Goal decided: Node add edit forms

Bevan's picture

I've been mulling on the ideas for project goals over the weekend and have decided that my goal for the project is:

Improve the usability of node add and edit forms in drupal 7

This is something Chx placed emphasis on in our initial discussion, and Nick Lewis gave 5 very convincing arguments for. Thanks to everyone for your great feedback. I really appreciate it.

Next steps from here:

  1. See how to collaborate with UMN testing (and possibly GHOP) to get more quality usability feedback data and analyses on these forms in their current state in drupal 6
  2. Research previous and current efforts in improving node add and edit forms
  3. Evaluate them and discuss what changes are worth reconsidering for drupal 7
  4. Work with Zoey and Ron (usability mentors) to start working on wireframes for concrete solutions
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Great start- now let's get a little more granular...

akanowicz's picture
akanowicz - Mon, 2008-01-14 17:41

Improving the usability is a great overall goal :-) Now let's add some detail to this:

Node add: what's the goal? make it easier? How will you measure "easier?" Does that mean faster? Less mouse-clicks? A user with basic computer knowledge and knowledge of blogging being able to add a new blog post without getting confused?

Aren't there various kinds of content types? Will this be for every content type? Just the blog content type?


Great, but

chx's picture
chx - Mon, 2008-01-14 20:01

"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced . . . [b]ut I know it when I see it . . ."


Here's a wireframe that

SteveJB's picture
SteveJB - Sun, 2008-01-20 18:18

Here's a wireframe that could make things easier for node add or edit

http://www.scribd.com/doc/1141057/Drupal5Nodesx1

Options are turned into tabs
There are a maximum of 5 tabs per row.
Horizontal length of tabs are automatically sized according to the number of tabs in a row.
I re-titled the Preview button into 'Preview All' so it could be more easily distinguished from the Preview Changes Button.

Edit: 'Preview All' could be called 'Full Preview' instead