[wp-design] A Quick Sketch

[Joen Asmussen]

Michael Heilemann wrote:

>> Totally agree, except for a few things.
>> For one, we should be _really_ careful which things we "hide" by 
>> default. Sure we can cookie stuff, but by default, it should be 
>> optimal. Things that would be obvious to hide, are "timestamp" and 
>> "custom fields". However, post status, post slug, at the very least, 
>> should be visible by default. I don't mind that we can collapse 
>> these, and cookie that setting.
>
>
> I really don't think the post slug needs to be visible by default. You 
> think so? How come?

There are a couple of reasons.

The first, and most important is: we're messing with an interface that 
hundreds of thousands (?) are dealing with on a daily basis. If we're 
not _really_ careful, we're going to open the gates of hell. As such, 
the _default_ setup should have all those features that are commonly used.

Here's why I think the post slug is commonly used:
- It's a feature that was added by request to 1.2 (if I'm not 
mistaken?). That means there's a demand for it.
- I migrated from Movable Type. Most MT users spend hours hacking their 
installation to allow for post slugs, and I'm 120% sure that to please 
"switchers", we need to grant some real estate to the post slug.
- Some people don't use it, I use it all the time. For each and every 
post I make, I write a custom post slug. To me, it's as important as the 
title.

With that said, I would love to be able to collapse it.

>> I'm all for the idea of hiding stuff, but we should be careful about 
>> "mystery meat" navigation. By that I mean, instead of writing 
>> "advanced options", and hiding everything under that, we have titles 
>> for each hidden element, and dropdowns for each.
>
>
> I'd like to see a sketch, though in my minds eye that complicates 
> things even further...

Well indeed it does complicate things. But it's a complex interface 
we're working with here, and we should adapt to that. Not meaning any 
offense, but simply "hiding" the things we don't like, seems like 
throwing in the towel. I'll tackle this in an upcoming mockup.

http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/mysterymeatnavigation.html

>>> 4) I think the title should have a much larger font in the input 
>>> box... Makes sense I think :)
>>>
>> I can see what you mean. However, this is not a WYSIWYG app, and we 
>> shouldn't kid people into thinking so. I'd rather a uniform size for 
>> all input boxes.
>
>
> Grrr. Killing my darlings are we? ;)

 > Matt also: I actually really dig larger input for title, and it 
matches what we do with the register/login fields.

I'm reeeally sorry to be all anal like this, and if it wasn't important 
to me, I'd shut my piehole. But this is what I do for a living. This is 
what people pay me to do.

I'm not "against large fonts", but all input boxes in Wordpress behaves 
the same way. If one input box suddenly has a larger text size than 
others, it'll confuse people. If we go large font, we do it everywhere.

With that said, I also think it's a mistake to make such a large admin 
login. It changes a simple login box from "system login" to a design 
element. "Hey, I'm supposed to write there?"