[yast-devel] redesign of webyast users module

29 Dec 2009

      Hi,

please find some ideas for a redesign of webYaST`s "Users" module at: http://home.arcor.de/martin.schmidkunz/
(wasn`t sure if it is a good idea to store all the jquery stuff in my  
Export...)
It is based on rlihm`s mock up (http://gagarin.suse.de/).

The basic concept is to show only the most important table entry on a  
top level (e.g. user name).
Therefore there are fewer elements on the screen which eases the use  
of the module and increases its self-descriptivness and its task  
orientation.
On a second level which the user accesses after clicking on the user  
name the user can choose whether to "edit" or "delete" the entry.  
Again it is avoided to show non-task related information.
Before deleting an item the user is prompted an "Are you sure?" pop up  
in order to increase error tolerance and prevent the user from  
unintended data loss.
"Edit" shows the settings of the list entry. If more settings are  
available they are organized in tabs.
The "Edit" dialog is left either via "Save" or "Cancel"
New list entries can be added via "Add New Item" button on top the list.

Concerning "basic concept"
* "Save"/"Cancel"/"Add" do not work properly in the mock up
* "Add" should be a wizard
* User needs to click "Save" twice (once in the edit tab and then in  
the main window) I am not sure whether this is intuitive. What do you  
think about that?
* list should be sortable but I am not caple of implementing this  
technically

Concerning "Users" module
* When adding a user currently there are 8-9 settings which needed to  
be adjusted and some of them seem quite obscure to me. So, what do you  
think: which settings should be really editable via GUI?
Currently there are:
Full Name
Groups
Default Group (GID)
Home Directory
Do not create home directory
Login Shell
Login Name
UID Number
Password

Full Name, Login Name, Password and Groups seem quite clear to me but  
is it really necessary to set login shell and UID in the GUI? And home  
directory? Wouldn`t it make sense to have a sane default which could  
be edited via an editor?

* What do you think about showing permissions in the users module as  
well? This would seem quite logical to me. What is the reason, why  
permissions and users are separated?

Do you have any other topics concerning users module GUI?

Looking forward to your comments!

Best regards and have a happy 2010,

Martin

----------------------------------------------------------------
Martin Schmidkunz
User Experience Specialist
martin.schmidkunz@novell.com
+49 (0) 911 740 53-346
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG Nürnberg)
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Novell, Inc.
Novell® Making IT Work As One™

Martin Schmidkunz

Ralf Haferkamp

Klaus Kaempf

Martin Schmidkunz

Klaus Kaempf

Ralf Haferkamp

Klaus Kaempf

tags

participants (3)