Looking for some feedback on our new control panel.

[KuJoe]

I'm putting the finishing touches on our new control panel and was hoping to get some feedback on the design/layout of it since this is where I fall short (not to say that I'm any good at coding but I feel I'm better at coding than designing). Having been using it for the past few months in development I've grown attached to it but when I originally designed it I thought to myself that it was purely temporary and needed a complete makeover. So what are your thoughts? Should I scrap the whole design and redo it?

 

[drmike]

Looks promising and straightforward.  OpenVZ only or?

I don't harp on design, looks fine and likely runs fine without javascript crap.

 

[budi1413]

Nice and simple interface. That will make me watch control panel all day lol.

 

[mikho]

Clean and simple, things I like!


Not sure about the field: Last Pass, will that field always have the current root password set by the panel? Or whats the purpose?

 

[Francisco]

Looks promising and straightforward.  OpenVZ only or?

I don't harp on design, looks fine and likely runs fine without javascript crap.

I'm assuming so. KuJoe swears KVM is the devil.

Well done sir

Francisco

 

[SrsX]

I hate that layout.

 

[lbft]

The layout looks functional, there's a clear visual hierarchy, the most common needed features are at the top (except for RDNS, but in a multi-IP approach there's not much else you could do other than give it a chunk of space) and I'd have no complaints if I saw that panel as a customer...

But the aesthetics of it do not appeal to my tastes. At all. It's the sort of interface that looks like it was built by a programmer.

Part of the reason Solus is as successful as it is is that it looks better than HyperVM.

 

[mikho]

I hate that layout.

Please elaborate on what you hate about the layout mr. Negative.

 

[vRozenSch00n]

@KuJoe I like it. 

Simple functional flat design, reminds me of Ramhost, if I may suggest, lighten the color of the boxes or change it to light blue, and reduce the size of the logo and move it to the left.

 

[telephone]

It's SKUGLY (skinny & ugly) 

Besides the lack of aesthetics, the page itself is too long. I shouldn't have scroll over a whole page just to find the info needed (on a 1920x1080 monitor).

For admin panels, all information is important; you shouldn't have information below the page fold... Implement tabs, segregate content into separate pages, or make the overall layout fatter (wider) so information is available on first glance.

 

[matt[scrdspd]]

I would suggest using some better fonts. It will probably help a lot.

 

[KuJoe]

Thanks for the feedback. I completely agree with telephone that the page is too long (if it's long for my 27" monitor then I can only imagine what it looks like on a 17-22" one).

I'm not sure if it's obvious or now but the panel is built into WHMCS so I have some limitations on space without completely altering the WHMCS template but I still have room to work with. I'll take all of the suggestions here and clean it up some. Glad to hear I don't need a complete rewrite.

@drmike, Yes this is for OpenVZ only for now and there is no Javascript at all since that's beyond my coding abilities and every single issue we currently have with SolusVM is Java related so I wanted to avoid that.

@mikho, That field is used by the "Change Root Password" button as it generates a random password. That password is also used when the client re-installs the OS. Ideally if the client forgets their password, they'll create a random one and then login and change it in SSH.

 

[SrsX]

Thanks for the feedback. I completely agree with telephone that the page is too long (if it's long for my 27" monitor then I can only imagine what it looks like on a 17-22" one).

I'm not sure if it's obvious or now but the panel is built into WHMCS so I have some limitations on space without completely altering the WHMCS template but I still have room to work with. I'll take all of the suggestions here and clean it up some. Glad to hear I don't need a complete rewrite.

@drmike, Yes this is for OpenVZ only for now and there is no Javascript at all since that's beyond my coding abilities and every single issue we currently have with SolusVM is Java related so I wanted to avoid that.

@mikho, That field is used by the "Change Root Password" button as it generates a random password. That password is also used when the client re-installs the OS. Ideally if the client forgets their password, they'll create a random one and then login and change it in SSH.

I think you need some bootstrap in there.

 

[KuJoe]

I've cleaned it up a bit, hopefully it's not to cluttered now.



I've made it hide the sections if they are empty also:



@SrsX, WHMCS uses Bootstrap by default so that's the CSS stylesheets being used.

 

[mikho]

@mikho, That field is used by the "Change Root Password" button as it generates a random password. That password is also used when the client re-installs the OS. Ideally if the client forgets their password, they'll create a random one and then login and change it in SSH.

I understand that bit but will it show he last password set even if i haven't changed it since the vps was provisioned? Or woulf that area be blank when 'using' other features then change password?


The title "Last Password" could be a bit misleading?

 

[KuJoe]

It's the last password that WHMCS knows about. So for new VPSs it will be the random password generated when the order is provisioned.

Originally I didn't have that there but then there would be know way for a client to know their password if it wasn't there since it's randomly generated by the system. I tried setting up a Javascript pop-up to display the password one time but this was a waste of time since you can't copy and paste from a JS alert and people with JS disabled would never be able to get their password to access their VPS.

 

[MannDude]

Function over fashion.

It looks easy enough to use. So long as it does what it's supposed to do and isn't a giant security risk, I'd say great job!

 

[KuJoe]

It does what it's supposed to... as for the security I need to go through and rewrite all of the SQL queries to use WHMCS's SQL Helpers since I didn't realize these existed until this morning.

 

[mikho]

Regarding the password, it is probably me and my pre-war eastern German messed up mind that freaks out when its visible like that. Perhaps if it's "hidden" on a tab or some other page, like a specific change password page?


That's the only thing I have to say about the template. I agree with mannDude, if it works and is "safe" then it's good enough for me.

 

[pcan]

My thoughts:

- Passwords should be revealed  by explicit, voluntary action from the user only. A visible by default password field is not safe. On most applications, there is a "reveal password" button or checkbox next to the password field. I would stick to this widely accepted industry standard.

- The icon bitmaps are out of fashion. I am not a designer and my personal taste is probably bad, because your current design is good enough for me. But latest trend is clearly toward simple, flat icons without 3d effects or shadows, and essential typography (I would not use italic on the "your vps is on node..."). See the IOS7 or Windows 8 look as reference. 

- The page should be usable on mobile devices. Try to open it on some typical smartphone/tablet screen resolutions.