Proposals/Done/Look and Feel

Please see https://blueprints.launchpad.net/mahara for proposed features and those that are being worked on.

Over time, Mahara has changed compared to what was proposed here and has taken a lot of the proposals into consideration.. This information is kept for historical purposes.

Originally proposed for Mahara 1.4

Discuss this topic.

A strong emphasis on good practice web design of the UI – i.e. page layout of functional elements, typefaces, colours used, buttons both in size and relative positioning, consistency of terminology and behaviours of buttons and menus.

• Different colours for different functions. E.g. Green for the core action, light grey for the lesser action.
• Button size and layout. E.g. www.bluemetals.net/ i.e. more appealing designs. See sites like www.ning.com, www.weebly.com and www.xero.com for good examples.
• Use of quality icons, more legible and distinguishable
• New site themes – theme selector for User
• Well designed View themes / borders
• Edit text instructions
• Increase spacing between lines and things like the Help button
• Update and ensure consistency of error messages and their behaviour in different browsers
• Consistency of hyperlink colours
   

1.1 Navigation

• Simplified navigation at both 1st and 2nd level.
• Settings, Login goes up to the top nav – e.g. Facebook, Linkedin etc.
• Dashboard is the Dashboard View or My Page. This is current behaviour in version 1.3 but should be renamed to Dashboard. Xero accounting software uses a similar approach. Home is the front page of the system before logging in.
• A Teacher’s Dashboard provides a tagcloud of Views in their My Groups, indicators of recent activities etc. This should enhance overall management of their students.
• Journal (blogs) becomes a top-level menu item