Revamping Drupal's Admin UI: The Toolbar Redesign

The Drupal community is making significant strides in enhancing the user experience for site builders and content editors by redesigning Drupal's main navigation, known as "the toolbar." Lullabot, as part of its sponsored contribution, has been dedicated to this initiative to improve Drupal's Admin UI. Brenna Love, in her latest article, discusses the Toolbar redesign to enhance Drupal's UI for site builders and content editors. This redesign aims to improve usability, accessibility, and overall design, offering a better experience for users.

The process involved several rounds of user testing, including card sorting, surveys, and usability tests, which allowed for iterative feedback. The first round of testing revealed positive feedback on the new collapsible and vertical layout. They made further iterations based on the user's preferences and needs. The second round focused on more experienced Drupal site builders and content editors, who showed interest in the new layout but raised concerns about change management and communication strategies. In the third round, the team tested mobile implementation, uncovering valuable insights for further improvements.

On the development side, Lullabot has been converting the HTML mockup into a new menu module, aiming to incorporate it as an experimental module in Drupal Core. Additionally, they are exploring a contextual top bar to accommodate contributed modules. Accessibility review is also a priority, ensuring the redesign is accessible to all users. The Drupal community has welcomed this initiative, appreciating the focus on research, usability testing, and community feedback, resulting in substantial progress. Lullabot's collaborative efforts, along with support from individuals and organizations in the Drupal community, highlight the community's dedication to making Drupal more user-friendly and accessible. Read more here.