OK so here’s something annoying which impacts “Dropdown” mode of Sidebar (which I ):
Open up “sidebar” in Dropdown mode (click)
Select Admin (click)
Sidebar opens
have to move mouse right across (significant move)
scroll down to “plugins” (significant scroll )
open installed (click)
Now notice that if you now open the Dropdown menu again, all the admin “sidebar” contents is still there in the dropdown with a “back to forum” button too. This makes me happy!
BUT
Why not just:
Open up “sidebar” in Dropdown mode (click)
Select Admin (click)
Dropdown menu re-opens in Admin mode (as it did earlier in the experiment, which I prefer to current behaviour)
have to move mouse right across (significant move) (no significant move as you are already there )
scroll down to “plugins” (significant scroll ) (no longer as significant a scroll because dual column )
Have you tried the sidebar filter and the button to expand/collapse all sidebar sections? Both will help you get to what you’re looking for without too much mouse movement.
We are not going to be able to prioritize the experience on sites with navigation menu set to “header dropdown” as we move forward. There will not be a “header dropdown” version of the admin sidebar.
Also we expect most sites will use navigation menu set to “sidebar” which has been the default for over a year now. If your site doesn’t need to use the header dropdown because of your own customizations which make the sidebar navigation less suitable, you should switch to “sidebar” navigation.
If you’re not able to or ready to switch now, then you might be a candidate for not enabling the experimental admin sidebar for the moment.
Hmmm … I still prefer the interim behaviour of the dropdown menu itself becoming a two column admin menu - whilst this was not 100% a standard UX behaviour for a dropdown it was very convenient and requires less contortions. And the non-standard-ness is in any case moot as the new behaviour is not 100% standard intuitive UX either (menu item opens a sidebar?) Shame if this can’t be an option.
For selecting a plugin to change a setting we now (in DropDown mode) have to go:
top right
click dropdown
click admin
bottom left
click plugins
click installed
go right select settings
versus
top right
click dropdown
click admin
scroll down
click specific plugin
More-over, the even older behaviour of selecting Admin then Plugins also required less movement as the Plugins nav item on the top nav bar was close to the dropdown menu …
Thanks @pmusaraj for pointing out that bug and thanks @martin for the quick fix! If anybody else notices buggy, inconsistent behavior here, please let us know. It should always take you to the admin sidebar when you select ADMIN from the header pulldown, and not ever display the admin navigation in the header pulldown. That was a bug.
@moin is right if you want the legacy admin navigation you want to remove any groups from the admin sidebar enabled groups setting. Also be sure navigation menu is set to Header Dropdown.
But to be clear, we have moved the admin navigation in Discourse to a sidebar layout. Let me quote myself from above in case anybody missed it:
right now i used the legacy admin nav, but have the navigation as sidebar instead of menu. it seems to work ok and i don’t see anything immediately wrong with it, but maybe i missed something?
Sure, the way you have it set up will work fine. But this topic is about the legacy header dropdown navigation so I thought you were talking about going back to that too.
It is? I thought the Dropdown navigation we have now is current and an alternative to the sidebar? Or did you mean “legacy experimental admin Dropdown”?
I simply had to turn this off. It was driving me crazy. It really doesn’t suit the use case when you have Header Dropdown enabled. The existing admin menu is a nicer combo.
I would definitely reconsider if there was a two column version of the admin menu in a scoped dropdown as there was earlier in the experiment.
Yes this is the problem really, it’s not designed to be used with the header dropdown navigation mode, it’s designed to be used as a sidebar. Sidebar navigation is our default for new sites, and we plan to retroactively turn on the sidebar navigation mode on all our hosted sites. We don’t plan to further develop the old header dropdown mode, nor do we plan to carry two different navigation modes for admins.
The real advantage of the header dropdown mode (for both the basic user and admin) is that it has two columns, which significantly improves the menu experience, makes things clearer to see and reduces the vertical navigation required.
imho, the amount of options and scrolling involved in the single column sidebar makes for a less pleasurable and practical experience.
I really do feel that we shouldn’t get too fixated on “having a sidebar for the sake of having a sidebar”
Happy to raise a feature request to both retain the Header Dropdown mode permanently and to support the admin menu in that format.
It needs a fix even as a sidebar. It is a nuisance to click Admin in the sidebar to have the sidebar retract and then you have to click the 3 bars to re open the sidebar for the admin panel
Recommend to reduce clicks to have it swap from regular side panel to admin panel upon clicking admin in the standard panel.
Since admins are rare users. I would move Admin to Top of sidebar as a Toggle switch that opens the Admin side panel after closing the standard sidebar.
Keep the functionality of what it was save it opens the sidebar vs the top menu. Also keep the fall back accessible under all settings. As all settings is just the settings drop down and not all settings as described.
Agreed. Discourse is marketed as customizable. The admin section should be themeable.
Default out if the box is fine. But the advantages of being themeable can be good for other platforms’ migrating to discourse with reducing some of the learning curve. As admin themes could be used to mimic other platforms admin interface somewhat.
The side panel is alright but needs options to customize. Ie maybe a favourites section at top for admins to place their often used links.
Our aim is to make the admin section as un-customizable as possible. If anything should be consistent, it’s the admin configuration UI.
I’m sorry I have no idea what you are talking about here, can you send through a screen recording or something?
This is all purely a matter of opinion. We intend on making further improvements to the sidebar navigation both for admins and for regular users, header dropdown will not receive significant more time investment or improvements. To re-quote Tobias:
We also intend to make other improvements to the admin sidebar including adding an admin-wide quick search, and adding customizable sidebar sections to the admin sidebar.
Maybe he is talking about mobile? On mobile you have to reopen the sidebar on landing in admin now, as opposed to seeing the old horizontal nav. This is the case even without the header dropdown.
We are improving the admin landing page too so there will be more destinations directly accessible without having to open the admin sidebar.
):
(significant move)
)
)
(menu item opens a sidebar?) Shame if this can’t be an option.