[MAGNOLIA-3471] ROOT page of the bundle could still be improved Created: 17/Dec/10  Updated: 13/Dec/11  Resolved: 05/Jan/11

Status: Closed
Project: Magnolia
Component/s: build
Affects Version/s: 4.4.1
Fix Version/s: 4.4.2, 4.5

Type: Improvement Priority: Neutral
Reporter: Magnolia International Assignee: Federico Grilli
Resolution: Fixed Votes: 0
Labels: None
Remaining Estimate: Not Specified
Time Spent: Not Specified
Original Estimate: Not Specified

Attachments: PNG File Screen shot 2010-12-17 at 15.57.18.png     PNG File final-maybe-smaller.png     PNG File final-maybe.png     PNG File home_4_3.png     PNG File too-much-blank-space.png     PNG File welcome-screen-modified.png    
Template:
Acceptance criteria:
Empty
Task DoD:
[ ]* Doc/release notes changes? Comment present?
[ ]* Downstream builds green?
[ ]* Solution information and context easily available?
[ ]* Tests
[ ]* FixVersion filled and not yet released
[ ]  Architecture Decision Record (ADR)
Date of First Response:

 Description   

Regarding the changes from screen#4 in MAGNOLIA-3387, I have the feeling that

  • the additional text on the ROOT page is useful (i.e provides useful information for newcomers), but ...
  • the layout of the page looks "broken", the text seems to be floating at random and the color of the first link is black (possibly because it's :visited, but I wonder why the second occurrence of the same url is still green, then)
  • i have the feeling users will first go for links/icons before reading the fine print anyway ?


 Comments   
Comment by Federico Grilli [ 22/Dec/10 ]

Does it look better? I put the note text for concluding the installation inside the grey box. The visited links are now forced to remain "Magnolia green" (before this depended on the browser: e.g. Safari applied its own style and made them black, FF let them green).

Comment by Magnolia International [ 22/Dec/10 ]

Better but I'm personally still not super-convinced by the change from MAGNOLIA-3387 itself.

A good half of the page is now irrelevant for people who know, or who already went through the install.

Previous version had a foot note saying "* Before being able to use either of these, you will have to go through their install process. In that case the built-in Magnolia installation wizard will appear right after clicking the link." - while I understand the need to make this a little more prominent, perhaps less surprising for users, it was also less intrusive. After all, once you click the link and arrive on the install/update screens, well, you see what it is, and if you've ever used any sort of self-installing app, you know what's going to happen. See screenshot of 4.3 for comparison.

As for the color link, I don't mind that they change (a "visited" color is fine), but it should behave the same for all links on the page, not just the 1st one.

Comment by Magnolia International [ 22/Dec/10 ]

After looking at the 3 screenshot in a row, I'd be in favor of removing the new box introduced in 4.4, but moving the "note about install" text into the first paragraph of text ("You have successfully set up ...")

Comment by Andreas Weder [ 23/Dec/10 ]

I agree the current solution is still sub-optimal. We will only be able to find a satisfiable solution once the page is no longer static, but can take into account whether an installation has finished (successfully) already.

I put the actual installation instructions on top - even when they stick there after an install - to make them more prominent, yes, but also because I believe that most people won't return to this page after the installation is through.

The page is currently trimmed for a first time ever install, which was the case that we wanted to improve: a user who wants to have a quick look at things should know clearly what to do next. I'm actually assuming that a returning user knows the process already during the next install and just clicks the links again.

To cut a long explanation short: I agree with keeping the links green (turning them black is one step too much). I'd keep the new box because else we have to write a longer text explaining what has to be done next to conclude the installation and long texts are hardly read in situations where I just want to get a quick first impression. Experienced users will know the steps anyway.

Comment by Federico Grilli [ 23/Dec/10 ]

While we're at it, do you agree with me that there's too much unused space on the right? What about giving a fixed size to the .page css class, say 800px, and of course center the whole thing?

Comment by Boris Kraft [ 23/Dec/10 ]

Why can't this page be a simple redirect to a page that is dynamically rendered directly by Magnolia? In other words, why not move the majority of this info into Magnolia itself? In that case we could act properly on the installation steps and next steps.

Granted, this would more or less bring us back to what we had before.

Somehow this would be a brilliant case for uservoice feedback.

Comment by Magnolia International [ 23/Dec/10 ]

Boris, because which instance are you going to redirect to ? It doesn't seem like a page that should be in Magnolia (although granted it could be hidden). If we'd do that, we'd need a way for a Magnolia author instance to know where its public instances are (simple enough, if we ignore the more complex multi-stage scenarios, which we shouldn't).
Or this page could be dynamic (even a simple jsp) and poke a currently non-existing webservice that would tell if the instance is up or not.
Etc etc.
In the end, we'd still have the same debate regarding what to write and where

Federico: yes. Look at the layout of 4.3, seems much cleaner to me, whether or not the new box is there.

Comment by Federico Grilli [ 05/Jan/11 ]

After having fought with browsers quirks (mostly IE7 and IE8), css and such amenities, that's what I got. It looks decent on most browsers, even at relatively small screen resolutions. The space is a now evenly distributed among all page components and no blank space is left on the right. I would commit and resolve the issue.

Comment by Federico Grilli [ 05/Jan/11 ]

And a smaller alternative with body margin at 15%. The one before had a 5% body margin.

Comment by Federico Grilli [ 05/Jan/11 ]

Committed the one with wider margins and smaller content.

Comment by Jan Haderka [ 17/Jan/11 ]

Was this merged with trunk? If so please provide rev numbers for the changes or fix the log message. If not, please merge.

Comment by Federico Grilli [ 17/Jan/11 ]

Oops, I forgot to merge this. Thanks for reporting it.

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