Minimalist Override Now Available
Last week I teased the new Minimalist override for the ExpressionEngine Control Panel. This week it is available to purchase and install on your EE site.
Minimalist is a completely overhauled look and feel for the ExpressionEngine control panel. Everything has been stripped down to it’s bare essentials, designed to help optimize the experience of managing and creating content.
Check out the screenshots and description at Devot:ee. The add-on costs $25.
Posted on Apr 24, 2012 by Ryan Irelan
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Jeremy Ricketts — 02:37 on 04.25.2012
This looks really great. Man, $25 does feel steep for this type of thing though! Maybe I’m in the minority here.
Seamus — 05:28 on 04.25.2012
Agreed it’s a little pricey. My intention on pricing for v1 was to get something out quickly, without setting myself up to take on too much support. I figured $25 was just out of impulse range for something like this.
Once I finish support for all the major add-ons and add some settings, my plan is to drop the price and offer an optional unlimited developer license so if you decide to adopt it, you could do so for all your clients without per site licenses.
That said, it’s adding enough efficiency to my dev process that I think it’s worth the price once you give it a try, even at $25. Not that I’m biased or anything.
And if you just wanna give it a whirl, email me <seamus@gridworkdesign.com> and I’ll gladly send you a free demo copy. That goes for anyone reading this.
Jeremy Ricketts — 06:19 on 04.25.2012
Very generous Seamus. I do think that’s sound reasoning though- keep the price out of impulse-buy range and lower your support burden until the kinks (if any) are worked out. Just keep in mind, that sometimes people protest less when you raise the price rather than lower it later. Anf then there’s always a percentage of users who complain no matter what you do.
There’s only been a few people writing lately about the price of EE plugins- I think it’s one of those topics that attracts a lot of “omg Wordpress is free” type of users and hobbyists. One of the things that makes EE great is a resistance to that way of thinking. It seems like, in the EE community, there’s a willingness to pay for good work if it saves you development time and extends the platform in meaningful ways.
As for myself, I have been struggling lately with how many addons and plugins it takes to roll out a simple site. There are 3 or 4 commercial plugins (like Low Variables) that feel necessary in any Expression Engine install. Does your client need an intuitive way to navigate the CMS and edit the “About Us” page? Buy Structure. Want to have full control of all the admin options they see when they log in? Want to allow them to actually see a real preview of their blog entry before publishing it? Want to do away with the silly gradient-filled bubbly Admin theme with its obtuse menu options and sliding shelves?
At some point, I guess I feel like Expression Engine takes so much configuration and extra plugins (most of which feel like workarounds) that I wonder if it isn’t worth learning something like Django or Rails to get the job done. I know- it’s the same old gripe that disgruntled users have been saying for years.
SO… I love your admin theme. When I first saw it, my thought was “Ah geez- that’s what the friggin default should look like.” When I see Low Variables I think “Shit, why doesn’t Expression Engine handle one-off static content like this natively?” When I see Zoo Flexible Admin I think “Why do I have to pay $22 for disabling admin options?” And at some point I just crack. The software line on my invoice to clients feels unjustifiably large these days.
That was a large rant and has little to do with your great work Seamus. I’m sure I’ll delete it I the morning.
Steve L — 20:06 on 06.01.2012
The minimalist override looks really good. I love that it is more streamlined. I think it should definitely make the control panel a lot quicker to work in.