Morph is a new and revolutionary template from JoomlaJunkie.com. It's the first template I've seen that includes a component!
I
had the pleasure of meeting founder Chris Rault at the 2008 CMS Expo.
He is a very bright guy with some fantastic ideas for Joomla, and he’s determined
to change the way we see and use Joomla templates. Chris asked me to
perform usability testing on Morph BETA and I was very excited to do
so.
I didn't read any of the template’s documentations because I wanted my experience to be "fresh."
That led to one unpleasant surprise. In this limited beta version,
Morph wipes out the site’s entire data, replacing it with template
information. Chris assures me that this will not be an issue in stable
releases. Users will be able to choose whether to keep their content or
to install the Morph content.
There were a few other issues but they were very minor and as you will see in this usability testing video and in the summary below, I was very impressed with this template’s breadth. You can control every aspect of your site's design: logo, colors, width of different elements and so on. I tested only a few features but I am sure I will be testing and using all of them in the future.
Morph is going to change the way template developers and users see templates. It will also allow users to create user-friendly sites easily. I’m really looking forward to seeing how it evolves!
Usability Testing Video:
Usability Testing Video Summary:
- A good start! The template and components are easily installed…
- But where’s my information? Everything’s gone! This beta version is currently being used by only a few developers. When it’s released, users will be able to choose to keep their data.
- Template settings are unclear.
Component backend: - My first reaction is that the backend is very slick and easy on the eyes.
- But it’s hard to read the field label. The dark gray on black background makes text difficult to see.
- Selecting the color is a little fiddly. Once, I’ve made my selection, I can’t see the color I’ve chosen, and I’m not sure what the “secondary color” is. The popup doesn't explain.
- The text in the drop down menus is too small.
- The logo options are great. I can easily upload my logo image and set my logo width and height.
- There’s a huge number of menu settings. I haven’t been able to test them all yet.
- I’m not clear what the Toolbar block is. That should be made clearer.
Installer:
- I’m not clear what the Themelet is.
- Where’s my logo? That I can upload it is great – but I’d like to see it, and it should become the default automatically.
- Most importantly, when I upload anything, all the other settings are gone. It would be best to save everything upon upload.
- I’m not clear how I can change the module colors.
On the whole, I found Morph very promising, slick and beautifully designed.
Suggestions:
- Color selection should indicate which color is currently selected.
- The background of tabs should white or light gray to make the text easy to read.
- The drop down menus should also be bigger.
- Everything should be saved when the user uploads a logo, favicon, or anything else.
To learn more about Morph click here! For more usability testing reports, click here.
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Thanks for taking the time to share your initial thoughts and feedback of Morph
Even though we were already aware of most of the points you mentioned, you still bring a valuable perspective to the mix that will no doubt come in useful in the days to come. I've made a note of the various points you mentioned and we will definitely keep them in mind as we work towards the stable release of Morph. Maybe we can even get you to take a second look once the stable version is released
For the benefit of anyone reading this post, I just wanted to touch on / clarify a few of the points you raised:
Morph is still a young pup
- The first round of beta testing was specifically limited to small group of technically orientated users. We did mention in the beta board that the built in documentation was far from complete and that both the component and template are still very much a work in progress.
The database whoopsie - eeeeeeeeeek!
- Packaging the template with sample data is one of our most requested features and packaging the component with sample data was the first step towards providing users with the option of sample data. For the stable release, users will be presented with a couple of different setup options, including sample data and without. It was clearly stated that the initial round of beta testing required a fresh Joomla! 1.5 install, as the component would replace the database and that it should not be installed at a live site
Customizing Morph - now and in the future..
- The entire customization section is still a work in progress and a lot of it is going to change (as stated at the top of the customization section). Based on input we have received from customers over the years, the top 3 things that they miss being able to easily customize is the logo, background and color settings. The stable release will have all of these 100% working and we plan building on this as Morph evolves.
What the heck are themelets anyways??
- Morph itself is the templating engine (where all the heavy lifting is done) and themelets, like child themes, handle the visual aspect of your site. You can see some themelet examples on our themelet voting site (http://www.joomlajunkie.com/themelets). The stable release of Morph will have a light and dark base themelet, which will act as a starting point for anyone wanting to take advantage of Morphs engine, but do their own custom design. We decided to hold off coding any additional themelets until the second round of beta testing, to ensure that the dark base was 100% working.
Safe to say the future is bright for Morph and we are super excited to get the stable version out there.
Thanks again for your input - its much appreciated!
Cheers,
Chris