Last updated by stevebayerin on Sat, 2008-01-19 05:43
Share your thoughts for a new drupal (core) theme!
I've started a new issue that aims to make a brand new theme for Drupal. The theme will focus on improving usability of the administration pages. (we do not focus on fancy pants graphics yet)
We start with a analysis process, where our basis will Ben Shneidermans "8 golden rules of interface design".
You can learn more about the "8 golden rules" here:
http://faculty.washington.edu/jtenenbg/courses/360/f04/sessions/schneide...
What we will need is:
- wireframes and mockups (no theming, just page layout, menus and content should be included in a wireframe), I recommend using www.inkscape.org
- Best practices with jQuery (+ the UI library) are very welcome (with demo)
- Textual analysis of the current drupal admin pages (garland)
- "this sucks, this rocks"-kinda thoughts
- Best practices from other CMS, joomla, WP etc.
We will mainly focus to attack the problem at a theme level. But hey, if we need to hack one core module, we hack it!
You are welcome to join up. Eg. try picking one rule (from the 8 rules) and evaluate based on that rule only.
You can follow a long here: http://drupal.org/node/211075
Edit (stevejb:)
That list (8 golden rules of interface design, although I prefer to call them guidelines and they seem more about desktop software than website software) does have a few valid points:
1-Strive for consistency: I think the new theme should reflect what drupal.org looks like. Atleast the color swatch should be shared.
2- Enable frequent users to use shortcuts: Tough to make work considering drupal is website software rather than desktop software. One thing that pulls new developers towards Joomla! (developers who haven't used drupal first) is that the admin welcome screen is populated with lots of icons.
8- Reduce short-term memory load.
http://drupal.org/project/rootcandy does the above very well.
However, the 8 golden rules, on their own isn't enough to build a great core theme.
Whose our target user and what would they require to make things easier
1-New Website Builders who are using Drupal for their first website (Golden Rule 8 works great here)
2-Website Builders who have built websites using HTML+CSS
3-Website Builders coming from Wordpress and Joomla
4-Seasoned Drupal Users who want a theme that allows less time navigating the Admin interface (Golden Rule 2 applies here)