Make publishing rock!

A few ways to make the lives of content creators better.

Who Am I?

Michal Minecki

Why I'm giving this talk.

  • Not a usability expert, and I never will be.
  • I'm a developer.
  • I like happy clients.
  • I see clients that are frustrated by Drupal.
  • I see some quick wins.
  • Developers turn off the Overlay.

What We'll go over.

  • Why Drupal admin can be challenging.
  • Quick things to look for.
  • Modules that help.
  • What the future holds.

There is no perfect author experience that will work for every content model, every company’s workflow. And that means that the future of Drupal UX…

Is you.

-- Karen Magrane

Why Drupal can be frustrating.

Wordpress admin

Drupal Admin

Usually goes downhill from there.

Why it's hard to get right.

Drupal is super flexible. . .

So the default admin is hard to peg.

Maybe. . .

Users need to understand too much.

  • Menu system?
  • Taxonomy?
  • Taxonomy Menu?

Our job is to get out of their way.

What's in their way?

  • Don't know whats going on.
  • Lots of clicks for common tasks
  • Can't figure out uncommon tasks
  • Your clever solution is impossible to remember

What works?

Elements of a good admin experience.

Lets take a look at WordPress.

Designed for common tasks

Obvious easy to use help.

Statistics are front and center.

Consistency is key.

Whats the easiest way to get it right?

Build the admin as you go.

Start with a solid foundation from day 1.

Think about the admin for each feature.

What to check for.

Did you enable the built in modules?

  • Dashboard
  • Contextual admin
  • Shortcut
  • Overlay?

Easy Wins

  • Reduce Permissions.
  • Remove WYSIWYG Buttons.
  • Fill out the Field Help text.
  • Setup some Shortcuts for your users
  • Reduce Input formats (Better Formats Module)

Modules that help.

total control

total control

admin menu

admin menu

Mobile Friendly Admin

https://drupal.org/node/1993254

WorkBench

Workbench

  • Framework for Complex Editorial Workflows.
  • Makes unpublished Revisions easier to work with.
  • Provides approval workflow.
  • Only use it if there is a strong business case.
  • http://drupal.org/project/workbench

Advanced Help

Advanced Help

  • Framework for contextual help.
  • Provides help pages for lots of popular modules.
  • Provides contextual links, and a framework to add them.
  • Can be weird to work with, and some of the help is written in neck beard.
  • http://drupal.org/project/advanced_help

Simple Help

  • Lower friction alternative.
  • Works like Github, looks for markdown in module files, adds contents to help menu.
  • Doesn't provide contextual options.
  • http://drupal.org/project/simple_help

Views Bulk Operations.

FieldGroup

Publish Button

Linkit

Field Validation

Other helpful Modules

For Select Lists

Lots of options need to find one that works for you, here's 2.

Chosen

Hierarchical Select

Selecting Content.

Slideshows, featured content, homepage, landing pages. . . all need a way to select content.

Draggable Views

nodequeue

Panopoly

Panels was the drunk uncle of Drupal.

Lots of potential, and every few years you give him another chance.

Always ended in feelings of betrayl and wasted time.

Panopoly was his new begining. Finally has his shit together. 1.0 release should be super awesome.

Whats coming next?

Spark

Spark is a Drupal distribution which aims to be "the Pressflow of Drupal authoring experience."

Key features

  • In Place Editing.
  • Responsive grid Builder.
  • Mobile Administration.

Further Reading.

Great presentation from Portland on the same topic

Great blog Article from Chapter 3

Spark Project and initiative.

Simplifying Drupal 7 content administration.

7 improvements for end users in Drupal.