Right now, the tasks show up as menu tabs. While this is useful and quickly configured, it has its limitation. First, there is a limit to the number of tabs we can have before the interface degenerates. Once you enable the devel module (with the dev render and dev load tabs) on a hosting install, the Verify task on a site will wrap around under the left column in a Garland. I attach a first screenshot for that.

What I think is that we should have the "Tasks" listing on the right to not be a "queue" list but more like a "tasks" list. All the latest tasks should be listed there, even if they never have been executed. Here's an ugly mockup of the potential interface.

+-------+----------+--------------+
| TASK  |Last run  |Status        |
+-------+----------+--------------+
|Install|5 days ago|Success       |
+-------+----------+--------------+
|Verify |3 days ago|Success       |
+-------+----------+--------------+
|Backup |3 days ago|Success       |
+-------+----------+--------------+
|Restore|          |Never ran     |
+-------+----------+--------------+
|Migrate|1 day ago |Failed [retry]|
+-------+----------+--------------+
|Disable|Never     |Never ran     |
+-------+----------+--------------+

Clicking on the task would go to the regular menu...

CommentFileSizeAuthor
#6 0001-instead-of-showing-the-confusing-task-node-clicking_1.patch7.87 KBmig5
#4 0001-instead-of-showing-the-confusing-task-node-clicking.patch7.98 KBanarcat
snap-2009.05.05-12.54.22.png29.41 KBanarcat

Comments

anarcat’s picture

anarcat commented

[Dupe edited out.]

anarcat’s picture

anarcat commented

Another mockup, this time with a cancel button.

+-------+------------+--------------------+
| TASK  |Last run    |Status              |
+-------+------------+--------------------+
|Install|5 days ago  |Success             |
+-------+------------+--------------------+
|Verify |3 days ago  |Success             |
+-------+------------+--------------------+
|Backup |3 days ago  |Success             |
+-------+------------+--------------------+
|Restore|Now         |In progress [cancel]|
+-------+------------+--------------------+
|Migrate|1 day ago   |Failed [retry]      |
+-------+------------+--------------------+
|Disable|Never       |Never ran           |
+-------+------------+--------------------+
anarcat’s picture

anarcat commented
Version: 5.x-0.2-alpha1 » 6.x-0.4-alpha1
Status: Active » Needs work

The attached patch does part of this. It's not quite up to speed with the mockups (it shows the creation date and the action is not as intuitive), but it's a good start, I think.

I'd like to get feedback of what people think of the proposed interface.

One thing that's missing from the patch /or/ commits is a way to access the task itself, since the task links now to the confirmation dialog itself. I was thinking of adding a "history" button...

anarcat’s picture

anarcat commented
StatusFileSize
new 0001-instead-of-showing-the-confusing-task-node-clicking.patch7.98 KB

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omega8cc’s picture

omega8cc commented

Nice, I like it. The second mockup with a cancel button for task waiting in the queue would be a great improvement when implemented.

~Grace

Anonymous’s picture

Anonymous (not verified) commented
StatusFileSize
new 0001-instead-of-showing-the-confusing-task-node-clicking_1.patch7.87 KB

Yep I like this too.

Attached is an updated patch, I am just fixing some trivial stuff (spelling mainly, we had references to #weigth instead of #weight.. though it wasn't making anything 'not' work as far as I could see)

anarcat’s picture

anarcat commented

So i worked further on all the tasks stuff on my laptop, but it's stuck there. I'll try to extract that tonight or tomorrow.

anarcat’s picture

anarcat commented
Status: Needs work » Fixed

So I consider this fixed. Some usability concerns were raised in #422970: have one task type per site node but I consider those warrant extra work outside of this patch and separate issues should be opened about it.

anarcat’s picture

anarcat commented

See also #600350: provide a nice "history" of ran tasks.

Status: Fixed » Closed (fixed)

Automatically closed -- issue fixed for 2 weeks with no activity.