I can't change my theme on my win7 rigs but my husband can on his MAC...

[Antechinus]

This kinda echoes why I never switched to SMV v2.

To me, the way the admin section is laid out seems totally... dare I say...

It's actually laid out much the same as 1.1.x.

[kat]

[pantomime mode]

OH NO IT ISN'T!

[/pantomime mode]

[IchBin™]

What are the differences that you don't like K@?

[Antechinus]

It's new innit. Damned new-fangled softwarey stuffz. When I were a lad things were different.

[kat]

You were a lad?!?!?

In a word "Everything".

That whole dropdown is just totally weird, to me.

I never, ever go to "Core features" thing and, well, the whole thing seems "Cobbled-together", to me.

Installing Helios made things better, though, coz the admin section's laid-out in the 1.1.16 way, quite a bit.

I thought it was just me being weird. But, I've heard the same thing from many others, too.

But, it's no hassle, coz I don't mind sticking with v1.1.16. It does what we want, so all's good.

For me, personally, I can see advantages in having Admin laid-out in much the same way as the "UserCP" mod laid-out your profile.

[emanuele]

Subs-Packages.php

Code (find) Select Expand

// Nothing?
if (empty($packageInfo))
return 'package_get_error_is_zero';


Code (replace with) Select Expand

// Nothing?
if (empty($packageInfo))
{
// It could be a theme, so better tell him.
$packageInfo = read_tgz_file($boarddir . '/Packages/' . $gzfilename, '*/theme_info.xml', true);
if (!empty($packageInfo))
return 'package_get_error_is_theme';
else
return 'package_get_error_is_zero';
}


PackageGet.php

Code (find) Select Expand


fatal_lang_error('package_upload_error_broken', false, $txt[$context['package']]);


Code (add before) Select Expand


$txt[$context['package']] = str_replace('{MANAGETHEMEURL}', $scripturl . '?action=admin;area=theme;sa=admin;' . $context['session_var'] . '=' . $context['session_id'], $txt[$context['package']]);



Errors.english.php

Code (find) Select Expand


$txt['package_get_error_packageinfo_corrupt'] = 'SMF was unable to find any valid information within the package-info.xml file included within the Package. There may be an error with the modification, or the package may be corrupt.';


Code (add before) Select Expand

$txt['package_get_error_is_theme'] = 'The package you are trying to install is a theme and not a mod, please use the <a href="{MANAGETHEMEURL}">Themes and Layout</a> management page to upload it';


[kat]

I do love this dev stuff, out in the open.

Just proves that we're trying to give our members what they want.

Good stuff!

[Spuds]

In a word "Everything".

That whole dropdown is just totally weird, to me.

Just want to make sure that you realize you can enable the left side menus instead of the dropdowns by clicking the little << icon ... you know the one thats really small and really hard to see or find that has not hover text to tell you what its for ...  kinda obvious really

[emanuele]

* emanuele has a very stupid idea:

...why not remove that icon and put a setting in the profile?...

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

There is a setting in the profile, unless I'm mistaken.

[emanuele]

I don't use the profile page that much... lol

[kat]

Yeah, I did know that, ta.

It's the top menus that do my head in, amongst other things.

It's really not a problem, though. Everyone at my place is quite happy with what we have. So, no point in even considering upgrading, for us.

Bit like my friend Bill, who died, not long ago. He had Windows 98 on his rig and, as it did exactly what he wanted it to do, he never bothered moving-on, from that.

Boy, did THAT guy know his stuff, too!

[Antechinus]

You were a lad?!?!?

In a word "Everything".

That whole dropdown is just totally weird, to me.

I have thought about this. Although I find the drops quite easy to work with myself, I do think that for admin they could be improved. IMO it would be better if admin used something more like a megamenu setup, so that admin options were listed visibly on one level of drop menu. This would mean less reliance on human memory to find things.

Example and caveats here: http://www.uie.com/articles/mega_menus/

The caveats should be somewhat less of a problem for SMF admin, if things are done sensibly.

TBH I really think the control pages (admin, profile, etc) need to have their navigation rationalised. The current method of offering two systems is just bonkers, and sidebar menus are problematic when trying to accommodate a range of screen sizes.

I never, ever go to "Core features" thing and, well, the whole thing seems "Cobbled-together", to me.

The Core Features page is not intended to be used very often. Most people will only use it when they are setting up a new site, but for that purpose it works well as it allows people to select and enable large chunks of forumey stuff that they may or may not want. That's all it's meant for.

For me, personally, I can see advantages in having Admin laid-out in much the same way as the "UserCP" mod laid-out your profile.

You mean sorta like the Core Features page?

[Antechinus]

In a word "Everything".

That whole dropdown is just totally weird, to me.

Just want to make sure that you realize you can enable the left side menus instead of the dropdowns by clicking the little << icon ... you know the one thats really small and really hard to see or find that has not hover text to tell you what its for ...  kinda obvious really

So I suppose you want me to improve that.

[kat]

That looks damned promising, Ant!

How much of a pain in the Aris would that be to include, out of curiosity?

[Antechinus]

Very easy, for 2.0. A little bit more tricky to implement for 1.1.x, but not that hard. I actually did rewrite the 1.1.x sidebar menus as a clickable drop at one stage. That's simple to do. Basically you get exactly the same menu, but it can be made to vanish when you want more space. That was an idea for mobile and would not be ideal for desktop, but in general menu revamping isn't that big a deal.

At the moment I'm playing with other aspects of the gui, primarily template markup, but a bit later I'll run through some better menu options and play around with them.

[kat]

If you want a kinda beta-tester, with access to a test forum, I'm at your service!

[Antechinus]

Yup. No worries.

[kat]

[Antechinus]

Incidentally, there are shots of the tweaked 1.1.x menu here: http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=431813.msg3027051#msg3027051

Not that I would do this for a default desktop theme, but it is easy to change menus.