5 things that are STILL! TOO! HARD! in

Plone 5UX Hitlist

Dylan Jay @djay75

Plone 5 is awesome!

It’s slick and modern!

This creates interest

but it works pretty much the same

(except bulk editing)

But Plone UI is good right?

Maybe we have Stockholm syndrome?

The UX HitlistShowing where we suck since 2013

Not much ticked off

UX issues are bugs too

But these are hard problems!• We have the will but...

• Often no obvious correct solution

• Often conflicting opinions• Often conflicting strong

opinions• Often Subjective• Developers don’t have user

problems• Developers don’t scratch

other people's itches for free• UX team can’t tell you

developers what to do• No Limi to follow

–me, (just now)

“We choose to make the easiest to use CMS, not because it is easy, but because it is hard; ”

–a friend of mine, (ages ago)

“A good startup is something that is doing something that is either really hard or really

boring”

Plone 6 USP

Plone 6 is the easiest CMSEasiest to useEasiest to themeEasiest to get startedEasiest to keep secure

Problems before solutions (PBS)

(was SOAPIE - Subjective/Objective/Analysis/Plan/Implementation/Evaluation)

“5 why’s” to the get root USER problemList ALL the options not just your favouriteProblem centric - focus on the best compromiseSolution centric - choose +1 or -1 and fight!

PLIPs are Solutions before Problems :( PLIPs broken

#1- Folders are broken• “I added a page, how do I add a subpage?”

• “I clicked on display and now my landing page is gone”

• “How do I edit a menu name?”

• “How do I publish a folder?” (it has a default page)

• “Why do users get a login? it says the page is published”

• “I made a page, but now I want to turn it into News?”

• “Where do I add new news?”

• “It’s tedious move around the site to add things”

Keep display views but provide more help

Folderish content• Pages are folders but keep display views

• How to make other content types landing pages?

• Pages are folders with tiles• Remove the display views• Remove default views• Replace with tiles and composition•Default page = embed tile• Doesn’t have to be mosaic

Placeless content

• Assign content to menus?•How other CMS’s work.•Create first, add menu item, link the two.•con: possible to create bad IA

shortcuts to recent foldersor hybrid. “move inside edit/add”

“Add new” and “edit” let you “place” content.Sensible defaults

Limits you to where type is allowed

#2 Content types are broken

• “How can I have a map in the middle of my content?”

• “I want a collection but have text above and below it”

• “How do I insert a flash video?”

• “I want three kinds of listings on my page”

Mosaic

The art of theming is deciding how much control you give to editors

Mosaic is editor friendlyLet’s hope it’s themer friendlyProtected tiles?

what if you want to not let editors layout?What if you theme doesn’t use grids?

#3 Sharing is confusing

• “I have 20 different roles in my organisation, where is the custom role button?”

• “Is ‘can edit’ the same as Editor?”

• “If I click on submit for publication, what happens?”

• “How do I know I’ve been given the editor role?”

• “Why is my content still viewable in a private folder?

• “how can I share my content without publishing it?”

• “How can I share my content with outside users?”

Sharing ideas• Get rid of the word “roles”. Permissions? Capabilities?

• Get rid of global roles. Do it via sharing in the root

• Combine workflow and sharing. Dialog should show which users/groups can do what in which states

• Encourage groups as roles. Groups first in the UI. Ability to classify groups

• Content rules on sharing changes

One idea: show both who can review your content if you want to submit for review

#4 - Buildout is broken/Getting started is hard

“I create an empty site but how do I make it into shop/blog/intranet/brochureware site?”

“I just want to start with a simple blog, do I really have to run my own server?”

“I want to try a plugin. Do I really have to use this command line thing?”

“adding this plugin broke plone by upgrading something”

Distributions/Cloud• Known good sets of plugins

• Paragon as a versions.cfg in the collective• Installers with plugins included• Installers with default site content included

• Install Plone - do you want a blog site?• Cloud first on plone.org.

• Cloud before installers• Distribution dependent themes - plugins are

there• ploneblogs.org - Medium for ploners.

Hackability•Customising a CMS to build an app is stupid

•jbot is evil

•We need TTW plugins

•buildout hates new users

•Plomino/rapido - app framework on top of plone

•Get rid of tutorials promoting Dexterity to build apps

#5 Theming/Customisation

“I want to script something. buildout/packages/mr.bob wtf?”

“why do I need these rules when I can hack an html file?”

“why do I need to hack an xml file when wordpress has so many themes?”

“Why do I need to theme the backend? No other CMS does.”

“I have to do what to change this wording?”

“I have to do what to change a LESS variable?”

“grunt/bower/bootstrap/registries/jbot/…?”

Theme ideas

Remote theme browser built into Plone. One click install. Promote TTW first - Single Integrators UI

Include integration code in a theme (fragments)Include translations in a themeInclude Generic Setup in a themeInclude default site content in a themeCustom tile types in a themeSingle zip export + Pull and push as git built into plone

Gloss• “Diazo is great but not a low enough bar for the average

designer” - David Bain• Gloss - preset rules using standard classes• Learn css classes so you don’t have to diazo: pro or con?

the-gloss-project.readthedocs.org

Include Backend.xml + if-content:css=”body.frontend”

In plone 5 - yah! - reduces the time to theme

I think UX is more important thanRefactoring

Switching away from ZopeSwitching away from ZODBNew content type frameworks

Who are we trying to attract?

We will never win over python developers. Stop trying.

We should target Drupal/Wordpress/Craft/EE devs + designers

“Upgrade to Plone”removing zope only helps by removing negative brand

Let’s make Plone 6 really “end” user-driven!The end - Dylan Jay - PretaGov UK/AU