"Install new module" and "Install new theme" links are confusing [#2543066]

Problem/Motivation

I have seen this problem mentioned several places but haven't found a dedicated issue, so here it is.

At the top of the modules page there is an "Install new module" link (and a similar "Install new theme" link at the top of the themes page). This takes you through a workflow where you can upload a module to your site, but the module never actually gets turned on. Instead there's a "next steps" link on the screen that says "Enable newly added modules" which takes you back to the modules page so you can enable them there. (Sadly, themes are even more confusing since in Drupal 8 the corresponding link says "Install newly added themes" rather than "Enable".)

This wording only makes sense if you interpret "install" to mean "add something to your filesystem but don't turn it on" but I don't think most people think of it that way. (And we use the word "uninstall" in Drupal in a way that isn't the opposite of that usage - uninstalling a module doesn't delete it from the filesystem.)

Another reason this link is confusing is if you go to the modules page intending to turn on a module that you already have (e.g. a core module) you might be very tempted to click the "Install new module" link but that's the wrong thing to do because your module already appears in the list.

Proposed resolution

I thought about trying to use a different word than "install" in this link ("Add new module"? "Upload new module"?) but none really seemed like they would work.

Instead my suggestion is this:

Rename the link to "Install a module not listed below" in this issue.
Also do #992190: Link to enable a new module after adding it via the Update Manager is confusing - allow users to enable it directly from that screen instead so that it actually is possible to turn the new module on in the process of downloading it; that way the link will make sense regardless of how you interpret the word "install".

Remaining tasks

Change the wording and review it.

User interface changes

Only minor admin-facing ones.

API changes

None.

Comment	File	Size	Author
#1	update-manager-install-wording-2543066-1.patch	6.61 KB	David_Rothstein
#1	8.0.x: PHP 5.5 & MySQL 5.5 13,137 pass

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Comments

Comment #1

David_Rothstein CreditAttribution: David_Rothstein as a volunteer commented 30 July 2015 at 19:59

Status:	Active	» Needs review
Issue tags:		+Needs usability review, +Needs backport to D7

File	Size
update-manager-install-wording-2543066-1.patch	6.61 KB
8.0.x: PHP 5.5 & MySQL 5.5 13,137 pass

Something like this.

Comment #2

David_Rothstein CreditAttribution: David_Rothstein as a volunteer commented 30 July 2015 at 20:06

Issue summary:	View changes
Related issues:		+#992190: Link to enable a new module after adding it via the Update Manager is confusing - allow users to enable it directly from that screen instead

Comment #3

David_Rothstein CreditAttribution: David_Rothstein as a volunteer commented 30 July 2015 at 20:13

Didn't include it in the patch, but reading #1164714-3: Expected a clickable button to install new module from drupal.org. it might also be a good idea to change the wording of this in UpdateManagerInstall::submitForm():

    if ($updater->isInstalled()) {
      drupal_set_message($this->t('%project is already installed.', array('%project' => $project_title)), 'error');
      return;
    }

Although not entirely sure what to change it to.