Bert Jansen Enhances Drupal UX with IEF Complex Widget Dialog Module

A seasoned Drupal Developer, Bert Jansen recently shared a LinkedIn post highlighting his contributions to the community. Bert has been actively involved in extending the functionality of Drupal, the open-source content management system (CMS) known for its emphasis on content.

Bert began his journey of contributing to Drupal four years ago with the introduction of the "IEF Complex Widget Dialog" module. This module enhances the popular "Inline Entity Form" (IEF) module by transforming complex inline entity forms into pop-up dialogs. This improvement significantly enhances the user experience (UX) when dealing with extensive parent and related content forms, which can become cumbersome when nested directly within larger forms.

The Inline Entity Form module is a widely used feature within the Drupal ecosystem, allowing related entity forms to be embedded within a parent entity form. This functionality streamlines the content editing process, enabling users to input all related content at once rather than navigating through multiple separate forms and URLs. However, Bert noted that this approach can lead to a cluttered interface, particularly when dealing with forms containing numerous fields.

To address this issue, he developed the IEF Complex Widget Dialog module. By converting inline forms into pop-up dialogs, the module provides a cleaner and more organized editing interface. This is particularly beneficial for complex forms, enhancing both usability and efficiency. The module also includes improvements to the "remove item" markup, making it more functional.

Although Bert describes his contribution as limited, the IEF Complex Widget Dialog module has already been adopted in various projects Also, with the latest release, version 2.2.0, dated May 22, 2024, the module is compatible with Drupal versions 8 through 11.

"Drupal is open-source and community-driven. Everyone in the community contributes according to their own ability. You can contribute by testing, sparring, developing, documenting, ... etc. "

notes Bert in his post. His work exemplifies the collaborative spirit of the Drupal community, where contributions of all sizes are encouraged and valued. 

Read the full post here.