Reviving Neos UI/UX Development

Creating Neos & Flow Design & UX
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Small improvements of the UX have been made, but for quite some time we have mostly concentrated on development but not on the conceptual work concerning longterm development of the UI/UX. There was quite some feedback and there are a lot of ideas floating around that should to be discussed. For this we had a meeting on how to proceed in the future:

1. Questions

  • How do you perceive the current UI/UX?

    • Sebastian
      • pragmatic good enough for most projects
      • main selling point
      • some glitches
    • Dominique
      • glitches mostly in inline editing
      • scalability of tree (technically)
    • Dimitri
      • tree, stream based content would be nice
      • node templates (new feature)
      • extensibility, “hacked” in a dashboard for quick access
    • Aske
      • stagnation, not much improvement
      • some ideas did not get implemented
      • ground work -> Design System, Atomic Design etc needed
      • reuse components in Backend modules
    • Christian
      • rigid, closed of
      • didn’t improve much
      • current UX works
      • still perceived as modern
    • Flo
      • it is usable and it works
      • makes me happy if I use it
      • sometimes I’d like to “strip it down” (e.g. structured editing only)
      • React Rewrite is a good basis
      • still a Neos USP

  • How do you perceive the current working mode on improving UI/UX?

    • Sebastian
      • no working mode so far
      • technical basis for innovation missing until now (Ember -> React)
    • Dom
      • no working mode
      • react offers agile working mode
    • Dim
      • hardest thing
      • more people curating, supervising the UI/UX (formerly Aske & Rasmus) would be nice
      • mode of collaboration, shared vision
    • Aske
      • lead, direction missing
      • look into old concepts would be nice
    • Christian
      • need direction
      • someone to be in charge of UI
    • Flo
      • impression that there is no working mode
      • lots of things are discussed (detailed feedback on the current UI, but not addressed)

  • What do you envision the UI/UX to be like in the future?

    • Sebastian
      • experiment a lot, short iteration on trying out new ideas & concepts
      • no concept has work out as drafted -> 3 iterations, rapid iterations would be nice
      • modular, application -> stript parts, mix and match
      • extensible, modular
      • structured editing
    • Dom
      • action based UI, publish news -> understanding of the tree, huge button, editor dashboard
      • more natural :wink:
    • Dim
      • hardest part structured editing (each paragraph a separate node), tabels, …
      • batch editing
    • Aske
      • polished
      • add improvements
      • some more love concerning design
    • Christian
      • rest of the backend feels disconnected
      • not flexible enough
      • bring all the UI closer together
      • more flexibility in the editing UI
      • backend modules inside the editing UI
      • skinning, just dark is too limited
      • accesibility
      • mobile, tablet usage
    • Flo
      • should be modular (e.g. reuse Neos editing experience inside Application projects)
      • structured editing
      • we used different metaphors in the past (e.g. city planning metaphor); would be great to have a metaphor for the new topics / projects as well. “Structured editing: What’s the vision / target / … behind?”

We need a Working Mode

  • meet at a monthly meeting

    • (start with current participants)

  • UI / UX Ownership: must be inside the Neos team!

  • What will be the workflow do we get stuff into the UI?

    • how to work with external feedback? (e.g. Issues on Github, …)
    • -> TODO Discuss in Vienna! (e.g. Github Issues etc)

  • How to communicate / where are files stored?

    • -> TODO decide in Vienna

  • Flo wants to have an Idea Collection Mood Board (e.g. in Discuss or so)

  • next Monthly -> 1st Tuesday /Month 14:00 CE

Next TODOs

  • Focus on a Design System (e.g. Atomic Design or something else?)

    • should be a modular system!
    • (Dominique started one Sketch design system, currently it is in google drive)
    • Alternative: use UI components as “living design system” (React Storybook)
    • (hard to keep two versions in sync!)
    • (React Component -> Sketch exporter?)
    • maybe adopt existing design system (like Material Design, IBM’s Design Language, …)?
    • -> TODO Discuss in Vienna! (Dominique; with Flo joining remotely)

  • TODO Flo: get big picture what feedback is already there and what should be done/can be done next.

    • Flo offered to be some kind of organisational lead
    • Organizational Sparring Partner: Dominique
    • we take decisions together in the monthly meeting or smaller groups

  • Discussion of UX/UI Vision (“Beyond Neos UI”)

    • e.g. is Content Mixdeck still relevant?
    • e.g. where to go with Structured Editing?
    • (come up with most important 3-4 topics)
    • TODO Dominique -> Vienna

New things to come :slight_smile:

Cheers, Flo

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