transform your joomla admin
DESCRIPTION
2011 CMS Expo presentation and various ways to upgrade your Joomla admin interface.TRANSCRIPT
Transform Your Joomla Dashboard
Kyle 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.
Apple is king of the updates- 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.
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.
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
