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2022-09-07: Current plan (discussed at TAG meeting) is to make the new Unified Admin Panel to be the default in Tiki25, but optional (with a toggle to switch back and forth between the legacy admin panel and the Unified Admin panel). And we remove the old admin panel for Tiki26 (or Tiki27 if the community members need more time) .


Unified Admin Backend

aka revamp of the Admin Backend UIUser Interface and dashboard using an unified theme look & feel to achieve better UXUser eXperience of Tiki site adminstration.

 Compressed for clarity
Thanks to the very good work that was made we decided to plan the revamp in 3 steps during the February 2021 TRM. For clarity the previous content and comments will be placed in a faded plugin at the bottom of the page so we can have an updated roadmap coming first


There was a long and interesting discussion during the February 2021 TRM (see for more details: https://tiki.org/Roundtable-Meeting-2021-02)
In conclusion we agreed that if the interface was to be improved Tiki has most of the components needed to do (or start) it smoothly.

First step (done)

( @luciash d' being 🧙 , @Bernard Sfez / Tiki Specialist , @tsuki_katy , ...)
In Tiki we already have an "Admin theme" feature that make it easy to create a definitive solution or a proof of concept quickly and it is totally optional.
A future install option in Tiki was also mentioned (for admin choose Tiki classic theme or Tiki modern admin (naming?) )

We are working on first design proposal for the "Admin" theme and will put it here for review.

  • Designed by @tsuki_katy (see below) in cooperation with @luciash d' being 🧙 (coordinator, mentor) the design was warmly welcomed and approved by the Tiki community
  • The design was integrated and made as an optional feature for Tiki23 - enabled for fresh new installs only (to avoid issues for upgrades in case of custom layouts/themes)

Design Proposal

Suggested Features

(✔ = done, ✘ = rejected)

  • ✔ While browsing the admin pages the Admin theme will be applied using the existing preference (which will be enabled on default installs)
    • I request making this optional. I like using the site theme on admin pages also.
      • No worries, it will be optional, just on fresh installs it will be enabled for newbies. We boomers can always switch it off with our luxury profiles or good ol' manual way ;)
    • ✔ About color styling, I suggest using the Bootstrap .navbar-dark and .navbar-light classes to set the background, text, and link colors (as well as the dark/light switch option currently available for navbars). This way the coloring automatically works with whatever theme is used, and any new admin theme(s) can take advantage of existing classes, etc.
      • Yes, as I wrote yesterday in one of the email messages on the devel list "Regarding the top bar we prefer to keep it in the dark gray color for dark navbar selection and maybe light gray for the light one" so we will do it like that (and if not you will be able to fix that for sure ;))
  • ✔ The admin navbar stays always visible at the top
  • ✔ Removal of the admin anchors (small icons) from the top of the admin-include files and put the icons to the left sidebar (see the collapsible sliding left col below)
  • ✔ Addition of a sliding left col (based on the existing left col behavior we agreed that we will create special <aside> zone for it instead). That will display all the main features activated (based on the actual) and disabled ones with disabled class.
    It was suggested this sliding menu to be always accessible (outside admins pages) for admins (optional)
    [+]

Notes

  • This area should be customizable with a "reset page" button
  • Some charts would be nice (see the next step below)
  • Modules page needs some work to adapt (for the new aside zone)

Q&A

  • Question: what happens to the Quickadmin module — no changes for this, or is it redundant with this admin reorganization? Also, does this make the enhanced Quickadmin feature created by Bilal and Amna redundant? (Sorry, I forgot its name — it's the horizontal scrolling panel that slides down from the page top, containing admin icons, etc.) I'm in favor of simplifying if possible.
    • No, nothing happens with these modules with this reorganization. Maybe we could include the quickadmin one in the top bar though if there will be enough space?
      • Quick Administration module is included in the UAB top bar now

[+]

Second step

Fixing declared issues seen in Tiki23:
https://dev.tiki.org/Wishlist+Search+Page?default%7Esearch=unified+admin#search=unified+admin%20backend

  • https://dev.tiki.org/item7814-Fixed-Top-Menu-Classic-bootstrap-and-bottom-modules-are-lost-when-using-the-Admin-new-UI-Tiki23-default Fixed in Fixed in https://gitlab.com/tikiwiki/tiki/-/merge_requests/1565
  • https://dev.tiki.org/item7844-Interactive-translation-top-bar-is-not-displayed-with-Bootstrap-classic-layout Fixed


Preliminary next step is revamp of the dashboard page:

  • Dashboard / New Home for admin
    Using existing data we have:
    • At glance (Tiki statistics)
      • How many pages
      • Files
      • Items
      • Last admin log (5 last users ?)
      • ...
    • Activity, last added content
    • Get started (conditional)
      • TBD (newbie tips closable for ever)
    • Tiki communication
      • Version, updates
      • Important communication from Tiki Community

Third step

At the January 2022 Roundtable meeting, there was a consensus that the new admin backend shouldn't be on by default in new Tiki installations because of user experience issues that need to be corrected. So it should be off by default, but it will be activated at the Tiki project sites and issues identified in detail and corrected before the release of Tiki 25.

Issues to correct

(✔ = done, ✘ = rejected)
Bug reports should be filed for these and other issues to put them on the radar and ensure follow-ups. Priority should be set to make sure most important problems are fixed.

  • Following some links in the Unified Admin backend, the user ends up at a page without the UAB navigation (only the standard modules / menus, etc.)
    • Basically all the links under the Settings in the Main Menu module should probably be also part of the UAB theme - it could be done if we add the tiki_admin class to the body element for them too and maybe based on that apply the theme for these pages.
  • When the "bootstrap" layout (fixed top navbar) is active, the admin navbar overlaps its contents, which aren't removed because they are specified directly in the .tpl file, not in a module zone. Fixed in https://gitlab.com/tikiwiki/tiki/-/merge_requests/1565
  • There are color conflicts between the admin CSS and theme CSS. Fixed in https://gitlab.com/tikiwiki/tiki/-/merge_requests/1565
  • RTL issues (stumbled upon bug with Farsi language - it is adding class fa to body which conflicts with Font Awesome class Fixed in https://gitlab.com/tikiwiki/tiki/-/merge_requests/1565)
  • Module Quick Admin overlaps the user/logout icon. Fixed in https://gitlab.com/tikiwiki/tiki/-/merge_requests/1565
  • ....


-

For Inspiration

How other FLOSS projects do it?

PrestaShop

See their demo here: https://demo.prestashop.com/#/en/back

Open Project

(https://docs.openproject.org/system-admin-guide/) they are smaller, limited to 'project management' so only have 17 Features - yet they have a left side panel that assists in navigation:


--

Older Comments and Sections

Proposal to organize Control Panel Features into Sections

(originally introduced by Mike Finko, '@Mike Finko')

Purpose

(open for discussion)

  • Difficulty in using the current (as of Tiki 22.x) Control Panels due to so many widely varying types of Features which are all uncategorized, e.g. unstructured
    • Configurations can be enabled/disabled in multiple locations, adding to this confusion
  • Difficulty in understanding the 'level of importance' of individual Features
  • Difficulty in understanding 'what Tiki does' or 'where do I start' for new users due to the unstructured nature of the Control Panels

Goals

(open for discussion)

  • Increase Control Panels ease of use for new users as well as long time users of Tiki
  • Categorize, e.g. group in sections, all Features for easier 'on-boarding' of new users
  • Allow for a faster learning curve for new users and higher retention rates of new users
  • Increase future uniformity when adding new Features
  • Create a central focus for Tiki on 'Core Modules' (as roughly stated here: https://info.tiki.org/Features) to improve marketability of Tiki as a product

Notes

  • I know we discussed this before (most likely a TRM) but could not find any info about this on the Dev or Community sites - if I missed it somewhere, we can combine the pages.
  • It was designed for 'full screen width' so doesn't look so great, here, sorry. Toggle the right module to 'Closed' and it will make viewing easier
    • in any case, the Control Panel page looks custom coded page, so the html/css specialist that will be doing the actual re-vamp can make sure it looks perfect
    • Icon - WebServices: since it is a 'cog' like General, I changed it to 'cloud-upload', since it involves the 'cloud', there is no 'cloud-upload-download' yet, and a Google search does not seem to indicate consensus, and no specific symbol in Font Awesome
    • Icons Polls and Video: both slightly different, that's the closest I could find on Font Awesome
  • I believe I included all the current Features, maybe only some experimental or deprecated ones are left out, two that I know I left out:
    • Image Galleries - since this is listed as 'deprecated', I recommend we do not have the icon in the Control Panel as this just confuses users
    • FAQ - in the 'Warning' it says "...there has been discussion about retiring this feature..." so let's retire it. Or, add it to the 'Deprecated' filter (e.g. Basic, Advanced, Experimental, etc.)
  • I categorized them to the best of my abilities, I'm sure I overlooked a lot of things, please give your feedback for improvement.
  • although the last few (Integration, Security, Miscellaneous) don't have many in them, my thinking was to leave room for expansion.
  • After feedback and general consensus, we will need to update this page https://doc.tiki.org/Admin-Home
    • we will need to limit the time for feedback, it cannot be 'forever' as no feedback should be considered a vote of 'approval'

Comparison (non-Tiki Admin Pages)

  • We should consider how cPanel structured their 'Dashboard' due to the similarity of having a significant amount of Features - although it is a 'proprietary' software, it is generally considered a highly successful project. Three screenshots because it has so many Features:


Screenshot 20201211 161548 Screenshot 20201211 161609 Screenshot 20201211 161627


Proposal

Core Features


Trackers


Wiki


Calendar


File Galleries


Articles


Forums


Maps


Payments


Admin Features


General


Features

Editing & Plugins


Printing


i18


Packages


WYSIWYG

Semantic Links


Statistics


Video


User Features


User Settings


Login


Categories


Work Spaces


Comments


Directory


Website Optimization


SEF URL


Search


Performace


Meta Tags


Collaboration


Rating


Polls


Score


Tags


Feeds


Share


Connect

Social Networks


Community


Communication


Webmail


Messages


RTC


Integration


InterTiki


WebServices


Security


Security


Miscellaneous


Copyright



Enhanced Grid Display

This is a proposal to keep the admin icons in the grid so they are in a compact display, but to organize them, add a "header" for each section, and use color to differentiate the sections. This organization seems pretty good to me , but some things could be moved around. I used the standard Bootstrap button classes, so the effectiveness depends on the theme. Some themes could be improved in this regard.

Admin Panel-top Icons

The icons at the top of the admin pages that display without labels that correspond to the above reorganization would look something like this:


Bug reports

Suggested modification





Keywords

The following is a list of keywords that should serve as hubs for navigation within the Tiki development and should correspond to documentation keywords.

Each feature in Tiki has a wiki page which regroups all the bugs, requests for enhancements, etc. It is somewhat a form of wiki-based project management. You can also express your interest in a feature by adding it to your profile. You can also try out the Dynamic filter.

Accessibility (WAI & 508)
Accounting
Administration
Ajax
Articles & Submissions
Backlinks
Banner
Batch
BigBlueButton audio/video/chat/screensharing
Blog
Bookmark
Browser Compatibility
Calendar
Category
Chat
Comment
Communication Center
Consistency
Contacts Address book
Contact us
Content template
Contribution
Cookie
Copyright
Credits
Custom Home (and Group Home Page)
Database MySQL - MyISAM
Database MySQL - InnoDB
Date and Time
Debugger Console
Diagram
Directory (of hyperlinks)
Documentation link from Tiki to doc.tiki.org (Help System)
Docs
DogFood
Draw -superseded by Diagram
Dynamic Content
Preferences
Dynamic Variable
External Authentication
FAQ
Featured links
Feeds (RSS)
File Gallery
Forum
Friendship Network (Community)
Gantt
Group
Groupmail
Help
History
Hotword
HTML Page
i18n (Multilingual, l10n, Babelfish)
Image Gallery
Import-Export
Install
Integrator
Interoperability
Inter-User Messages
InterTiki
jQuery
Kaltura video management
Kanban
Karma
Live Support
Logs (system & action)
Lost edit protection
Mail-in
Map
Menu
Meta Tag
Missing features
Visual Mapping
Mobile
Mods
Modules
MultiTiki
MyTiki
Newsletter
Notepad
OS independence (Non-Linux, Windows/IIS, Mac, BSD)
Organic Groups (Self-managed Teams)
Packages
Payment
PDF
Performance Speed / Load / Compression / Cache
Permission
Poll
Profiles
Quiz
Rating
Realname
Report
Revision Approval
Scheduler
Score
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Search
Security
Semantic links
Share
Shopping Cart
Shoutbox
Site Identity
Slideshow
Smarty Template
Social Networking
Spam protection (Anti-bot CATPCHA)
Spellcheck
Spreadsheet
Staging and Approval
Stats
Survey
Syntax Highlighter (Codemirror)
Tablesorter
Tags
Task
Tell a Friend
Terms and Conditions
Theme
TikiTests
Federated Timesheets
Token Access
Toolbar (Quicktags)
Tours
Trackers
TRIM
User Administration
User Files
User Menu
Watch
Webmail and Groupmail
WebServices
Wiki History, page rename, etc
Wiki plugins extends basic syntax
Wiki syntax text area, parser, etc
Wiki structure (book and table of content)
Workspace and perspectives
WYSIWTSN
WYSIWYCA
WYSIWYG
XMLRPC
XMPP




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