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#1 2019-06-09 02:49:24

Renka
Member
Australia
2019-06-06
16

Limited user interface

Hello,

I'm new to Piwigo and it works and I haven't found something better until now. But there are a zillion things in Piwigo that make working with it harder than it has to be.
One obvious thing: If I open a picture, I want to have the normal, standard options, like: move, copy, delete. Delete is available in an awkward menu, all the rest is not existing.
The same goes for the albums. To move an album you have to leave to that strange administration menu and afterwards you have to go to the album again. How easy would it be to have a simple button on the album page itself that lets you do all these things without having to leave and to come back afterwards.
Is it so difficult to create standard buttons on the page itself that allows an admin to do everyday tasks?
Normal users seem to have no problems with Piwigo, so that's great. But as an administrator I'm not very happy, even if it does what I want, but never simple, always convoluted and counter-intuitive.
I have used Wordpress for more than ten years and their menu structure and admin page is an example of user friendliness.
Maybe take a look one time?
Sorry if I am criticizing a program that works and works well, but the admin user interface needs a complete overhaul. For the rest, Piwigo is not bad, so don't be mad.

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#2 2019-06-10 03:43:08

flop25
Piwigo Team
2006-07-06
7037

Re: Limited user interface

don't hesitate to be part of the new revamp of administration panels
our issues is actually not the ideas, but like all opensource, the issue is the lake of working time on the project (more people, more free time)


To get a better help : Politeness like Hello-A link-Your past actions precisely described
Check my extensions : more than 30 available
who I am and what I do : http://fr.gravatar.com/flop25
My gallery : an illustration of how to integrate Piwigo in your website

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#3 2019-06-10 15:07:01

eliz82
Member
Romania
2016-04-27
281

Re: Limited user interface

I think I know what he mean. The Menalto Gallery2 that I used before Piwigo had that kind of menu in the picture or category (album) front-end interface. See my print-screen of the album menu (for admin). That menu items depends of user permissions level and the number of installed plugins. Then you click the items of the menu it will open that album/picture in the back-end interface, so you where always 1 click away from managing that picture or album.

The way Piwigo normally manage pictures/albums 3-5 clicks away from the page you are seeing (front-end interface) is counter-intuitive from a UX-UI standpoint.
Some plugins like Admin Tools, User Tags, etc ... put managing closer in terms of clicks, but those plugins menu is quite simplistic at the current time. He probably wants a more complex "Admin tools" type interface that is incorporated by default into Piwigo, and plugins could add new menu items in that administration toolbar.

Let me make a comparison between Gallery2 and Piwigo how to edit all the pictures of an album in batch mode, launching from front-end interface:
- For example in Gallery2 you browse an album, click "edit captions" and it will open all pictures titles/description/tags from that album in some kind of batch interface. So 1 click away.
- To do the same thing in Piwigo you must install Admin tools. Browse the album then click "Add to basket" -> click "Administration" -> click "Photos" -> click "Basket" -> click "Single mode." Now you are in the same type of batch interface after 5 clicks.

You lose more time but this not the end of the world.

What I see as a real big problem is that in Piwigo only admin has access to that batch interface where you can easily modify the pictures properties in an album. In Gallery2 every user with enough permission to that album/picture has access to the same interface that admin has.

Last edited by eliz82 (2019-06-11 07:30:05)

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#4 2019-06-10 15:58:37

erAck
Only trying to help
2015-09-06
1995

Re: Limited user interface

With Admin Tools for an image it's just Edit and then either Quick Edit or Properties page, from which one can Jump back to photo. I don't see anything cumbersome with that. For moving albums it's a tad more convoluted, agreed, but how many times does one move around albums?


Running Piwigo at https://erack.net/gallery/

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#5 2019-06-10 16:22:16

Renka
Member
Australia
2019-06-06
16

Re: Limited user interface

Eliz82, thank you. You understood what I meant. I know that an open source program has limitations because of the time and effort it demands from mostly volunteers, so I certainly appreciate the work that has been done. But, as you pointed out, the user interface of Piwigo can certainly be made better.
If nobody ever criticizes the result of hard work just because it IS hard work, then no progress will ever be made.
I'm impatiently waiting for V. 2.10.

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#6 2019-06-10 20:27:26

executive
Member
2017-08-16
1214

Re: Limited user interface

Real criticism is important. Whining is counterproductive. I think that sarcastic remarks like "a zillion things" , "Is it so difficult" are not only unhelpful but show a very immature and entitled attitude. Why would anybody use this language towards someone who provided them free software? Remember that the people giving their time do it because they enjoy doing it, not because they have to.

If you really want to help developers improve their software, then provide as much clear information as possible. Include screenshots that illustrate your point, suggest how it could be better, give examples, etc. A polite positive attitude and a couple words of encouragement don't hurt either.  Don't use snide remarks at all. Those just ruin people's day and work against you.

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#7 2019-06-10 21:23:27

Renka
Member
Australia
2019-06-06
16

Re: Limited user interface

I apologize, it's just that I worked hard on this gallery, posted nearly 7000 pics and got frustrated by so many things that could have been done better. It's not that Piwigo is an upstart, it exists for many years now.
I'm studying Computer Science  at Adelaide Univ, specialized in user interface. So you can understand that I had problems with how some things were presented in Piwigo.
But I agree, I should have toned down my remarks and should have limited myself to giving positive feedback.
I will do that from now on. :)
Thank you for your reply.

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#8 2019-08-13 15:16:44

plg
Piwigo Team
Nantes, France, Europe
2002-04-05
13786

Re: Limited user interface

Hello Renka,

I had not seen your post, this is why I didn't answer it. You're raising interesting points, even if the way you expressed them has produced immediate defensive reactions ;-)

Renka wrote:

I'm new to Piwigo and it works and I haven't found something better until now.

That's a very good first point. And I would like to say, to you and other readers, that if you take the time to post here, it's because you must think Piwigo deserves this time. I thank you for that :-)

Renka wrote:

One obvious thing: If I open a picture, I want to have the normal, standard options, like: move, copy, delete. Delete is available in an awkward menu, all the rest is not existing.

There is a big design choice here: in Piwigo you have the gallery on one side and the administration on another side. For a given photo, you can jump from the page in the gallery to the page in the administration. All admin features are in the administration (like moving, deleting, changing properties values...)

That being said, if you want more admin features on gallery side, activate [extension by Piwigo Team] Admin Tools, it was designed exactly for that :-)

Renka wrote:

The same goes for the albums. To move an album [...]

There is 2 types of movements : changing the parent album (this is what we mainly call a "move" in Piwigo) and sorting the sub-albums of a given album. You can move an album on its administration page by changing its parent album.

We also have the page [Administration > Albums > Manage > tab Move], but it has design flaws in my opinion, see [Github] Piwigo issue #1054

Renka wrote:

Is it so difficult to create standard buttons on the page itself that allows an admin to do everyday tasks?

Personnaly, I'm as much a visitor as an administrator on my own Piwigo photo gallery. I don't like to have the user interface made more complex to add admin actions. The more admin actions you add on gallery side, the more complicated it becomes to create gallery themes. I prefer to have a simple design on gallery to simply "visit" the albums and photos, and give a link to the admin page to perform all kind of administration actions.

Renka wrote:

But as an administrator I'm not very happy, even if it does what I want, but never simple, always convoluted and counter-intuitive.

OK. I agree there is a lot of room for improvement in Piwigo administration. Piwigo 2.10 will show some improvements for the upload form. Piwigo 2.11 will improve the Batch Manager. We're improving step by step :-)


Renka wrote:

I have used Wordpress for more than ten years and their menu structure and admin page is an example of user friendliness.
Maybe take a look one time?

I often use Wordpress too. Admin pages are fine, but not perfect (who is?). Speaking about Wordpress, it also work with a public Vs admin sides. For example, you can't validate pending comments on a post page. You need to do it on admin page. I think it's perfectly fine, don't you?


Renka wrote:

Sorry if I am criticizing a program that works and works well, but the admin user interface needs a complete overhaul.

I agree. As I said earlier this year, in [Forum, topic 29229] Piwigo turns 17 :

plg wrote:

The most significant challenge in the coming years is user experience. While Piwigo has top performance to manage high volume effectively, we regularly receive less positive feedback when it comes to aesthetics, ease of use and "first impressions".

Renka wrote:

For the rest, Piwigo is not bad, so don't be mad.

Piwigo is more than "not bad", it's freaking good :-) Not many other photo libraries are able to manage as many photos in such an efficient way!

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#9 2019-08-13 15:18:14

plg
Piwigo Team
Nantes, France, Europe
2002-04-05
13786

Re: Limited user interface

Renka wrote:

I should have toned down my remarks [...]

Maybe a little bit ;-)

Renka wrote:

[...] and should have limited myself to giving positive feedback.

certainly not, we need all feedbacks to improve Piwigo!

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