Comments on: Form over Function? Never thought about it… http://www.joedolson.com/articles/2010/04/form-over-function-never-thought-about-it/ Tips and Commentary on Web Accessibility, Usability, and Search Marketing best practices. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:51:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Noel Proulx http://www.joedolson.com/articles/2010/04/form-over-function-never-thought-about-it/comment-page-1/#comment-34330 Noel Proulx Sat, 29 May 2010 09:11:36 +0000 http://www.joedolson.com/articles/?p=779#comment-34330 Now I would fall into the layman category when it comes to tweaking a WP plug in. But I will say I like the method Scorpion suggests (or perhaps I am reading it wrong). If you set up a few easy to recognize tags/variables with a few comments that state something like "this is a highlighted dates color" etc, it should make it easy enough to get a fair amount of customization for the WP challenged like myself. When it comes to almost anything I use on the web I far prefer function over eye candy, solid functional design, to me, is just far more important than the aesthetics. Now I would fall into the layman category when it comes to tweaking a WP plug in. But I will say I like the method Scorpion suggests (or perhaps I am reading it wrong). If you set up a few easy to recognize tags/variables with a few comments that state something like “this is a highlighted dates color” etc, it should make it easy enough to get a fair amount of customization for the WP challenged like myself.

When it comes to almost anything I use on the web I far prefer function over eye candy, solid functional design, to me, is just far more important than the aesthetics.

]]> By: Scorpion http://www.joedolson.com/articles/2010/04/form-over-function-never-thought-about-it/comment-page-1/#comment-34127 Scorpion Tue, 11 May 2010 08:33:23 +0000 http://www.joedolson.com/articles/?p=779#comment-34127 Hi there, well it seems that you will keep the plugin up to date, first of all I would use this opportunity to thank you here! ..next I really like your plugin so I just support you with it :) A good compromise would be to have some general css tags which can be set with predefined values (e.g. clickable color-hex-code-jscript-popup-thing) for the main areas. On the other hand you are completely right with your point that its hard to develop a plugin in good quality but also solve some stupid-style problems. Think about some priorities! How hard is it to implement the named predefined values? What about other big issues? How many users use your plugin? And how many are contacting you in a month? Are these ones the advanced user? I don't know... I just can say that I really welcome the disable / reset possibility of the style and I'm using my own style on 2 uses right now. Hi there,
well it seems that you will keep the plugin up to date, first of all I would use this opportunity to thank you here!

..next I really like your plugin so I just support you with it :) A good compromise would be to have some general css tags which can be set with predefined values (e.g. clickable color-hex-code-jscript-popup-thing) for the main areas.

On the other hand you are completely right with your point that its hard to develop a plugin in good quality but also solve some stupid-style problems.

Think about some priorities! How hard is it to implement the named predefined values? What about other big issues? How many users use your plugin? And how many are contacting you in a month? Are these ones the advanced user?
I don’t know… I just can say that I really welcome the disable / reset possibility of the style and I’m using my own style on 2 uses right now.

]]> By: Gaz http://www.joedolson.com/articles/2010/04/form-over-function-never-thought-about-it/comment-page-1/#comment-34096 Gaz Fri, 07 May 2010 06:31:57 +0000 http://www.joedolson.com/articles/?p=779#comment-34096 The "design test" for me is quite a simple one .... if I just install the plugin and start using it, will it look out of place on screen, or can I just leave it at default for a month or two until I get time to revisit it and tweak the styling? Often when I'm building WP sites, there are so many plugins to embed, all coming from disparate sources, that the priority is to "get them in and working" then come back and do all the styling as a contiguous run. Sometimes I see one pludin or theme stylesheet completely over-riding another plugin's styling. When this happens, I shrug and mentally warn it that "I'll sort you out later" - sometimes it's just too timeline destructive to jump on it immediately. When it comes to beginners though, as you say, they have little idea of where or how to fix the styling, so an admin-side option to at least set background and border colours has to be a must have item for them (there's plenty of GPL code for that which you could "borrow" and tweak). Similarly, an overall height and width setting, or a widget, is probably essential for beginners nowadays - the entry level of "numpty-ism" seems to fall daily (yeah I know, we were all numpties at one time). If I had to summarise, I'd say design the design side for numpties, aim the features and functions at mid to upper level users, with a "works out of the box" default for numpties. Gaz The “design test” for me is quite a simple one …. if I just install the plugin and start using it, will it look out of place on screen, or can I just leave it at default for a month or two until I get time to revisit it and tweak the styling?

Often when I’m building WP sites, there are so many plugins to embed, all coming from disparate sources, that the priority is to “get them in and working” then come back and do all the styling as a contiguous run.

Sometimes I see one pludin or theme stylesheet completely over-riding another plugin’s styling. When this happens, I shrug and mentally warn it that “I’ll sort you out later” - sometimes it’s just too timeline destructive to jump on it immediately.

When it comes to beginners though, as you say, they have little idea of where or how to fix the styling, so an admin-side option to at least set background and border colours has to be a must have item for them (there’s plenty of GPL code for that which you could “borrow” and tweak). Similarly, an overall height and width setting, or a widget, is probably essential for beginners nowadays - the entry level of “numpty-ism” seems to fall daily (yeah I know, we were all numpties at one time).

If I had to summarise, I’d say design the design side for numpties, aim the features and functions at mid to upper level users, with a “works out of the box” default for numpties.

Gaz

]]> By: Flo - Gold Coast Web Design http://www.joedolson.com/articles/2010/04/form-over-function-never-thought-about-it/comment-page-1/#comment-34023 Flo - Gold Coast Web Design Sun, 02 May 2010 12:18:59 +0000 http://www.joedolson.com/articles/?p=779#comment-34023 I think looks are important to get you over the line. It's just like in real life...If you are selling a house and give it a new coat of paint you will have a higher chance of selling it although the core is the same. I guess the same applies to almost anything now a days. Just funcitonality doesn't count any more ... sad but true. I'd be happy to style your calendar for you if you like ... I think looks are important to get you over the line. It’s just like in real life…If you are selling a house and give it a new coat of paint you will have a higher chance of selling it although the core is the same. I guess the same applies to almost anything now a days. Just funcitonality doesn’t count any more … sad but true. I’d be happy to style your calendar for you if you like …

]]> By: JLeuze http://www.joedolson.com/articles/2010/04/form-over-function-never-thought-about-it/comment-page-1/#comment-33919 JLeuze Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:28:08 +0000 http://www.joedolson.com/articles/?p=779#comment-33919 There's definitely a balance to be struck. No design at all can leave mom-technical users frustrated, and too much design can leave technical users just as frustrated. I'm always pleased when I install a plugin and it has a decent minimalist design that fits in OK with that majority of themes. But some plugins take it too far and heavily over-designed. These kind of themes can be tough to integrate into a theme when you have to override all of the plugin's CSS to get it to match. Keep up the great work on your calendar plugin Joe, this is a weak area of WordPress that I think could use some real improvement! There’s definitely a balance to be struck. No design at all can leave mom-technical users frustrated, and too much design can leave technical users just as frustrated.

I’m always pleased when I install a plugin and it has a decent minimalist design that fits in OK with that majority of themes. But some plugins take it too far and heavily over-designed. These kind of themes can be tough to integrate into a theme when you have to override all of the plugin’s CSS to get it to match.

Keep up the great work on your calendar plugin Joe, this is a weak area of WordPress that I think could use some real improvement!

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