Mixed feelings about the new WebUI

molnart · 4. Dezember 2021

Recently I had several attempts to upgrade my OMV installation to the 6.x version, that ended unsuccessfully, mostly because of the mergerfs plugin. However, during playing around with the WebUI I got the strong feeling that I prefer the older version.

The new UI has huge fonts that prevents a good overview over what is what, there is no option to have all menus uncollapsed, the tabs section of pages is very hard to distinguish and there seem to be no modal windows at all - making the breadcrumb very complicated and I often find myself lost in the UI.

Multi-select seems to be lacking as well - e.g. on the plugins page i cannot install multiple plugins at ones, but i have to install them one by one.

I know votdev put a lot of effort into the new UI and hopefully the new interface is easier to maintain from the development point of view, so my I was just thinking whether its me just simply using it wrong, or do other users have similar impression of the new UI? Are there further improvements expected in the UI or is it considered final for OMV 6.x?

chente · 4. Dezember 2021

In my opinion, the new interface is more pleasant. It is more modern and worked. I suppose it is a matter of getting used to it, if you have been using the same thing for a long time and you have it in your head, the changes are sometimes difficult to assimilate.

I recently had to install Windows XP on a computer (don't ask me why ) and when I accessed the interface it seemed absolutely primitive, the feeling was tremendous.

molnart · 4. Dezember 2021

yes, definitely more pleasant. but much less usable, at least for me. however i think it could be easily improved while keeping the current "design language"

chente · 4. Dezember 2021

Zitat von molnart

has huge fonts that prevents a good overview over what is what

This is easily corrected with the zoom of the browser (ctrl + mouse wheel)

Zitat von molnart

there is no option to have all menus uncollapsed

This allows to have more submenus, for me it is an improvement.

Zitat von molnart

the tabs section of pages is very hard to distinguish

Maybe you're right here, highlighting the tabs would make it easier to use.

Zitat von molnart

there seem to be no modal windows at all

I never liked this in the old interface, I prefer this system, I hate windows. Navigation with use becomes intuitive, you just need to get used to it.

Zitat von molnart

Multi-select seems to be lacking as well - e.g. on the plugins page i cannot install multiple plugins at ones, but i have to install them one by one.

True, I've missed it too. I suppose there will be some reason for this but i do not know it.

molnart · 4. Dezember 2021

Zitat von chente

I never liked this in the old interface, I prefer this system, I hate windows. Navigation with use becomes intuitive, you just need to get used to it.

It's not about the navigation. Take this screen as an example:

I am adding a new line to the existing configuration, and at the same time i can see how my previous elements have been set up and adapt accordingly. without the modals i need to open multiple windows, because when creating a new element I cant see the existing ones.

votdev · 4. Dezember 2021

Modern single page apps like the OMV UI only use modal dialogs where there is no other way. Nowadays every page has it's own url to access it; with modal dialogs like in the OMV5 UI this is not possible.

KM0201 · 4. Dezember 2021

Being an extreme creature of habit... I thought it would take me a minute to warm up to the new webUI (I still remember the melancholy I felt when OMV went from colored icons in the menu back before OMV 1.0, to the black ones we had until OMV 5..lol)

That said... I've been doing a lot of testing, etc.. on it.. and it has really grown on me. It does have some differences from previous versions given the updates.. but after I got used to them they seemed well thought out and the new UI has really grown on me.

I was going to reinstall this weekend, but I think I'm going to order me some new storage drives for Christmas.. and I'll clean install after that.

ryecoaaron · 4. Dezember 2021

Zitat von molnart

mostly because of the mergerfs plugin.

It is a complete rewrite and still beta.

KM0201 · 4. Dezember 2021

Zitat von molnart

The new UI has huge fonts that prevents a good overview over what is what, there is no option to have all menus uncollapsed, the tabs section of pages is very hard to distinguish and there seem to be no modal windows at all - making the breadcrumb very complicated and I often find myself lost in the UI.

Multi-select seems to be lacking as well - e.g. on the plugins page i cannot install multiple plugins at ones, but i have to install them one by one.

I'm just going to address these two points from a personal perspective.

I love the new larger fonts. While my eyes are pretty good, I admit I'mm not eagle eye. On OMV 5 w/ Chrome.. I have to zoom the page a good to about 150% to keep it comfortable to read.

The multi select of plugins... now that I did notice and thought it kinda sucked. Honestly.. that is probably the only "complaint" I have about the new UI... and to me it's kinda nitpicky so I don't even consider it an issue. I guess if I used a ton of plugins it might be an issue. As it stands I only use rsync, shareroot and symlinks and only have to install 2 of those. I can deal w/ losing that 5sec of my life..

gderf · 4. Dezember 2021

Even if perfect, there will always be resistance to change. And of course, not using the new release is always an option

molnart · 5. Dezember 2021

Zitat von KM0201

The multi select of plugins... now that I did notice and thought it kinda sucked. Honestly.. that is probably the only "complaint" I have about the new UI...

i just realised you can multiselect by shift-clicking the items. the checkbox was more intuitive but it works. EDIT: you can select multiple elements, but cannot perform an action on them :facepalm:

another drawback of the lack of modals is the huge travelling distance on some screens. eg. when adding shares i am normally doing the stuff on the right side of the windows, but for folder selection i need to move to the icon at the other edge of the screen:

bvrulez · 21. Dezember 2021

I just installed the new OMV6 and I think the UI was cleaner in the past.

votdev · 28. Dezember 2021

Zitat von molnart

another drawback of the lack of modals is the huge travelling distance on some screens. eg. when adding shares i am normally doing the stuff on the right side of the windows, but for folder selection i need to move to the icon at the other edge of the screen:

That's the Material design, that happens to all apps that are based on this framework and it's design decisions.

By the way, the old UI behaves exactly the same; dropdown action buttons are also right aligned and the form fields occupy 100% of the form width. So you have to move the mouse exactly the same way.

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