Provide an easier-to-use UI

I really like the clean and easy to get mockup. but would like to know from mauritsl if we are missing something here.

I also think your sketch doenst do justice to the token integration? how could we do this?

Making the configuration more friendly surely is a high priority for Hansel.

But Hansel rules is really not the same as your menu structure, and never will be. The concept of Hansel is that you can configure everything with the rules. So stick to the rules when designing a new interface :-)

My first thoughts on the screenshot:

1. "Add frontpage child".. My first impression was; "what is a frontpage child?". Now I see that you have seemed to move the add rule form to another page. And that we can get there by this link, or any of the "Add child" links on the rules. That is really nice, it saves us from having to choose the parent in a confusing drop down list. But the naming "frontpage child" is incorrect. It is not just for the frontpage, and (technically speaking) not a child. The name "Add top-level rule" is better imo.
2. The texts "view", "content type" and "node 2" seems to tell what kind of page this is. As I said before, rules are not pages. You have to tell there what the logic action is (switch, goto or leave) and what the rule dos with your breadcrumbs (add one link, add link to node etc.).

When using Hansel myself, I think the following is confusing / difficult:

1. The list of rules become large when setting up a complete configuration. It not uncommon to have 20-40 rules. This makes it more difficult to see which rules are going to be executed for a path.
2. The rule name is now used as value for switches. Because of that, you end up having a lot of rules with nodetypes, node id's or "" in the name. It's not always descriptive. But adding a description is imo not a great solution. I think it's better to have a different look for rules which are children from a switch rule.
3. The switch configuration form is difficult to find. You can get there by clicking on the name of the switch in the overview (try adding an url argument switch and change it to case sensitive matching). It would be desired to integrate this in the add / edit rule form. But that does not help with the next point:
4. The form to add / edit a rule is a form with 2 steps. When editing a rule, you always have to go to all the steps, even if you just want to change a single field.

To answer your last question, the readme file describes all features currently available (it has a 100% coverage as far as I know). The roadmap has only new breadcrumb actions and switch types (see #803272).

Rests me to say that any input / sketches on how to make Hansel a joy is really appreciated :)

Forgot to comment on the settings page...

A setting to enable / disable the "Home" crumb will not make in Hansel. It's more because you also must be able to have the domain name, or organic group name as first crumb. You can do this with the rules. Providing settings for this is duplication of functionality.

Any settings that _may_ be added in the future are cache settings and settings to trim the length of long titles.

Problem is that, if you want to add breadcrumbs to views pages that way, is that I have to write an integration for views module. But you also want it for the blogs module, and for forums, for panels and a lot more modules. This is more the concept of the Custom breadcrumbs module.

Why I want to stick to the rules is cause of it's simplicity (technically speaking). It does not need an integration for views or panels to make it work.

There is no point in making Hansel work more like other breadcrumb modules. It will make Hansel less powerful and will require a full rewrite of Hansel.

I'm looking for a way to make the rules more understandable. Another way I thought of is visualizing the rules in a state diagram, where every rule is a separate state. That resembles the way how Hansel works now. Have a look at some state diagrams: http://www.google.nl/images?q=state+diagram and image every rule as a single state.

not meant in a bad way (but these two are 20 feet apart from each other), so my tip of the day:

"you two.. get a room!" :-)

This seems powerful but I can't get a single thing to work nor do I have any idea what I'm doing - regardless of reading the help doc, looking at screenshots, etc..

'Go to' is confusing because there is no choice for destination - so you can add those..

I just want to specify breadcrumbs when I'm at certain URLs...why so hard?

HINT: Name = the path it hits on

Ahhhh

We are still working on a way to make Hansel more easy. What stunned me in the past is that breadcrumbs are 'not easy'. Getting the breadcrumbs the way I want ended in custom modules most of the time. My first answer to the question "why so hard?" thus will be; breadcrumbs ain't easy..

Note that the rule name is only the path argument it hits on when using the url argument switch, as explained in section 2.2.3 of the readme file.

I played around with Hansel for well over half an hour, but I'm really lost with this module. A better UI or at least one solid example would make life so much better. I've got the feeling this might be a pretty powerful breadcrumb module but I can't get it to work.

Maybe you should take a look at rules module for the UI?

I am not really sure what the point is of this approach? This does not really seem to be breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs should just detect the page you are on, remember it, and build a list. The concept of breadcrumbs is easy. This module has a concept that is difficult.

I think if 20-40 rules are needed, it is unlikely this module will be popular. Even after reading this thread and spending 30 minutes with the module, I'm still not sure what it is supposed to do that is better than regular breadcrumbs (maybe I am stupid? :) ).

Still, perhaps I am completely missing something here. Clearly the way the module works, the UI and approach is very non-Drupal. Is that a good thing? Not sure, because I have to say, so far I just don't get it. I bet $1000 that most people that install this will uninstall it within 5 minutes. I don't think that's what a module developer wants.

Possibly a step by step tutorial may help. I also think you should find another way to explain the module - I don't think it is breadcrumbs.

I uninstalled it in 5 minutes

Note that the rule name is only the path argument it hits on when using the url argument switch, as explained in section 2.2.3 of the readme file.

I think this is the confusing part. I was understanding the rule name as a descriptive term rather than a logical term.

I've spent a bit more time with Hansel today and I think I've finally got my head around how it works. I think the interface is actually fine but what needs looking at is the terms and definition of words in the interface.

As I said above, "name" doesn't make it very clear it's actually node type or path - note that I have an node type named Event (machine name: event) which has a path of events/event-title. When I used "events" in the name, as I thought it would be looking for the path, it wouldn't work. However, changing the rule name to event works correctly.

In the configuration "action with breadcrumbs" and "action" is also very confusing. I understand what is meant by them but I think better names could be used. I'm not sure what at the moment but I'll think about it.

For those still trying to figure it out, think of "action with breadcrumbs" as what to do with the current breadcrumb. Do we do nothing with it or do we create a link? If we create a link, where do we link to.

And then think of "Action" as what to do next. We've done something with our breadcrumb, now what? Do we do nothing? (Leave) or do we call another rule (Goto rule). I haven't used or figured out Switch yet though.

This is actually a very powerful module and I think has potential but I think a good tutorial needs creating plus the language used needs revising or requires more explanation as it is rather confusing at the moment.

Last time I checked in (about a year ago), I thought the module was pretty awesome. Definitely needs some UI tweaking; like you said, most importantly, the terminology. And, we need some Features integration.