Hey Happy Discussion Forum-ers!

How would YOU like to "beta-test" our completely re-skinned Web Control Panel, before anybody else, just because you read this forum?

Well, you can! Just try https://panel6.dreamhost.com/ (and if you get a security warning about the certificate, accept it) and there you are!

Please reply to this post with any issues you find! Browser compatibility bugs, confusing things, broken stuff, suggestions for improvement, you know the drill..

And, we're no google.. we plan on putting this thing live, I dunno.. TOMORROW?

josh!

Well, the *first* impression is that it is "prettier" but it will take some getting used to.

Looks nice though...and seems to load faster (maybe because it's not yet that loaded, or maybe more efficiently coded?)

--rlparker

Edited: original confusion over not seeing existing databases was the result of being logged in as a user that *had* no databases...he he

Edited by rlparker on 02/28/07 01:18 PM (server time).

Hey, I know it's all the "Web 2.0 is the rage" kinda thing happening right now, but that "tag cloud" seems really out of place in a control panel, even on an "overview" page. The jury's still out, but that just doesn't seem to be working for me.

I think I'd rather see some general account overview information, like maybe even a "highly visible" repeat of which *user* you are logged in as and which *account* you are looking at, and "plan renewal staus" or something more useful.

Who knows, maybe it will "grow" on me (especially if it is "smart" enough to reflect what *I* use the most often).

--rlparker

Agreed on this.

Everything else looks quite nice though!
What we really need however is a new statistics feature in the panel: "How many times Procwatch has killed your processes"

In reply to:

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I think I'd rather see some general account overview information, like maybe even a "highly visible" repeat of which *user* you are logged in as and which *account* you are looking at, and "plan renewal staus" or something more useful.

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Does the 'Hi, Dallas!' at the very top not tell you? Do you have multiple logins with the same name or something?


- Dallas
- DreamHost Head Honcho/Founder

In reply to:

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Does the 'Hi, Dallas!' at the very top not tell you? Do you have multiple logins with the same name or something?

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You are right, Dallas. Actually, yes it *does*, which is how I noticed why I wasn't seeing what I expected to see.

I don't have "multiple logins" so much as I have account privileges assigned to my user by some of my clients who have their own account, and I occasionally "forget" (contributed to by the cookie) which account I was looking at when logged in. For instance, logged in under my own user, but viewing a client's account for which I have *all* privileges, I occasionally confuzzle myself.

Also, on occasion, I may be logged in as their user, which is the same issue.

All the information *is* there, and the "ajax" "status thing in the upper right is nice too. I think the overall new look is a great improvement (and told Brett so!) I just currently view the "tag cloud" as "wasted space" but it doesn't really bother me and I'm sure some will like it a lot!

And it might even "grow on me" over time!

--rlparker

Huge visual improvement over the existing panel, although the "tag cloud" is silly (in fact, all tag clouds are silly). Like most redesigns these days, you've gone for teeny weeny font sizes, but for they most part they seem to scale reasonably well.

I have two feature requests that should be really easy to add:

1. Please offer an RSS or Atom feed for the Rewards Payment Report.
2. Please make promo codes editable (an icon appears to exist for this already).

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si-blog | Keystone Websites
Save $97 on yearly plans with promo code SCJESSEY97

I'm not sure I'm sold on the tag cloud, either. It's easy to remove if most people don't like it, though.

We'll see what happens when everyone starts using the new web panel.


Is the box on the lower left that shows what account is selected not obvious enough? We've debated that ourselves before.

- Dallas
- DreamHost Head Honcho/Founder

A couple initial thoughts:

* I'd like to see more visual hints on the domain/subdomain list. The current panel indents subdomains more than the new one does and visually groups them by background color. The new one runs them all together.

* In the user list, the 'Edit' icon should be in the first column, not the webftp thing. I think webftp should probably be somewhere else entirely, as it has nothing to do with managing users.

* Selecting a heading in the sidebar should automatically load the first submenu item. As-is, it takes two clicks where this could be done in one.

* The entire design doesn't cope well with (somewhat) narrow browser windows. In fact, the mail alias bulk-edit textarea requires me to scroll sideways to see an entire line.

* I'd still like to see a way to delete unnecessary automatically-created DNS records (ftp, www.subdomain, etc).

* The tag cloud makes no sense.

* You're still accepting destructive actions via GET requests.

The design needs a little more contrast and will probably look dated very quickly. That said, you've made definite improvements in some areas, particularly the distinction between new mailboxes vs. aliases.



--
If you want useful replies, ask smart questions.

In reply to:

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Is the box on the lower left that shows what account is selected not obvious enough? We've debated that ourselves before.

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It probably *is* obvious enough; I have no idea why I tend to overlook it on occasion - it's probably just me.

All in all, like I said, I really like the new look. From a usability standpoint, I think some of the type are a little small when your browser is set at "normal" type size, but that's a smallish issue for me.

--rlparker

Looking on a laptop with big screen and high resolution (a 17-inch Apple MacBook Pro), the type size for many of the functions appears to be somewhat small for me. This ought to be rethought a bit before it goes live.

Not everyone is as young as the people who run DH.


Peace,
Gene Steinberg
Co-Host, The Paracast
http://www.theparacast.com
My DreamHost Promo Plan—Use the code: ROCKS

I would tend to agree with what has already been said about the tag cloud, I think it looks a little silly and the space could be better utilized. Having said that, some might find it very useful for getting around the panel quickly.

I do like the new ability to create promo-codes with 'feature bonuses', but I agree with Simon that the ability to edit and/or delete promo-codes would have been a nice addition.

Overall, I like the new look a lot, well done.

Mark

--
Save $50 on DreamHost plans using PRICESLASH promo code (Click for DreamHost promo code details)

One other thing that I just thought of...

Now that we can create promo-codes that offer disk and bandwidth bonuses, do new customers who use a promo-code to sign-up still receive the old 200GB/2TB quotas (plus any bonus), or is the bonus percentage calculated on the current daily offering? (ie: today it is 172GB/1.72TB and dropping).

By the way; I just noticed the DreamHost logo in the top left corner of the new panel does not link to the DreamHost website.

Mark

--
Save $50 on DreamHost plans using PRICESLASH promo code (Click for DreamHost promo code details)

I totally love the new look! Though I have to agree with others that the font size is small - it would be nice to see that change.

I don't really mind the tag cloud, besides I generally stay logged into the panel so it automatically reloads to where I was last, thus I'll hardly see it.

As far as how long this layout will be 'in style' compared to the 90's blocky html tables look, this design should be good for an other several years! :)



--Matttail
art.googlies.net - personal website

Likes:
Removed old unused links
Slightly shorter top region; smaller DH banner
Removed disk and xfer summary (from all pages)
Tag cloud is OK (if it's gonna be more 'tarted' up and 'glossy' anyway), but want an option to display cloud based on Either: My usage (for functionality), or All customers' usage (for curiosity).

Dislikes:
Nearly non-functional with javascript disabled; only Billing was functional IIRC, all others were *completely* blank.
Added Left (and right) margins - requires more scrolling
More 'iconified' only links (fewer text-only links)
Some pages display in 2 phases, adding additional text at top in 2nd phase. Example - Suggestions displays first without explanation at top, then 'updates' and adds explanation text.
Extra clicks required; example 3-clicks to get to Is there a System Problem, under support.
Displayed browser "upgrade required" for some browser user agents (iE6, Netscape 3, Opera 7.5); some warnings were scary red color.

Bugs(?):
Account Status 'pop-down' on Overview/front page shows only 1 database server, but Manage MySQL detailed list shows more than 1 database server.
Status pop-down covers over other info previously displayed on page, making it unreadable.
Browser upgrade links include a link to Microsoft.
No warning for OS of windows. ;-)
Welcome line says 'Hi Butthead!'




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ANONYMOUS0 => Max Discount, ANONYMOUS2 => Max Discount less $1 or Cut the code, it's their birthday: 9999 => $99.99 Off

First impression, in a word: <blech>

It's hideous, in a "trying to fit 10 pounds of pudding (!?!) in a five-pound bag" kinda way, at least in areas that I commonly use, including:
* email management: The user add/edit page is confusing with regards to what's a mailbox, what's forwarding, and what's garbage.
* domain management: horizontal fit is awful, even with the teeny-tiny barely readable text. The row-separating background colors could use more contrast.
* MySQL management: has so much gibberish clumped in it I can barely figure out which server is which; this may also be due to insufficient background contrast.

The "web2.0" tag cloud is, as others have pointed out, both superfluous and silly in a control panel environment, but if it only appears on the main page, I could care less - although I can but sincerely hope that no one actually wasted time on such a frivolous "feature".

Other than that, it still has all of the more annoying "features" that the original panel has, so I guess I'm missing the point - if it's meant to be just a "face lift" sorta thing, I should thing that youze guys on the LeftCoast™ were way better at that sorta surgery.

One can but hope that the notion it be implemented "TOMORROW" is just a joke.

/yes, I said "pudding", but y'all know what I meant

Thank you for the redesign, DH! *hug*

I believe that the cloud's usefulness to first-time users outweighs any offense it may give to old-school members. Personally, I like to know if other people find a certain function very useful. Make the cloud an option, perhaps?

Also, you need to add around 50px more padding to the bottom of every page. On the One-Click page, for example, the content buts right up against the 1px border. Whitespace is good.

Edited by nessahead on 03/01/07 10:49 AM (server time).

Minor bug:

When you click on "© 1996-2007 DreamHost", the onclick should have a "return false;" so that the user doesn't get scrolled to the top of the page. Same with when you click "close" in the box that pops up.

Also, in both of those onclicks, there's a typo: The ');' is AFTER the quotation mark.

Edit: The Account Status drop-down things says "Domains Hosted: 1 domains, 1 subdomains".

Edit: Just out of curiosity, why do you put my user-agent in an HTML comment at the bottom of the page?

__________
Hug me!

Edited by mnordhoff on 03/01/07 12:39 PM (server time).

First off I'm missing the disk space and bandwidth usage gage.

Was I the only one using those?

Click "Account Status" on the top-right corner of the page. It has the information (and lots of other information), but no pretty bars. :(

__________
Hug me!

Edited by mnordhoff on 03/01/07 01:38 PM (server time).