Leisa Reichelt and Mark Boulton presented their work on D7UX, an initiative to redesign the Drupal administrative interface. They conducted user research including interviews and usability testing to define user audiences like content creators and web savvy non-developers. Their redesign goals were to simplify the interface, improve the information architecture, focus on the 80% use case, and make the interface more friendly and understandable without removing important context. They previewed some of their proposed changes like role-based shortcuts and improved editing workflows, and discussed challenges of implementing the redesign within resource constraints.

1. D7UX
show & tell
drupal webjam utrecht
june 09

2. who am I &
what am I doing here?

3. Leisa Reichelt: user experience designer
design web experiences based on
defining user audiences & their needs
Mark Boulton: web designer
markboultondesign.com

4. d7ux
why do we need to do this?

9. a lot of people are
really scared of Drupal

12. a tangent i’d love
to talk more about...

13. our process
DrupalconDC interviews
research
pimp your admin audience
irc design definition
youtube group
d7ux.org test/research
surveys
flickr group
post sketches&
ideas for feedback
design
crowdsourcing test/research
usability testing
design

14. design principles
ref: d7ux.org

15. who is D7UX for?

16. verity: the content creator
jeremy: web savvy non-dev
plus benefits to & not intruding on
dx: drupal developers

17. what we hoped...

18. a sitebuilder for ‘Jeremy’

19. the reality

20. achievable improvements

21. - refocus the interface on the people who use it most
- rework the information architecture to support this
(+ scalability + enhanced usability)
- simplify the interface by focusing on the 80% use case
- updated visual design (friendly, professional, current)
- maintain focus on accessibility
- remove ambiguity re: ‘where am I?’ admin/website
without removing context ‘what am I working on’
- reduce support & customisation overheads
- an interface to be proud of.

22. show & tell

23. global navigation
the header
roll up
role based shortcuts

24. the dashboard.. coming soon!
(widgets currently being designed in microprojects)

25. add content

26. add content ‘meta’

27. find content

28. edit in place ‘meta’

29. edit in place
(node body text)

30. edit in place
(node body text)

31. system design
proper & consistent use of tabs
interaction patterns
- eliminate clutter
- plain english

32. structure:
content types
menus
blocks
taxonomy

33. modules & config:
infrequently used functionality
by task & by module
site configuration
modules:
install/update/permissions/config
consolidate other ‘config’:
- Roles, Content Settings etc.
- remove from ‘frequently used’ interfaces

34. our current challenges...

35. lots to do little time:
UX Sprint this weekend (yay!)
Microprojects
getting it built:
resources
getting design through the issue queue

36. help! :)
your time
your support/enthusiasm

37. we <3 #drupal-usability
special shout outs to
Yoroy, Catch, & Bojhan

38. thank you :)
www.d7ux.org
www.disambiguity.com
www.designintheopen.org
@leisa
@drupalredesign