Making Joomla’s Admin Interface

AwesomeKyle Ledbetter

A Brief HistoryYou have to know where you came from to know where you’re

going, or something like that…

Which one of these is different?Let’s play a game!

Consistency is good,but stagnation can be very

bad.

UI Should Be Updated Also- Updates are easy

- UI updates are frequent

- Developers are pushed to uphold high standards

- Usability is revered and on the same level as code (or higher)

Updates are visual progress queues

There’s just something exciting about a small visual update that pushes the perception of progress more than any code can do.

Let’s peak over the fenceand see what our CMS neighbors are up to

WordPressWordPress constantly updates their UI in an iterative, ongoing

pursuit of perfection.

DrupalDrupal identified a problem and put a system in place

for a solution.

Let’s be clear: Joomla’s admin interface hasn’t been totally

ignored.• Much better taxonomy

• Much better markup

• HTML Overrides (yay!)• Which allow admin

templates to change layouts

• Assign admin template to individual user• Allows things like

mobile devices switching

We need flexibility

What can I do right now?

Let’s check out some awesome solutions that you can install on your Joomla site today.

2 Basic RoutesOne is not necessarily better than the other.

It’s up to you to decide.

Evolutionary Revolutionary

Route 1: Improvements via Extensions

Prime example: NoNumber.nl

Joomla Extensions Directory

The JED is a great resource to find all kinds of useful admin extensions as well!

http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/administration/

NoNumberThe king of Joomla admin extensions and addons for the standard

Joomla admin interface (& compat w/ other admin templates)

Route 2: Entire new interfacesPrime example: AdminPraise.com

AdminPraiseAdminPraise is the first Joomla admin template club, and features

several templates to change your overall Joomla interface.

AdminPraise 1Proof-of-concept – Can an alternative Joomla admin interface be

done, useful and accepted?

Standout feature:AdminPraise 1 was the first real alternative Joomla admin template, which

was a proof of concept and successfully proved the relevance of alt UI.(also 1st mobile optimized Joomla dashboard)

AdminPraise 2Time to put this notion of a truly alternative Joomla admin

interface to the test.

Standout features:Completely modular, lots of ACL viewing options, admin menu

management, sidebar, dock, change editor on the fly, and many more…AP2 set the new standard.

StainlessThe goal was to merge form and function and push modern CSS3

techniques and design trends.

Standout features:More customizable overall and responsive GUI but same level of

simplicity of AdminPraise Lite.

AdminPraise LiteFirst free from AdminPraise, focused on lightweight usability.

Standout features:No cost, easy to navigate and fast as heck.

AdminPadOptimized iPad user experience that provides a native app look &

feel.

WYSIWYG Text Editor

Standout features:Joomla works well on the iPad, of course

AdminPraise 3A huge step towards a responsive, customizable interface as

flexible as Joomla itself.

Live UpdatesLive Updates bring shorter, more iterative releases w/ new

features and bug fixes. Live Updates also prolong the life of the release.

An industry was born.Template clubs, distros and bundled solutions are

developing alternate admin templates.

JoomlaBambooFrontend template club that’s released 2 solid admin templates.

SimplaJoomla Bamboo’s first admin template, in which the accordion

sidebar navigation is the focal point.

CrispA clean, minimal admin interface from a template club known for

clean frontend templates.

Standout features:Flexible nav, version check/update, session timer, minimal design

MinimaMinimal 1.6 admin template that’s being used in the Molajo

distro.

Standout features:A truly modern, minimal user experience that uses just about every modern web standards, techniques and best practices.

Mission ControlAdmin template from Rockettheme, one of the leading frontend

Joomla template developers.

Standout Features:Editor tracking, notification badges, component layout overrides,

color customization you’d expect from Rockettheme.

Jentla

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Nooku Server

Nooku Server App

A Common Joomla Blessing/Curse

It’s lovely to have choices but islands are formed.

Eventually We Need To UniteSo we can contribute back the ultimate admin interface.

What’s the ultimate solution?From all my experience & observations, we need:

- Contextually Aware GUI

- Adapts per your usage

- Tagged, Categorized Extensions

- Strict Standards (especially to gain the “native” sticker)

- This will take time on all fronts, Joomla 1.8 is realistic

One Interface To Rule Them All

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It just doesn’t work. Joomla does far too much for one static UI

Blogging Interface

Ecommerce Interface

Project Manager Interface

Social Network Interface

or for a bit more general example…

Sports Car

Work Truck

Compact Car

4x4 Off-road Vehicle

Joomla’s UI Needs To Be SmarterSmarter, Faster, Stronger. A learning machine. A UI for an ultra-flexible CMS needs to be ultra-flexible itself.

Joomla’s UI Must Also Be StandardizedJust about every component is guilty of non-standardization. This makes users re-learn each intefrace.

Joomla’s UI must be abstracted.So you component devs can’t detract, but also because you don’t want or need to detract from the standards.

Picture Joomla as a Mac App

Where everyone upholds and adheres to strict standards, while providing interfaces that are unique and useful.

Blogging Interface

Ecommerce Interface

Project Manager Interface

Social Network Interface

Is this sinking in?Are you starting to get the picture?

Kyle Ledbetterkyle@pixelpraise.com

@kyleledbetter

www.adminpraise.com

www.projectfork.net

www.taptheme.com