Minor request for the Plugins page

[ljm42]

On the plugins page, after clicking "Check for Updates", can we get rid of the DONE button?  The button adds no value, and it would save a few seconds if the plugins page could automatically reload with the latest information.

[ljm42]

Also, how about changing the sort order so that the plugins that need to be updated are listed first? It would be easier to keep them current if you didn't have to scroll through the list to find them.

[Squid]

2 hours ago, ljm42 said:

Also, how about changing the sort order so that the plugins that need to be updated are listed first? It would be easier to keep them current if you didn't have to scroll through the list to find them.

Its a sortable table.  IE: Click on status

[ljm42]

34 minutes ago, Squid said:

Its a sortable table.  IE: Click on status

Yes, but it doesn't "stick", i.e. you have to check for updates, close the dialog box, wait for the page to load, and then click the sort header, all just to find out what needs to be updated.  And because it doesn't remember your sort choice, you have to perform all the same steps next time. Also, there is no secondary sort so the list is more like two random groups of plugins rather than a nicely sorted list.

 

Ideally, when you click "check for updates" it would automatically close the dialog box and reload the page, with results sorted first by status then by name. All with one click.
 

[Squid]

I know.   Just wasn't sure if you knew it was sortable

[bonienl]

The purpose of the page and Done button is to give the user the ability to see that all plugins are processed. If mid-way communication gets lost to github, the list of plugins won't be complete and the Done button is not shown.

 

Ps. You can turn on notifications to inform you when updates are available.

 

Edited May 30, 2017 by bonienl

[ljm42]

10 hours ago, bonienl said:

The purpose of the page and Done button is to give the user the ability to see that all plugins are processed. If mid-way communication gets lost to github, the list of plugins won't be complete and the Done button is not shown.

 

I wonder if the logic could be reversed - if there is a problem, show an error message requiring a button press. But if there is not a problem, simply reload the page.  

 

If everything works, there isn't much value in having to press "done" before the page can reload.

 

10 hours ago, bonienl said:

Ps. You can turn on notifications to inform you when updates are available.

 

Right. The problem is that if a plugin is updated a second time between when you get the notification and when you press "update", the update fails. So as a best practice, I always check for updates manually before updating any plugin. 

 

It just feels like there are too many button clicks with long delays between them in this process today. Ideally a single click on "check for updates" would close the dialog box and reload the page, with results sorted first by status then by name. That would make it super easy to tell which plugins need to be worked on.

[ljm42]

The new plugin manager in 6.4.0-rc6 is very nice @bonienl!

 

It looks like we currently have access to Tablesorter v2.0.5b. Can we upgrade that to a version that includes sortAppend?  Possibly this fork?
  https://mottie.github.io/tablesorter/docs/index.html 

This would allow the Plugins page to have two levels of sorting.  So if the user sorts by author or status it could automatically do a secondary sort by plugin name. This would be much more useful than the random second sort we get now.

[ljm42]

One more  After updating a plugin, would it be possible to use javascript to update just the row of the table that changed, rather than rather than reloading the whole page from scratch?  That would save a lot time when updating multiple plugins.

[ljm42]

The way the plugin list is sorted in 6.4.0-rc8q is significantly more useful. Thanks @bonienl!