I really hate the separate page to show the regions for each theme. That link to the regions page doesn't even show on the Block Admin page at all times. I saw that link once, but not again; and I do not see how to get back to that regions depiction page. Having those regions identified on the Block Admin page was sooooo much better. I cannot think of any good reason that was broken out. And, I am dreading the time wasted on this UI change.
It is one thing if you have only 1 website theme that you work on regularly. It is another to be working on 20 different projects/themes at once time, and not all of them regularly. It is important to have a quick/easy reminder of those regions.
| Comment | File | Size | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| #2 | scr_block-admin.jpg | 74.24 KB | greta_drupal |
Comments
Comment #1
Jeff Burnz commentedThe link is on the block admin page - admin/structure/block
The UI change is a core change, Bartik can't do much about that. I actually like the change since now i have more room for the table to expand and its not all crammed up + often times I think the block regions were a distraction, although in the beginning I can see how they can be helpful. Now I just open the block regions example page in another tab.
Comment #2
greta_drupal commentedI beg to differ. See attached. No link to the demo page.
Comment #3
Jeff Burnz commentedYou have help module disabled or you moved the block somewhere where it does not display in overlay.
Comment #4
greta_drupal commentedAh, there is now a movable system message block. Didn't realize that. But, I like it! ...Got excited for a minute that I could choose its location. But, alas, I tried it in a sidebar for only admin/* pages and it didn't show. I'll have to play with it more.
Comment #5
Jeff Burnz commentedHighlights a weakness though doesn't it (actually a real wtf imo), if you move help to a region that doesn't display in Overlay you loose critical functionality - you can't even view the regions. Sidebars never display in Overlay, if you switch overlay off they will show as per normal.
Comment #6
greta_drupal commentedYep, that is exactly what I did. And, I can see non-tech clients/staff doing that easily.
So, I'd agree that was probably not a good UI decision.
I was trying to quickly do a D7 site for demo, and when I lost the regions it was frustrating. I had no idea how to get back to that info. I thought that wasting 15+ mintues hunting for it, then another 15 minutes to post about it, and X minutes to get a response was an unreasonable effort.
And, it isn't like the sidebars are name logically: "sidebar right" and "sidebar left". ("Sidebar first" and "Sidebar second" imply stacked, to me.) And, "Triptych first", "Triptych second", "Triptych third"? Seriously? I've been a writer for 20 years, and I had to look those up -- not words that roll off the tongue in everyday use. This whole region naming had me scratching my head. The idea of Drupal 7 is to be less intimidating to novice users. If you are going to bother to change "Users" to "People" (was that really necessary?), why go with such obscure words for regions? I think that it will be offputting to end users. I'd call it a faux pas, but I'd never use "faux pas" in a user interface. *grin* ...I'd be curious to see the useability studies that lead to this decision.
If the regions had been named "Sidebar left", "Sidebar right", "Middle left", "Middle center", "Middle right"...the regions guide would be less important. (Middle implies vertical position -- "midriff", "middle child", "middle Earth", etc. "Left", "Right", "Center" = horizontal position. That makes sense. "First...Middle...Last" not parallel construction.)
To me Help is user input instructions. Something as essential as a layout guide I would not call "help". So, I would not have made that UI decision, personally.
Comment #7
jensimmons commentedGreta, you've started to talk about two different things in this one issue.
1) Your desire for the listing of regions for block placement to be in a different place;
2) Your desire for the Bartik regions to be renamed.
If you want to talk about a second thing, you need to open a separate issue. But before you do, you should go read about why regions are named "sidebar first" instead of "left sidebar". This is so that international languages can be supported, and the sidebars can be switched from one side to another as a site is changed into another language. There are long debates about this change on other issues on drupal.org.
As for the region map being separated from the block interface — I am guessing that was done in order to support the overlay. I'm sure there are discussions about that decision elsewhere as well, if you want to read about why it was done. Honestly, we all agree that everything about the block interface is a giant WTF at this point. That's why there is a whole movement to change it radically — called "Butler". You can help out, and help make Drupal better.... checkout http://groups.drupal.org/butler
Since the original post is about the block interface, I am changing the component to block module. Also, this request is too much of a change to happen for D7, so I am moving this to D8.
Comment #8
greta_drupal commentedGreta, you've started to talk about two different things in this one issue.
1) Your desire for the listing of regions for block placement to be in a different place;
2) Your desire for the Bartik regions to be renamed.
My points are interrelated. The point (as stated) being that since the regions names are not particularly intuitive, the regions guide is all the more important.
I have merely offered my user experience feedback, not made any demands (desires) upon the design team.
Comment #9
jhedstromTagging for IS update (I think there may be some duplicates out there about re-working the block admin UI).
Comment #22
quietone commentedMore information about this issue was asked for in #9, 6 years ago. No additional information has been supplied, therefor closing.
There is a meta that may be of interest,#2673758: [meta] Usability issues with the Drupal 8 block system
Thanks