Why Options Level & Interface Type?

[Guido07111975]

Hi,

I start using Weaver Xtreme (very) recently and love it! Today I took some time to explore the many Customizer options.

I don’t understand why options levels exist (Basic, Standard, Full).
You can just ignore options you don’t use or understand. When using Basic/Standard, you might even miss options you like. I guess most users want to know which options are available, so will choose Full.

The same applies to Interface type. It took some time to understand how it works. Why not merge “Where” and “What”, so all options are directly available, instead of switching?

To be honest, IMO Options Level & Interface Type makes everything more difficult to understand.

But what are your thoughts about this?

Guido

[Weaver]

All of the options Weaver Xtreme offers is both its biggest strength, and also a weakness. Thus the Basic, Standard, and Full options. Many users, especially when first starting, don’t want or need ALL the options. And the Full option set includes many options that many users will never need. Was in response to user feedback way back.

The interface types – Where and What – are historical. Before Weaver Xtreme supported the Customizer, the options were more organized as the where the options applied – header, body, footer, menus, etc. The first pass at the Customizer reorganized the options into What categories – Colors, Spacing, etc. That, of course, made many existing users a bit unhappy, so we added the Where option to the customizer. Personally, I often switch back and forth between Where and What. Where is great for zeroing down to a specific area, while What can be useful for adjusting the overall design of a site (Colors, for example).

As always, the ultimate goal was to give users as much design flexibility as possible without the need to resort to learning and using CSS, as well as the instant feedback of how the look changes supported by the Customizer interface.

 

[scrambler]

Levels are there for beginners who can be overwhelmed by the number of options. If not your case of course go with full.

What and where are not combinable, they contain the exact same options (all of them), just arranged in two different hierarchies. Either search first by the area you are working on (Where) then by the type of setting (what). or think of first what type of setting you are looking for (what), and then the area it is in (where).

But ultimately the same exact options are available in both hierarchies, so you do not need to switch between them for any of the options.

It is about choosing the easier way to find something based on what your approach and personal thought process are.

The original Admin interface (Appearance > Xtreme Admin > Main options pages where arranged in Where first then What.

Last make sure you have installed the Xtrme Theme Support plugin so you have all the features.

 

 

[Guido07111975]

Hi Weaver / scrambler,

Was in response to user feedback way back.

I clearly didn’t knew that, but if users decided this is the way they want it, I rest my case 😉

they contain the exact same options (all of them), just arranged in two different hierarchies

I didn’t knew this either, but when looking at it now, it makes more sense indeed.

I have some experience in building themes myself, so that’s why I might be somewhat critical.

Guido

[Author]

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