Stream admin menu position should be at bottom after Settings

[thejamescollins]

Hi,

Currently the "Stream" menu item in the WordPress admin/dashboard appears at the top (after Dashboard but before Posts).

I think it would be best of the "Stream" menu item was at the bottom of the WP menu (after Settings).

The main use of the plugin appears to be developers installing it on client sites so that developers can see what has changed when/if they are troubleshooting a client's site.

I don't think we need to distract clients/users by having the Stream menu item taking up valuable space at the top of the menu. It's best to put it out of sight near the bottom of the menu.

What do you think?

ps. thanks for the great plugin!

James

[frankiejarrett]

Hi @om4james! Thanks for bringing up the topic, this is something worth considering for sure.

Just to shed some light onto the reasoning behind placing the menu item at the top, it gives a sense that everything "below" it is being tracked. And it serves as a kind of "second dashboard" for site admins to monitor what's being altered on the site they are managing. Since Stream is not a plugin designed for any sort of content creation, but rather monitoring content creation that is why it was thought best to place it in the Dashboard section of the menu.

Clients are certainly one big use case for Stream. At its core, I think Stream is a really plugin for any site admin (whoever that might be).

It's true that often times developers just happen to be the ones "administering" the site on their clients' behalf. I would probably think that in those cases, the client should not be given an Administrator role. Or perhaps the developer should create their own "Developer" role and only grant Stream view access to that role.

In any case, if the ordering of the menu item does become bothersome to someone the Menu Humility plugin would remedy that (along with moving other plugins that do this, like Jetpack).

I'm certainly open to more thoughts/opinions on this, so anyone who has any please share!

[westonruter]

A different default menu priority could be assigned based on different user roles.

[jonathanbardo]

We could also create a settings to let user choose where they want it to appear (maybe give a couple of choices).

Personally, having the plugin at the top seems like the best option so far.

[krogsgard]

Thought I'd +1 the initial commenter's point. I'd rec for the main Stream menu item to be at the bottom. If indeed it's an important "second" dash, perhaps make "Stream" a sub item of Dashboard that simply redirects to the actual Stream main page item that's placed lower.

[jonathanbardo]

Since we haven't had any remarks on this for a long time, what about we create a simple filter so anyone could choose where they want Stream to appear? That would give anyone the flexibility without cluttering the admin screen with another option.

[frankiejarrett]

@krogsgard Just curious if you think having Stream accessible via two different links in a menu would be a bad UX decision? Having more than one way to access the same screen could create confusion.

I believe the the real UX problem is a deeper one, in that core should be allowing admin menus to have customizable placement on a per-user basis, just like you can arrange meta boxes and dashboard widgets.

@jonathanbardo I do like your idea here of a simple filter. That would be a lightweight way to support any users who want to move the position of Stream. I like it.

[krogsgard]

A filter is certainly a way to go, though I still think the wrong decision.

Honestly, I think this thinking simply results from overly-focused product makers. That's not a hit, but my observation. The same is true of many, many product creators.

In the end, is Stream activity more important than "Posts" I click that every day, all the time. Stream is more like the kind of activity I partake when I troubleshoot a user complaint, or just looking at something every now and then.

A filter works, like I said, but that won't make anyone use it. And nobody will. I just think it's better for the user to include it on the bottom, and more in line with what WordPress recommends.

As far as "do I think two different links is a bas UX decision". In short, no. There's an interesting read here from Modern Tribe about UX decisions in settings: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/08/08/help-us-help-wordpress/

I think the more places they can find it, the better, though we shouldn't assume priorities for users.

I like your longer term rec that it should be per-user. I'd immediately hide a whole slew of menu items if I could. Until then, I think we should assume core functionality is more important than plugin functionality.

[jonathanbardo]

@krogsgard You have an interesting point of view! Have you ever tried using one of those plugin? (https://wordpress.org/plugins/admin-menu-reorder/ or http://wordpress.org/plugins/admin-menu-editor/).

[krogsgard]

@jonathanbardo I've seen them both, yes. But the percentage of people who will install something to override something they install on top of a core package..... you lose the impact of the feature / option by orders of magnitude.

The question is not as much about how can I do something for me. The feedback is more in terms of a recommendation for what I personally think and believe default behavior should be. Make sense?

[frankiejarrett]

This is a great discussion. I'm going to merge the filter that @jonathanbardo has done here, I think it's perfect for anyone who really wants to change the position of Stream easily.

Next, I want us to bring this up as a point of discussion in our next internal Stream team meeting so we can talk it out it in more depth.