Problem/Motivation

Throughout the administration interface, there are often lists of items with a column for operations. These operations often include items like "edit", "delete", "view" ... However, there is a huge inconsistency across not only the wording of these options, but the options available. Here is a quick run down of the available operations for each admin interface.

There are quite a few inconsistencies. Places where there could be delete options do not have one such as comments and users, sometimes the operation is appended with the object such as "edit permission" and "edit vocabulary", and the difference between edit and configure is unclear.

Proposed resolution

When the list deals with content, the operations should be "edit" and "delete". When the list deals with structure, we should use the term "configure" instead of "edit". In the cases where we are both editing and configuring on the same screen (Blocks, for example) we will use the operation "edit"

Comments admin/content/comment

  • edit
  • delete needed

Content admin/content

  • edit
  • delete

Taxonomy admin/structure/taxonomy
after #1340500: Merge "list terms" page into "edit vocabulary" page

  • edit
  • add terms

List Terms admin/structure/taxonomy/[vocab]

  • edit
  • delete needed

Blocks admin/structure/block

  • configure change to edit
  • delete (only custom)

Content types admin/structure/types

  • edit change to "configure"
  • manage fields
  • manage display
  • delete

Menus admin/structure/menu
after #663946: Merge "List links" page into "Edit menu" page

  • edit
  • add link
  • delete needed

Menu: list links admin/structure/menu/manage/[menu-name]

  • edit
  • delete

Modules admin/modules
after #1355442: Add "Update available" indicator to the modules list

  • help
  • permissions change to "set permissions"
  • configure
  • update

Themes admin/appearance

  • settings change to "configure"
  • disable
  • set default

Actions admin/config/system/actions/manage

  • configure
  • delete

Triggers admin/structure/trigger

  • unassign change to "disable"

Text Formats admin/config/content/formats

  • configure
  • disable

Roles admin/people/permissions/roles

  • edit role change to "configure"
  • edit permissions change to "set permissions"

Users admin/people

  • edit
  • not going to add delete here - for good reasons

Remaining tasks

Below is a list of issues that will need to be resolved to cleanup these interfaces:

Add a "delete" operation for Comments at admin/content/comment
Add a "delete" operation for List Terms at admin/structure/taxonomy/[vocab]
Add a "delete" operation for Menus at admin/structure/menu
Change "configure" to "edit" for Blocks types at admin/structure/block
Change "edit" to "configure" for Content types at admin/structure/types
Change "edit role" to "configure" for Roles at admin/people/permissions/roles
Change "edit permissions" to "set permissions" for Roles at admin/people/permissions/roles
Change "permissions" to "set permissions" for Modules at admin/modules
Change "settings" to "configure" for Themes at admin/appearance
Change "unassign" to "disable" for Triggers at admin/structure/trigger

Comments

ultimateboy’s picture

ultimateboy CreditAttribution: ultimateboy commented

http://drupal.org/node/341984 address the two cases where "no operations" is listed above.

yoroy’s picture

yoroy CreditAttribution: yoroy commented
Version: 7.x-dev » 8.x-dev
Component: usability » ajax system

Consistency is still a worthy goal here.

ultimateboy’s picture

ultimateboy CreditAttribution: ultimateboy commented
Title: Standardize Operations » Standardize operations' text throughout UI
Component: ajax system » user interface text
jenlampton’s picture

jenlampton
she / her
CreditAttribution: jenlampton commented

+1 for this effort.

Additionally, I find it really frustrating when we say "edit" when we mean "configure". Can we limit the word "edit" to circumstances where we're actually changing the content, and use "configure" when we are adjusting settings?

Also, some of the above list will change based on #663946: Merge "List links" page into "Edit menu" page and #1340500: Merge "list terms" page into "edit vocabulary" page

jenlampton’s picture

jenlampton
she / her
CreditAttribution: jenlampton commented
Issue tags: +Usability

doh, forgot the tag.

jenlampton’s picture

jenlampton
she / her
CreditAttribution: jenlampton commented
Issue summary: View changes

Updating to latest strings

jenlampton’s picture

jenlampton
she / her
CreditAttribution: jenlampton commented
Issue summary: View changes

Issue summary initiative, clarify suggested changes.

jenlampton’s picture

jenlampton
she / her
CreditAttribution: jenlampton commented
Issue summary: View changes

Add some more changes, possibly.

jenlampton’s picture

jenlampton
she / her
CreditAttribution: jenlampton commented
Issue summary: View changes

Add a few more, delete the delete operation for users

jenlampton’s picture

jenlampton
she / her
CreditAttribution: jenlampton commented
Issue summary: View changes

remove ?s and change of terms to term.

jenlampton’s picture

jenlampton
she / her
CreditAttribution: jenlampton commented
Issue summary: View changes

added change to modules page

yoroy’s picture

yoroy CreditAttribution: yoroy commented

Edit applies to content & Configure applies to settings makes sense.
A couple of issues to tackle that for consistency should be fine. Adding 'delete' operations, sounds fair, but I didn't look and check, there's some history in previous discussions around this.

I'm dubious about the 'set permissions' changes, I'm not sure there's a problem that needs fixing there.

I think this will be most productive with a first round of edit/configure cleanups. Going through those will probably teach us a couple of things about how to approach the others.

jenlampton’s picture

jenlampton
she / her
CreditAttribution: jenlampton commented

@yoroy Re "set permissions"
On the roles page it's "edit permissions" and on the modules page it's just "permissions" We should consistently call it the same thing. I'm open to suggestions/alternatives though.

Dave Reid’s picture

Dave Reid
he/him
Primary language English
Location Nebraska USA
CreditAttribution: Dave Reid commented

Note that these string should be capitalized if changed or modified as per #421118: [Meta] Standardize capitalization on actions

Dave Reid’s picture

Dave Reid
he/him
Primary language English
Location Nebraska USA
CreditAttribution: Dave Reid commented
Issue summary: View changes

rearranged TODO list

greta_drupal’s picture

greta_drupal CreditAttribution: greta_drupal as a volunteer commented

I would add to that the button label "Cancel" for user accounts. This really should be "Delete". Cancel is commonly used to 'interrupt' an operation. You might CANCEL the registration process for a new account, but once created you would delete it.

I get that in the real world one might 'cancel their cable tv account' or whatever. But, there does exist a conflict with the two uses of that word meaning different things.

Version: 8.0.x-dev » 8.1.x-dev

Drupal 8.0.6 was released on April 6 and is the final bugfix release for the Drupal 8.0.x series. Drupal 8.0.x will not receive any further development aside from security fixes. Drupal 8.1.0-rc1 is now available and sites should prepare to update to 8.1.0.

Bug reports should be targeted against the 8.1.x-dev branch from now on, and new development or disruptive changes should be targeted against the 8.2.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 8 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 release cycle.

Version: 8.1.x-dev » 8.2.x-dev

Drupal 8.1.9 was released on September 7 and is the final bugfix release for the Drupal 8.1.x series. Drupal 8.1.x will not receive any further development aside from security fixes. Drupal 8.2.0-rc1 is now available and sites should prepare to upgrade to 8.2.0.

Bug reports should be targeted against the 8.2.x-dev branch from now on, and new development or disruptive changes should be targeted against the 8.3.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 8 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 release cycle.

tkoleary’s picture

tkoleary CreditAttribution: tkoleary at Acquia commented
Version: 8.2.x-dev » 8.3.x-dev
Issue tags: +sprint

Version: 8.3.x-dev » 8.4.x-dev

Drupal 8.3.0-alpha1 will be released the week of January 30, 2017, which means new developments and disruptive changes should now be targeted against the 8.4.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 8 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 release cycle.

Version: 8.4.x-dev » 8.5.x-dev

Drupal 8.4.0-alpha1 will be released the week of July 31, 2017, which means new developments and disruptive changes should now be targeted against the 8.5.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 8 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 release cycle.

Version: 8.5.x-dev » 8.6.x-dev

Drupal 8.5.0-alpha1 will be released the week of January 17, 2018, which means new developments and disruptive changes should now be targeted against the 8.6.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 8 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 release cycle.

Version: 8.6.x-dev » 8.7.x-dev

Drupal 8.6.0-alpha1 will be released the week of July 16, 2018, which means new developments and disruptive changes should now be targeted against the 8.7.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 8 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 release cycle.

Version: 8.7.x-dev » 8.8.x-dev

Drupal 8.7.0-alpha1 will be released the week of March 11, 2019, which means new developments and disruptive changes should now be targeted against the 8.8.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 8 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 release cycle.

Version: 8.8.x-dev » 8.9.x-dev

Drupal 8.8.0-alpha1 will be released the week of October 14th, 2019, which means new developments and disruptive changes should now be targeted against the 8.9.x-dev branch. (Any changes to 8.9.x will also be committed to 9.0.x in preparation for Drupal 9’s release, but some changes like significant feature additions will be deferred to 9.1.x.). For more information see the Drupal 8 and 9 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 and 9 release cycles.

Version: 8.9.x-dev » 9.1.x-dev

Drupal 8.9.0-beta1 was released on March 20, 2020. 8.9.x is the final, long-term support (LTS) minor release of Drupal 8, which means new developments and disruptive changes should now be targeted against the 9.1.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 8 and 9 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 and 9 release cycles.

Version: 9.1.x-dev » 9.2.x-dev

Drupal 9.1.0-alpha1 will be released the week of October 19, 2020, which means new developments and disruptive changes should now be targeted for the 9.2.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 9 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 9 release cycle.

Version: 9.2.x-dev » 9.3.x-dev

Drupal 9.2.0-alpha1 will be released the week of May 3, 2021, which means new developments and disruptive changes should now be targeted for the 9.3.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal core minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal core release cycle.

Version: 9.3.x-dev » 9.4.x-dev

Drupal 9.3.0-rc1 was released on November 26, 2021, which means new developments and disruptive changes should now be targeted for the 9.4.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal core minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal core release cycle.

Version: 9.4.x-dev » 9.5.x-dev

Drupal 9.4.0-alpha1 was released on May 6, 2022, which means new developments and disruptive changes should now be targeted for the 9.5.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal core minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal core release cycle.

Version: 9.5.x-dev » 10.1.x-dev

Drupal 9.5.0-beta2 and Drupal 10.0.0-beta2 were released on September 29, 2022, which means new developments and disruptive changes should now be targeted for the 10.1.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal core minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal core release cycle.

Version: 10.1.x-dev » 11.x-dev

Drupal core is moving towards using a “main” branch. As an interim step, a new 11.x branch has been opened, as Drupal.org infrastructure cannot currently fully support a branch named main. New developments and disruptive changes should now be targeted for the 11.x branch, which currently accepts only minor-version allowed changes. For more information, see the Drupal core minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal core release cycle.