daily photo - often they are simply stunning and I want to just check them out. Often the phrase is 'wow, where is that?'
We use concrete5 all the time and when a photo catches our eyes it's one of those nice 'stop and smell the roses' moments, reminding you that it's not all about work and there is a big world out there to explore... :-)
But from a technical point of view, the change from 5.4 to 5.5 saw the implementation of Bootstrap Twitter into the interface - this provided a lot more constancy across controls, but also made it easier/more familiar for devs to develop dashboard screens. I don't disagree with you that the 5.4 dashboard interface is good, but there are quite a few reasons why I prefer the dashboard of 5.5/5.6.
Thank you for your message and yes: some of the roses out there are smelling wonderful ;-)
But the closing button isn't just meaningless in UX-perspective. It's just confusing. When I've clicked that button I've thought "and now?!?". In fact it would be a nice feature if the dashboard would be something like a desktop overview with some setting and statistics windows but it still isn't.
When I want to explore the big world outside, I wouldn't close the window in my dashboard ;-)
Anyway: is there a simple solution to change the close button to a back button? I think this helps me and my customers a lot …or more than a close button.
But the closing button isn't just meaningless in UX-perspective. It's just confusing. When I've clicked that button I've thought "and now?!?". In fact it would be a nice feature if the dashboard would be something like a desktop overview with some setting and statistics windows but it still isn't.
When I want to explore the big world outside, I wouldn't close the window in my dashboard ;-)
Anyway: is there a simple solution to change the close button to a back button? I think this helps me and my customers a lot …or more than a close button.
Probably not a simple solution/hack, no. I also think though that a back button in the context of the dashboard wouldn't work well all the time due to some of the redirects that happen.
I agree with you that it's potentially confusing, yes, but it's hardly something that actually affects the experience of users.. I've not had a single client ask me about that close button, they tend to just go to some page in the dashboard, perform a single task, and hit the Return to Website button. Things like the composer take you out from the Dashboard anyway. You hit the x, that closes the window, you are still left with options.
Pointless - maybe
An UX issue - nah
I agree with you that it's potentially confusing, yes, but it's hardly something that actually affects the experience of users.. I've not had a single client ask me about that close button, they tend to just go to some page in the dashboard, perform a single task, and hit the Return to Website button. Things like the composer take you out from the Dashboard anyway. You hit the x, that closes the window, you are still left with options.
Pointless - maybe
An UX issue - nah
If you want to taking out the stress of managing a website for your customers it's an important UX issue ;-)
I haven't used either of these to view their full functionality but both RandiantWeb and Mainio have dashboard add-ons in the marketplace designed to restore elements of the old UI.
Adrian
Arvixe Web Hosting / Concrete5 Community Liaison |
http://www.arvixe.com/concrete5_hosting.............
Adrian
Arvixe Web Hosting / Concrete5 Community Liaison |
http://www.arvixe.com/concrete5_hosting.............
Rony