I have two usability suggestions here. First is that this module clearly provides additional settings for URL aliases. IMHO it should clearly be on the screen where URL aliases are anyway. The bulk deletion interface is already there and is disconnected from the path auto interface as evidenced by http://drupal.org/node/246658 My suggestion is to move the main pathauto settings page under the URL alias screen as "Automated alias settings". This would also migrate from the "Pathauto" menu title to a more sensible task based tab, which tells more about what does this actually do. Pathauto is so much a terminus technicus it should not be on the user interface.
The other usability suggestion included in this patch is to change all user facing references to taxonomy terms to taxonomy terms. Drupal 5 named this categories (and there are *lots* of places in the code where terms are named categories), but Drupal 6 does not use this term, so it is confusing. We should use the core term for this.
I have more usability suggestions coming up, and I'm also looking at writing some tests for the module, but I'd like to settle the URL I need to invoke in tests, hence the patch.
(Attached patch was rolled from the SVN repo I am using and should apply from the root to pathauto HEAD).
| Comment | File | Size | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| pathauto_usability.patch | 2.69 KB | gábor hojtsy |
Comments
Comment #1
Rowanw commentedSubscribing. Pathauto certainly has a lot of room for improvement in usability.
Comment #2
gregglesI've had this discussion before, but most of the stuff on admin/settings/pathauto is actually settings. Only the bulk generate part of the Pathauto page is a "build" related item (IMO) and there is an issue for creating the own page for the at #201151: Use batch API to perform path alias bulk updates.
But, the whole "General Settings" area and the "...path patterns" I think are pretty clearly settings...
Now, I do agree that it would make sense to integrate Pathauto into the Path area, so perhaps this should go there. I'll try to test this out when I'm back working (note, that doesn't happen for 1.5 weeks).
Comment #3
gregglesI looked around and found pages like admin/content/node-settings which is clearly a settings page, but it is in content. And again, for example, admin/build/block/configure/user/0 which is a settings page for a block. So, I'm willing to be persuaded on moving this to a subtab of the Aliases (not sure if mikeryan has a feeling on that).
So, I've commited this to HEAD. Thanks, Gábor!
Comment #4
gábor hojtsyGreat!
Comment #5
Anonymous (not verified) commentedAutomatically closed -- issue fixed for two weeks with no activity.