for the love of the content editors - drupalcon prague
TRANSCRIPT
For the love of the content editors By Pamela Barone
@pameeela September 25, 2013
Build better websites and get happier clients by showing some love for the
content editors!
Who are these people?
These people: • Don’t have much
web experience • Are easily confused
and lack confidence • Perform tasks very
slowly and carefully
These people: • Are quick to learn
new systems • Understand complex
user interfaces • Perform tasks
quickly and look for efficiencies
Not technical
Highly technical
CMS skill level
These people: • Have a lot of other
things to do besides update the website
• Rarely log in • Get frustrated when
they can’t remember how to do stuff
These people: • Spend most of the
day using the CMS • Perform the same
tasks over and over • Get frustrated with
inefficiency
Almost never
Almost always
CMS use level
Or, what’s in it for me?
Content editors and you
(Insert horror story here)
‘It works’ is not enough for a CMS.
Ease of use / Efficiency
Value
If they hate to use it, they won’t use it
(And they will say bad things about you)
Why don’t we always do it?
At the end, it’s too late
So let’s start at the beginning
by building usability into the process
Tip #1: Don’t settle for core!
http://blog.amazeelabs.com/en/periodic-table-drupal-modules-infographic
Recommended modules 1. Views Bulk Operations with Administration
views 2. Administration menu 3. WYSIWYG 4. LinkIt 5. Login destination 6. Admin theme - Shiny
1. VBO with Administration Views
Drupal core: • Two options for filtering • Clunky to use (one at a time) • No keyword search
VBO Admin view: • Title search • Better filters • Add your own filters!
admin/content
VBO with Administration Views
admin/people
Drupal core: • More clunky filters • Filter by permission?? • No additional options
VBO admin views: • Username, email search • Filter by role • Add your own filter!
2. Administration menu
(Comes with Administration Menu Toolbar Style)
With some basic options enabled
3. WYSIWYG
Including Spell Check As You Type!
4. LinkIt Embedded internal links without LinkIt: 1. Open a new window 2. Find the page you want to link to 3. Copy node ID (ideally) or path alias 4. Create a regular hyperlink
LinkIt
5. Login destination
Default login: user profile page
Login destination
Pick a better page!
6. Shiny admin theme
Tip #2: Ask questions
Ask questions – any questions
● What is the typical content workflow? ● What are the biggest pain points in the
current process? ● What do you love or hate about your current
CMS?
Tip #3: Naming things is hard – so make a plan for it!
Naming things is hard ● Leverage existing terminology ● Establish consistent labels for content types and
fields ○ Teaser: Brief description of the item that
appears on other pages that reference this page ○ Intro: Brief description of the item that appears
on the top of the page above the main content
2 31 1. Title
2. Thumbnail: Image that appears on index pages
3. Teaser: Text that appears on index pages
4. Feature image: Image that appears at the top of the page underneath the title
5. Author 6. Intro: Text that
appears before the body
7. Body: The main page contents
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Tip #4: Help text is your greatest weapon
Write good help text • Good help text should: ○ describe where the field output will appear ○ answer any obvious questions ○ list any limitations or requirements
● Bad help text: ○ provides no additional information ○ provides confusing information ○ does not provide information that is required to
understand how to use this field ○ is often worse than no help text
Bad: No additional information
Bad: Confusing information
From bad to good
Duh!
Oh, so that’s what it does!
From good to great
Clear enough...
Description plus a tip!
Using features for config?
Bonus!
Writing help text can reveal issues that need fixing
Copy and paste to create how-to guides
Tip #5: Contextual links – Drupal FTW
In-place administration
Tip #5a: Custom contextual links – there’s a module for that
Without custom links
1. Click Edit 2. Scroll down and click
publishing options tab 3. Untick promote 4. Save
With custom links
1. Click Remove content from front page
More custom links
Tip #6: Use common sense
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Field order matches display
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But not anymore :(
Turn off stuff you don’t need!
Tip #7: You build it, you try it
● Have you tried it?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/briandewitt/2391424578/
Build it into your process
1. Set up a base build with contrib 2. Ask questions 3. Name things well 4. Write good help text 5. Use contextual links and make custom ones 6. Don’t forget about common sense 7. Peer review pays dividends
It will only get better! And easier!
Content editors are the most important users of your website (Jeff Eaton says so)
THANK YOU!
Feedback please!
Locate this session at the DrupalCon Prague website:
http://prague2013.drupal.org/node/933
Click the “Take the survey” link