Finally a good powerful list plugin.

Thank you for the compliments and rating.

I do plan on improving some of the GUI layout, and a complete redesign of the front-end interface (admin). Which is actually what is being planned for 0.4. Plus, I have a really neat idea that should remove many of the repetitive tasks, and may open up features for better content management.

Regarding the idea, I do have a question that you may be able to provide more insight on.

Which do you find yourself editing most often (or is the most diverse). The Filter (page content) or the Design/Style (html & css) of each preset post list?

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by EkoJR.

I do edit both. Frankly, I wouldn’t change too much… most of the times usability improvements have a negative effect on flexibility! But I trust your wisdom ??

I understand your concern, and I’ve often thought about problems that may occur when balancing advanced & simplicity. Since the initial release, APL has always been more of a Front End developer tool. Taking a lot of what would of been Back End code. I do have to consider usability for others, but I prefer to design advanced features to build on, and provide intuitive design and information for others.

Currently, in APL’s admin settings page, everything has been placed into one page since most of the development has been focused on the back end changes. Which the page can seem rather ugly, but over time some of the changes were made to advance to the next sub-version. Front-end wise, 0.4 will be the most noticeable. However, I do plan on keeping of the original concepts of course.

Personally, I find myself using many of the same designs with different post lists. Filters, I’ve noticed, seem to be fairly unique unless new categories are added to the site. Getting feedback from others always helps, and again, thank you.

Hello,

I just needed a plugin like yours, and I’m really satisfied with in terms of functionnalities. It provides everything you need (or near) to query your post.

But i’m replying to this thread because I havce to say : “Yes! What a crappy ergonomics!” ?? Even if your plugin do the job pretty well, I had to take 20 min of my times by doing different test in order to understand “How” the plugin works. I’m here to help you, because I think with a better UI, your plugin can be more valuable.

A simple example is about the list shortcode : I wondered why the plugin wrote eveytime the result of the query in a single line. I figured it out by adding HTML inside the list shortcode btw. This should be precised at the top of the field. This is like a very little problem regarding ergonomic. There are more unexpected choice for your UI, like the first thing we see when we are in your setting page : we can see one tab for each post type, which is actually not necessary because it charges the UI too much.

Why not provide us, as a first setting, a simple dropdown/checkbox list (with multple selection available) and which will query the post type registered on the wordpress installation. Then, depending of the box checked, you should dynamically display the selected post type tabs. Only by doing this, users will use your plugin with more ease.

I have a lot more to say about a lot of things, but I encourage you to sent me a mail at [email protected] If you want to know my ideas, and have a template files of a more organized UI.

Regards.

A lot of the ergonomics/UI with post types and taxonomies were designed right at the release of HTML5, and the front-end was designed more as a prototype while a lot of the focus was on backend development. Plus, feedback on the plugin can be very limiting at times, and trying to think of a fundamental method that would seem intuitive at the time was based a lot on what I personally have experienced. So getting feedback from others does help a great deal.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but if I understand you right, you’re main issue is how the Post Type & Taxonomy UI is set up. I’m definitely open to new ideas since 0.4 will have some work on this topic

– Explanation –

First, the current structure (shown below) was decided on since Posts/Pages were unique to Post Types, but was dynamic with Taxonomies. Even though Post Types & Taxonomies could be used as vice-versa, but would add more complications with WP_Query with that reverse structure.

• Post Type A

• Taxonomy 01
• Taxonomy 02

• Post Type B

• Taxonomy 02
• Taxonomy 03

I also wanted to give users the ability to query Posts/Pages from multiple Post Types in a single Preset. Which is a concept WordPress (WP_Query) cannot do in a single instance, but is a feature built into APL. So, I didn’t want to discourage others from using more than 1 post type.

I also wanted to follow the same fundamental concepts WordPress designed. While in WP Admin, the Menu Sidebar is built much like an Accordion with Post Types, but Taxonomies seem fairly individualized and isolated. So I wanted to design a taxonomy structure that would be intuitive to cross filtering content.

– Idea –

I do like your idea however. Adding a Drop-down Post Type Selector to display the Post Types to query may not be much of a difference in optimization (in comparison to other functions), but will be visually ideal when editing with only the Post Types needed. Plus it would eliminate APL from always having to dynamically display content from different plugins.

By default, I still would prefer not to discourage others from using more than 1 post type, but also see the need to prevent certain post types from being displayed every time. Fundamentally, I could add a General/Global Setting to allow users to select which post types to automatically display, or possibly restricting it from even showing up in the Drop-down Post Type Selector.

– Future –

In the 0.4 update, APL will be getting its own Admin sidebar menu. Which will add some much needed organization to APL by having a Dashboard, Preset Database Table, Create Preset, and General Settings. Decided that 0.4 should be an early update for the frontend design since many other websites refer to APL, and when websites refer to an older version there can be a lot of confusion. Plus, since 0.3 was an update to core functions, it would probably be best to focus on standardizing the frontend design at an early stage to build on.

Along with organizing these operations, I also plan on improving the Create Preset process by splitting the Preset options to have a Filter and Design option instead. This will improve multiple tasks, but also allows others to reuse designs, and may allow better management over filtering content. Which is an idea, I may reserve by staging it for later, and work on further testing and development.

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by EkoJR.
• This reply was modified 8 years ago by EkoJR.

Hi there,

Based on your last topic and the current version, here’s an inforgraphics on how to improve your UI by far. Please take this into account (even if you’ll probably not take everything) since I have spent some time to do it.

Here’s the link : https://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=194920APLInfographicsPresetManagementPagev1.jpg

Regards.

I actually wonder why I tried to help with this 2 hours of works for probably nothing :p Whatever…

@moxymore Nice work! I might need UI help for another plugin… how much do you charge?

I could of swore I replied. I actually have your idea saved, and will be implementing the idea to some degree.

Sorry I didn’t reply back…but I can remember replying to it.

Not a problem ??

@cwfaraday : Let’s discuss it on my skype : mooks6767 or directly via email : [email protected]

• This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by moxymore.

Another idea I have been tossing around though, is the ability to change APL’s Admin UI to classic, default, or an imported Admin Layout. I would like to add some extension support, but this is more for letting others choose what they prefer and figuring out what ends up working best in the long run. Plus, it would allow me, as well as others, to beta test a few concepts I have in mind without negatively impacting APL.

Lately, I’ve been trying to wrap up a start-up project, but has been a bit slow due to a lack of spare time. I do appreciate you taking the time to explain your idea in detail. It helps when figuring out, or even adding, new implementations.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by EkoJR.

Just keep in mind one concept if you think user friendliness matters for your plugin : STEPS are the key. What I mean is instead of showing all the available information at a time, just separate it into steps, in order to finally display ONLY what the user needs to be displayed.

The benefits of it are multiple :

– The creation of a list become easy as fuck if he has to follow a step by step query construction. This means a better productivity for creating lists.
– No useless informations are displayed, only what the user have checked for this query
– Better visibility to modify the query if something is wrong, or if he has forgotten to check something.

Now, if you expect to include additional UI, I wanna say “why not”. But imo, first things first! This means, in short :

STEP 1 : Modify your actual UI with the best idea you have.
STEP 2 : Release the version and ask what people are thinking about it.
STEP 3 : With all these opinions, you’ll have enough data to optimize your new UI, and will be able to start for additional UI if really you want to.

But first, just my 2 cents, work at one project at a time.

That is the main concept I like about your idea. Breaking it down into steps instead of laying it all out in one huge complicated mess. It’s pretty much been like that ever since I’ve adopted APL.

I do try to request feedback, but seems very sparse for the most part (Forum Stickies do help a little). So, the only solution I can think of is incorporating a dashboard to display news and information, as well as resource links to beginner guides. Basically, most of the important ‘useless information’ would be moved to a more ideal location.

Keep in mind, the UI changes planned for 0.4 will be different with a concept being introduced. I mentioned splitting the Design rendering and the Query settings to their own Object/Class. I do think this will make things more productive and easier. Allowing others to create designs, then create multiple preset queries which can utilize the same design multiple times. Still can’t decide on making both dynamic, or keeping preset queries static/unique. …but I think I’ll be use the Test Layout idea to implement the new concept.

At any rate, I plan on keeping the layout simple, and intuitive (by following WP’s design), and then work on new layouts. As soon as 1.0 gets close, the community will hopefully determine which one(s) to keep.

Hey @moxymore

I wanted to let you know I haven’t forgotten, and that you’re idea & work did have an effect. I was also curious what kind of feedback you may have on the Issue – Change Admin Page for 0.4.

I’ve been hard at work redesigning much of the Admin UI, as well as much of the backend work to support it. 0.4 is going to see a very BIG make over, and with the understanding I have compared to the past, APL seems significantly improved.