BOUNTY: Web GUI reprogramming
-
@ermal:
While it would be nice to have some improvements on usability do not over-engineer it.
Its just a webGUI for a firewall which needs to scale accros different resources of system.It is not facebook or whatever you deem modern and different scope.
Amen to that. I for one, find the current webGUI perfectly usable and adequate (although some pages have a few rough edges, and some config options are placed in un-intuitive places and can be a little hard to find for the newcomer).
On the other hand imho there are quite a few features / bugs relating to the pfsense core functionality (firewall, NAT gateway, VPN concentrator) that could use some developer love.
-
I completely agree with @ermal:
While it would be nice to have some improvements on usability do not over-engineer it.
Its just a webGUI for a firewall which needs to scale across different resources of system.The original intent of this bounty/thread was to improve the quality of the code, re-writing parts of the webgui to be better standards compliant rather than adding any features.
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,48107.0.htmlSteve
-
Sample of a custom responsive website admin backend
http://keenthemes.com/preview/metronic/index.html
Responsive admin dashboard template powered with Twitter Bootstrap Framework for admin and backend applications. Works in all major web browsers, tablets and phones.
Design concept is Microsoft Metro …... So it's Square. Could be adapted to same module/template layout as Pfsense utilizes.
-
It needs a CSS so it easy to maniplulate themes, withs and colors….
-
Twitter Bootstrap might would be the best route ….. Twitter has established common ground among developers concerning general css layout design in desktop, tablets and mobile phones. It was designed to be adaptable.
The sample link I gave ..... I can think of some really cool stuff that could be used with the (Regional Stats) display shown on the admin template ...... example: Pfblocker and Snort displaying gsp location on the global map of the blocked ip would be really cool.
Some might say that would be to much overhead, but hey when you have a full fledged desktop computer running a firewall, who cares?
-
Does it have security vulnerabilities? Is it like adding a layer on top of freebsd?
-
Its simply a CSS framework …... I have not designed a website yet with Twitter Bootstrap, it does have some jquery dependency's but I have not personally looked at any of the jquery code nor am I a security expert.
My best guess would be No.
Pfsense does utilizes jquery for the backend browser administrator GUI. If you look at the source files you will see....there are many many files and templates.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_Bootstrap
-
when you have a full fledged desktop computer running a firewall, who cares?
People running an Alix? People running a Pentium 2? ;)
Steve
-
People running an Alix? People running a Pentium 2?
Give the option to turn it off….or the ability to adjust the scale if needed depending on processing power available.
I do agree 100% that application bug squashing is far more important than the appearance of the application. And adding new features should be the last item on the list, as I'm sure there are swarms of bugs to squash.
But if you have forum users which have no Unix talent, they may have website design talents to contribute. It would be foolish not to utilize these talents to improve the GUI of Pfsense. This is where you should create a GUI developer leg to collaborate and work toward a common goal in the GUI development for the application engineers. If the GUI code is to get reworked, a responsive design would be a fantastic direction to head in.
-
There is also helium, which is much lighter than bootstrap and foundation but offers a lot of the same advantages .
In my view, a possible secondary advantage of a redesign would be that we can present information in a friendlier, more concise way.
This of course means a form of responsive design, but also an interface design that adheres to a ABC design philosophy wherein information is displayed in the order of importance, eg. A = primary information, B = secondary information and C = details.
C is usually either hidden or very discreet until C is requested. This method is employed throughout visual cueing and can be seen in film, graphic design, interior design, architecture and crossovers such as museums.When using pfsense, there seems to be little to no distinction between the three classes of information urgency. If we are able to propose a redesign for the gui, this could be taken into consideration.
This might seem somewhat contrary to what Ermal and stephenw10 said:
I completely agree with @ermal:
While it would be nice to have some improvements on usability do not over-engineer it.
Its just a webGUI for a firewall which needs to scale across different resources of system.The original intent of this bounty/thread was to improve the quality of the code, re-writing parts of the webgui to be better standards compliant rather than adding any features.
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,48107.0.htmlSteve
However, a redesign of code might present an opportunity to redesign the visual aspect of the firewall as well.
The way that we present information visually might even improve the scaling if fallback techniques are employed.What do you guys think?
-
Damn nice idea! The thing is that there is a lot of switching between menus all the time.
In ISA server, when you make a rule it pops up an all inclusive box that has ALL what needs to be set to make it work. You dont have to go a little here and a little there and if you are serious then you also needs to go somewhere else…
It will make changes and daily tasks very quick and simple. One can easily see that the GUI is made by "nerds" for technical people.
In ISA you have a right side menubar that has related things to the page you are at....so you only have to click once to get there instead of going through several menus.
Its brilliant!
-
A collapsible sidebar menu would be the best direction for Pfsense …. if you test drive the custom website admin side bar menu, you can get a feel of how it would improve the user experience in navigation.
If it gets reworked a full width responsive GUI is the only direction to head in. It would give the necessary screen real estate to display a ABC design philosophy as iFloris defined. The feedback from the dash board could evolve into a very productive sophisticated visual tool.
There are many admin template examples on themeforest.com this is just one I selected as a example.
http://keenthemes.com/preview/metronic/index.html
P.S.
I would be willing to contribute some of my free time to a GUI development project. But only if the team was allowed the freedom to develop and create sophisticated visual GUI tools that Steve Jobs would be proud of. -
I agree!
-
As long as it doesn't end up like Watchguard's more recent web gui, constructed entirely in flash!, then I'm all for it.
Honestly I don't have a problem with the current gui though. I'm probably not the right person to ask. ;)Steve
-
Its about how you present the data. Its about assembling bits and piece of a puzzle to form the best visual representation of the data.
There is obviously more data that could be displayed to the user to get a better picture of the status of whats going on. Some things would be a feature request, but the GUI would be designed to adapt to known future improvements to expand the visual representation and organization of the data.
I'm not a security expert by no means, but I'm sure you can think of many data points which would be very helpful in completing the puzzle, or at less attempting to.
A full width responsive GUI would give Pfsense the screen real estate to display more data to the user but in a creative way as a attempt to simplify the assembling of the puzzle.
-
Another nice example
Login and password
adminhttp://photonui.orangehilldev.com/dashboard.php
-
Best so far!
Could end up beeing very nice!
Another nice example
Login and password
adminhttp://photonui.orangehilldev.com/dashboard.php
-
Should this be moved to general topics?
-
Last Example
http://mosaicpro.biz/adminplus/php/
-
Last Example
http://mosaicpro.biz/adminplus/php/
Im sorry, but that is just beautiful… id kill for a nice GUI like that.
