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I'm trying on improving my WordPress plugins UI and make it more intuitive.

My plugin offers an editor to create newsletters. They are split into "modules" and every module has up to 6 options.

This is how the buttons for a module look like:

enter image description here

You can auto insert some content, add new modules duplicate, move or delete them

What I really like with this approach is that all buttons are in one place and easy to access. What I don't like is that some buttons don't "tell" what they actually do. Of course there are tooltips on mouseover but I have no idea how to improve them even more.

  • Should I go with icons? (in other languages some buttons are larger)
  • Should I make them bigger in general?

I have a demo online but since this is a paid plugin I don't know if I'm allowed to post a link.

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  • Have you tested this with any of your customers yet?
    – JohnGB ♦
    Mar 19, 2013 at 16:31
  • Yes, the plugin has been sold about 1400 times right now but I don't get specific feedback for this. The problem is that I like to make it even more obviously. And as mentioned with other languages the "add" gets longer. I'm not an UI expert so I posted this question
    – Xaver
    Mar 19, 2013 at 16:38
  • My question was pointing more at the fact that what will matter most is whether your users have problems with it or not. It they don't, then there is no need to change it.
    – JohnGB ♦
    Mar 19, 2013 at 17:22
  • Only a few customers had questions about it. But I guess the most of them just figured it out with some kind of trial-and-error
    – Xaver
    Mar 19, 2013 at 18:14

1 Answer 1

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For me the terminology is unclear in the current format. Auto means insert come content Add means add new module + means duplicate module up/down are for moving module X is for deleting module

Why not change the text for Auto to "Insert" or "Text" or something which more concretely signifies insertion than "Auto" Similarly you keep "+" for adding module and use the copy symbol for duplicating (one with 2 files or layers stacked and off set) Think the moving and deletion symbols are fine as is.

I cannot argue about the size since I do not know the layout of the editor in its entirety, but judging by the width of the column you have in the image, the toolbar seems appropriately sized.

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  • Actually "Auto" is just a way to insert content. You can insert content separately like headlines, text and images or use the Auto button to insert a complete post (including headline, text and image). That's the idea of the Auto button. To check the editor visit this page: demo.newsletter-plugin.com/wp-admin/…
    – Xaver
    Mar 19, 2013 at 18:13
  • In that case I would go with "Insert" than Auto. Atleast, that makes more sense to me personally. The size of the buttons seems to be ok, looking at the other controls in the layout. Maybe increase the width of the symbolic buttons so they get a bit more room to be clicked in. The text buttons are fine as is.
    – rk.
    Mar 19, 2013 at 18:22
  • I'm thinking about using icons and an icon for "insert" is easier as one for "auto". Thanks
    – Xaver
    Mar 21, 2013 at 11:31
  • My pleasure :-)
    – rk.
    Mar 21, 2013 at 13:20

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