[consulting] A defense for new users

[Kieran Lal]

On Feb 24, 2006, at 9:16 PM, John Handelaar wrote:

Ok, clearly I have failed to provide enough context.

> So, given that
>
> a)  You're offering no mechanism by which people can help you get  
> something into core,
>
Yeah, actually I am.  I am suggesting that if some new user advocates  
work with me we can work together to make some arguments why a new  
user task interface should be in core.  The context which I should  
have provided was that during my user experience work shop at Drupal  
Con in Vancouver two weeks ago Dries reviewed the administration  
module for core and we have been working to implement his recommended  
changes.  Unfortunately, the criticism from advanced users has led to  
us not being able to implement a design that works for new users.   I  
apologize for not clarifying that the administration module was  
currently under review for core(not sure which version).
> b)  There *is* no mechanism by which people *here* can help  
> anything get into core anyway, and

Actually the two people who have responded from this list to help  
will probably provide us with enough resources to further explain why  
a new user task oriented interface is useful.
>
> c)  Since nobody has actually said "No" (other than in relation to  
> Drupal 4.7) and therefore it just looks like you're trying to open  
> a second front - and I'll leave for another day just how much  
> *that* could blow up  in a person's face -

Again I should have indicated that this module is under review for  
core inclusion.  What I was looking for was people to help advocate  
an interface for new users.  I found that help on this list.

> I ask again:
>
> Why can't it be done in themes and modules?

It could be.  Just install the administration module and theme away.  
Installing contributed modules was so obvious I didn't think to  
answer :-)  Here it is for 4.7 if you want to try it: http:// 
cvs.drupal.org/viewcvs/drupal/contributions/modules/administration/

>
> It's *not* going to be in 4.7, which is on for release any week now  
> and therefore in feature-freeze.  Ripping out the entire admin  
> system at this point is clearly nuts.

It's actually not that invasive.  We were going to just change the  
default menu configuration for Drupal core.  But that's just default  
settings, not actual core menu changes.

> As a consultant I'm more interested in having the function than I  
> am in having it provided by core modules.  'Helping the users'  
> right now would involve not delaying that for another year or so.

> If there's a good technical reason for it being impossible to  
> achieve other than in core, the time to have mentioned what and why  
> was about 10 thread messages ago.

There's no technical reason. Just trying to do our part to support  
the roadmap of making Drupal more accessible to new users.

Cheers,
Kieran
>
>
> jh
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