Extension Manager:UI Update: Difference between revisions

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== Background  ==
#REDIRECT[[Firefox/Projects/Extension_Manager_Redesign]]
 
This wiki will serve as a planning page for a redesign of the Addons Manager for Firefox 3.7.
 
The addons manager has been largely unchanged in Firefox, while the scope and functionality of addons has increased dramatically. Especially in light of new addons functionality and projects, such as Personas and Jetpack, the addons manager could be improved and redesigned in order to better assist users personalising their browsing experience.
 
== Current Addons Manager  ==
 
=== Positives  ===
 
;Pre-populated Featured Addons
:The current design's constant inclusion of five featured addons provides a benefit especially to new users, by giving them both an idea of what addons can do and possibly suggesting one he is interested in downloading. This also provides a huge benefit to the developers whose addons are featured
 
;AMO-wide Search
:The addons manager allows users to search through all addons on AMO, get search results back within the addons manager, and install them - all without visiting AMO. This is excellent functionality for people who know exactly what addon they want to install. Unfortunately, because this feature is not very discoverable, many experienced users are not aware it exists.
 
=== Negatives  ===
 
;Category confusion
:Addons are currently categorized by terms such as "extensions" and "addons," which are similar to each other and not necessarily meaningful to users. While some separatio of addons by category is probably necessary, expanding the correct category is currently the only way to find a desired addon. This leads to the common current user behavior of clicking categories until he finds the addon he is looking for, rather than finding it obvious where the desired addon will be.
 
;Finding an addon is difficult
:related to the above, currently category selection and then scanning is the only way to locate a particular addon. In many cases, the user knows exactly the name of the addon he wants to find, but not what category it is in. Compounding this problem, users sometimes go to the Preferences page first, which handle similar issues as many addons.
 
;Little room for addon information
:Addons are currently displayed in one line each, with a one sentence description. Potentially useful information such as the author, size, or options for an addon are not displayed.
 
;Redundancy, especially in installing updates<br>
:Currently the category pages say if updates are available, and a separate Updates tab does as well. A "Find Updates" button on category pages links to the Updates page.
 
;Inconsistency
:The current addons manager looks very much unlike other parts of Firefox's UI. The user encounters interactions in the addons manager that they do not see anywhere else in Firefox, leading to the user taking longer to complete a task.
 
== Priority Areas to Improve  ==
 
There are five main areas of the addons manager that this redesign will involve:
 
;1. Maintaining and Configuring
 
:*Allow users to quickly locate the addon they want to inspect
:*Provide simple, usable controls for basic addon operations such as disabling and uninstalling
:*Allow new forms of addons, such as jetpacks and personas, to be maintained and configured easily alongside traditional addons
:*(at best) Provide users with a consistent place to go for a particular addon's preferences, or (at worst) provide users with a consistent place to go to launch a particular addon's preferences
 
;2. Updating
 
:*Indicate to the user that updates are available without blocking the startup of Firefox
:*Allow the user to choose silent updates if they prefer, and for those updates to happen without interfering with browsing
 
;3. Installing
 
:*Streamlining the install process to as few steps as possible
:*Providing the user with a clear indication of the process and what actions are needed, especially in the face of possibly differing install experiences per addon (restart required vs not)
 
;4. Discovering
 
:*Providing a compelling first run experience to new addons users, including showing what addons can do in a way that makes sense to non-technical users
:*Allowing users to search for addons from within the Addons manager, only requiring a visit to  AMO when greater community involvement or information is sought
 
;5. Troubleshooting
 
:*(possibly) Provide a way to rank addons by size, RAM, etc to see if disabling one would give a significant performance boost
 
While a cohesive redesign will likely touch all of these areas, the first iteration of the addons manager redesign will consider tiers of importance in where to direct efforts and design.
 
{| class="fullwidth-table"
|-
| style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(194, 242, 183);" |
'''Tier One: ''' <br> '''Basic Functionality'''<br>Minimum features needed for usable addons manager, would substantially change in any redesign, incorporation of newer forms of addons (jetpacks, personas) cannot happen without
 
| style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(242, 223, 183);" |
'''Tier Two: ''' <br> '''Current Problems<br>'''Areas that are currently interrupting user tasks
 
| style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(242, 183, 183);" |
'''Tier Three''':<br> '''Enhancements<br>'''Features that are currently barely present in addons manager but would provide substantial value to users
 
|-
| 1. Maintaining and Configuring
| 2. Updating
| 4. Discovering
|-
|
| 3. Installing
| 5. Troubleshooting
|}
 
The goal of this project is to substantially improve the basic functionality of the Addons Manager (tier one), turn current "interruption" areas into integrated parts of the browser (tier two), and provided added functionality that will benefit addons users (tier three).
 
A successful but less ambitious redesign in the first stage would substantially improve basic functionality and fix current problems, but would leave added feature enhancements to future versions.
 
The minimum level of success would be to substantially improve the basic functionality of the Addons Manager, while developing a plan of action for fixing current problems and adding new features.
 
<br>
 
----
 
<br> <br> ===Installing
 
<br>
 
== Goals  ==
 
*Major
**Update the addons manager to provide better support of newer ways to customize Firefox (personas, jetpack(?))
**Make the addons manager more usable and intuitive, shift focus from categories of addons to ways to customize Firefox
**Provide greater ability to find and install add-ons from within the browser
**Allow for addon installation without restart
*Minor
**Increase prominence of the user-actions available for each add-on
**Give more prominence to details about addons without digging into prefs or going to AMO
 
== Team  ==
 
;Sprint lead&nbsp;
:Boriss
;Development&nbsp;
:Mossop
;AMO liaison&nbsp;
:Nick and Fligtar
 
== Planning  ==
 
=== Target Release  ===
 
Firefox.next (Firefox 3.6?)
 
=== Status  ===
 
*Next meeting: Thursday, July 9. Will have three versions of wireframes, discuss incorporation of personas, goals for the project
 
=== Reference  ===
 
'''Links:''' [https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox:Add-ons_Manager_UI Madhava's past wiki redesign]
 
'''Bugs:'''
 
::[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=256509 256509] install without restart
 
=== Design  ===
 
The basic design will focus on a basic directory/content model, common in desktop operating systems. On the the user will see their total inventory, grouped by category. Clicking a category will expand it, accordion-style, displaying the users' both active and disabled addons. If an individual item is highlighted, the right panel will give information about that item and provide tools related to it.
 
[[Image:Addons redesign 1.png|500px]]
 
Scanning the left panel should tell the user:
 
*Which addons are enabled
*Which addons are disabled
*Which addons have updates.
 
These can be displayed with small icons to the right of each addon name.
 
[[Image:Addons redesign 2.png|500px]]  
 
== Mockups  ==
 
== Sketches  ==
 
<gallery>
Image:Amo style.png|Styled like amo for comparison - what a design based on web content rather than Chrome could look like.  The problem is that it's not obvious the user is on a preferences page rather than a website.
Image:Grey not in chrome.png|Chrome-styled design without prefs, similar to current addons manager
Image:Lesschrome1.png|Breadcrumb links
Image:Minimal white.png|Minimal white website style
Image:Nochrome2.png|Top of breadcrumb trail
Image:Nochrome3.png|Full top-down prefs and addons rough mock
</gallery>

Latest revision as of 20:36, 23 February 2010