[TYPO3-hci] HCI Podcast

[David Bruehlmeier]

Hi Jens,

I just watched the HCI podkast and was really impressed. Once we get 
there, we can all be very proud of not only a flexible product, but a 
user-friendly product as well! As an 'outsider' to the HCI team, it 
produced two random thoughts I would like to share with you.

The "page" tree
The focus should not just be _pages_, but any object which can be 
managed in a tree. For instance the commerce extension handles articles 
in a 'special' tree. For the Party Information Framework, I would like 
to visualize persons and organisations in a tree, independantly from the 
page tree. So the message is: the "page" tree is just a special usage of 
a general tree and the design/implementation should be done in a way so 
that any extension can use it.

Focus on 5.0
After viewing the presentation I was overwhelmed when thinking about 
what it would mean to achieve all this. To really get a consistent look 
and field, it would require rewriting a _lot_ of code and adapting tons 
of extensions. Some things like the installer might be easier since it 
is better modularized. But to achieve major changes, I strongly feel 
that it would be best to focus on the 5.0 development. IMO usability is 
not something that can be built 'on top' but something that must be 
incorporated in the 'soul' of the system. It must be in the mind of the 
whole team from day one. For TYPO3 5.0, that could become reality. The 
HCI team should get involved with 5.0 development now that the basic 
decisions are being made. When the 'Phoenix' front- and backend are 
reborn, it should be a joint achievement of the HCI team and the 5.0 dev 
team.

Regards,
Dave