Drupal 2013
Before the Boston Drupalcon, I was asked “Can you describe what the experience of using your [Drupal’s] design will be like in 5 years?” I usually think one or two release cycles ahead, 2 years maximum, so this is a challenge.
Web browsers and standards for CSS, HTML, and JavaScript have some interesting things on the horizon. Maybe we will be using CSS 3 and HTML 5 in 5 years, but still the same old rendering markup on a page. I fully expect another AJAX-like shift in the tools. I expect the web might be deprecated some day, but it will take more than 5 years.
My big goals
- Anyone who wants a web site can install Drupal.
- Drupal has tools to help administrators provide good user experience for their audience.
- No coding is required for more than 99% of websites, including HTML in textareas.
- Terminology and conceptual models match how the administrator thinks.
- Every screen is concise, the important information and controls are present, less important items are accessible.
- Tasks are accomplished in few screens, which are organized to minimize navigation.
- The user interface toolkit is robust and well-made.
6 months later, I still think these are excellent goals and I hope to help accomplish them in the next year.
Comments
Sounds awesome.
With the community as it is, and Acquia bolstering its commercial viability, Drupal is well on it's way.
Hang on. Should be one helluva ride!
"Terminology and conceptual models match how the administrator thinks."
This is the fundamental one, underlying most other goals. Actually there might be two:
What do you think is the current state of this goal?
Yes, Drupal needs to both reuse common conceptual models and clearly communicate new ones.
I witnessed this goal not being achieved in Minnesota. The first task was CCK, which uses the Drupal-specific concepts of content types and fields. Once people figured out where to look in the admin section, almost always calling help desk, and clicked through the pages for minutes, they did get it. It took too long for people to get a clear idea of what to do.
I think the goal is best assessed with usability testing. Paying attention to other user feedback is helpful.
I'm looking forward to Drupal 7 and sqllite integration. A big hurdle to newbies to Drupal is creating a database -- most non-techies don't know what a database is and the process of creating one can be bewildering. Having a true one-click install for Drupal will be brilliant.
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