8 Jun
2016
8 Jun
'16
2:58 p.m.
On 08 Jun 2016, at 11:49, Ecaterina Moraru (Valica)
<valicac(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi,
The problem is that the AppBar could be populated with lots of apps that
might not be interesting for the user. Currently the AppBar acts like an
AppIndex (for the apps that provide the panels.Applications UIX), while
some users might expect it to act like a Favorites mechanism (the admin
deciding what apps should be promoted there). Also the AppBar is not very
scalable: having 50+ apps installed will be hard for an user to scroll in
order to find his desired app.
Trying to simplify the Appbar by removing apps from it, concludes that
users might not be able to know if some apps are installed and available.
The administrators have access to EM and AppBar configuration, but normal
users don't. So it's normal to have the need of an "Application
Index",
just like we have for pages, users and wikis.
Topics:
1. App Index page location
2. App Index launcher location
1. The first thing we should decide is where we should locate this App
Index. Alternatives:
1.1 Main.AppIndex : consistent with Main.AllDocs and Main.UserDirectory,
not consistent with WikiManager.WebHome.
1.2 Applications.WebHome: as a new top level space. In theory, other
applications could use this space as parent.
1.3 AppWithinMinutes.AppIndex : as part of AWM, but the livetable should be
extended to include all the apps UIX. The page will be included on the
AWM.WebHome in addition with the ability to Create new AWM apps.
1.4 XWiki.InstalledApplications : as part of EM, but with rights visible
for all users, not just Admins. It will list just apps, with the ability to
'Launch/Open/View' an app.
1.4 other?
I believe we need an xwiki-platform-application module that would contain:
* Descriptors for apps
* Application Index
Actually we already have one:
https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/tree/master/xwiki-platform-core/xwi…
But I don’t think we use it and it contains old stuff. So we could either:
* Keep it, remove the stuff we don’t use and add the ApplicationIndex page
* Move it to contrib and create a new
xwiki-platform-application/xwiki-platform-application-ui module and add
Application.ApplicationIndex page.
* Keep it and create a new xwiki-platform-application/xwiki-platform-application-ui module
and add Application.ApplicationIndex page.
Since each module/app should have its own space namespace (our current rule, see
http://dev.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Community/ApplicationDevelopmentBestPra…) then
I’d put it in Application.ApplicationIndex (I prefer this slightly over Application.Index
since when you view just the page it’s harder to see the context and ApplicationIndex make
it more clear). It would be a hidden page.
2. App Index launcher could be placed:
2.1 in the Drawer with the rest of the Indexes
+1 for this since it’s very logical and would fit well with the other indexes there.
2.2 instead of the AppBar 'More applications'
menu, as a link
-0, it’s nice to be able to install new apps + create apps so I wouldn’t remove that.
There could be a third option to view all but I don’t feel it necessary if we have the App
Index in the drawer.
There are several aspects:
A. EM lists for admins all the installed extensions, but they cannot see
just the 'applications' installed on the wiki and launch them. We could
create a filter to list just applications (InstalledApplications) and help
the admin manage apps faster. If we were to move administrative actions
inside an external AppIndex (outside of EM) it would duplicate/split EM
functionality (Launch, Install, Delete, Add/Create, etc.)
EM is technical stuff; it has nothing to do with showing a curated list of visible apps.
There are plenty of technical apps that shouldn’t be shown. Using the UIX mechanism is
much better IMO since that’s an automatic curation mechanism.
B. AWM allows you to create apps. For a simple user,
he might not see the
difference between what apps are created with AWM and which are not, and
why should he care.
Yes, and apps created by AWM will appear in the App index.
For an user, an application is just an application.
If
we don't chooses 1.3 than the user might be confused why some apps are
listed in AWM.WebHome, while others/all are listed in an external AppIndex
(outside of AWM).
I do think we need to separate AWM-apps that can edited with AWM from other apps so it
makes sense to me that the App Index shows all apps but that the AWM home page only shows
AWM-apps.
C. If we transform AppBar into a Favorites, then we
will need to move the
UIXP to the Application Index. It's a bit strange that we are considering
using a panel dedicated UIXP as a simple 'application descriptor’.
I agree that we’ll need to do something about this over time. For a first version, if we
want to move fast on the removal of apps in the app bar I’d just reuse this UIXP for now.
Then implement UIXP aliasing.
There are many things to consider since AppBar, AWM
and EM share
applications definitions and we might want to remove duplication, but still
allow both admins and users have access to information about apps.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks for starting this thread! :)
-Vincent
Thanks,
Caty
Related issues:
- "Simplify the Appbar by removing some apps"
http://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-13433
- "Create an Application Index" http://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-11423
- "Better differenciate the notion of Application inside XWiki"
http://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-7924