Script 'Admin' Areas - Your Opinion Needed

[Lee]

Just wondered what you thought about the actual 'admin' areas of scripts you buy and if the actual admin area layout has any influence on whether you buy a script or not?

Do you tend to look at the layout of the admin area as well as the end user portion of any scripts you have purchased or not?

Would you rather by a script with a 'pretty' admin area or as long as the admin section does what it is supposed to do dont you care?

Thanks in advance for any feedback you can offer on this topic.

Regards,

Lee

[retrograde]

I usually look at how easy the admin area is to use, rather than just how nice it looks. If I can find everything, and do what I want without it being a pain, I really don't care too much how it looks.

Though, a nice looking admin section doesn't hurt.

[gaystoryman]

Agree, as long as it does what it is supposed to easily don't matter if it is pretty but it is a bonus if it is.. but my main concern is how easy are the instructions, if they are written for dumb blondes like me or the techno wizards.

that's more of a consideration for me. If I can understand it, i'll try it.

[MacDaddy]

I think design is very important. But most people think 'design' is just about nice looking graphics. Design entails usability, process, and information layout. Products need to be clean, easy to use, and organized. That's good design. I'm a designer by education and trade. This means I didn't just figure out how to use Photoshop, but I took courses in information architecture, process design, usability, human factors, and of course graphics, marketing, and advertising. I worked for a high end design company that specialized in process and human factors. When designing an application a great amount of thought must be placed on how things are laid out, and how the user is going to interact with them.

Often it's easiest to do paper prototypes. This means sketching out your interface on paper. Place the main page in front of a user and ask them to do a process. Every time the user points to something on the page, you place the next page down (the screen that would appear if the user really clicked on the button in the application). This is low level usability testing. It's the cheapest way to test out a new interface without having to spend all the money in the development phase and then have to go back redo key programming parts. We would do detailed paper storyboards of entire applications before they went into development.

Colours and graphics do play a key role in usability. Do buttons look like buttons that you click? or is it hard to figure out what to click on to make an action happen. Does the screen look cluttered or is everything clean with a clear design style in place? A design style (or style guide) means that there is clear identification in common elements. Colours are great for doing this.

Anyway, just a brain dump here... I'll stop now. I could go on all day.

[Chilihost]

functionality, ease of use and speed....keep that graphical stuff away from me, load it all in plain text and make it obvious. And a help section that is context sensitive is a great addition too.


cheers,
Luke

[AusCoding Allan]

:yeah: what macdaddy said, it's all about functionality and ease of use