Interface Evaluation for S/MIME Plugin for WordPress
Elwing recently began a plugin project for using S/MIME encryption for signing and sending comments.
Encryption concepts are difficult enough, and putting options and configuration into words on a page is quite a challenge. I am working with her to create the administration page. The following is the first iteration of interface evaluations I did for her.
1. Tab and page title
“Crypto Options” could be better renamed to “Encryption” or something similar to the plugin name. “Crypto” is an abbreviated name which some people may not understand or misinterpret.
“Options” should be omitted from the tab title, it is implied since it is in the “Options” meta section, and the space could be used for a better section description.
The tab name “Crypto Options” and the title of the page “S/MIME Plugin Options” do not follow the WordPress administration style. They should be similarly named. For example, under the “Reading” tab, the page title is “Reading Options”.
2. Section title
Titles should be descriptive and in active voice. Change “Type of Encryption to Use” to “Type of Encryption”.
3. “Type of Encryption to Use” options
After speaking with the developer, “No Encryption” essentially means that the plugin is turned off or deactivated. Plugin activation is controlled in the “Plugins” meta section. The “No Encryption” option should be eliminated and until additional encryption types are available, the “Types of Encryption to Use” section should be omitted.
4. “Send unencrypted…” and encrypting messages options
It is not necessary to encrypt all outgoing messages and the user should be able adjust that. Include the option “Encrypt all outgoing messages”, where unchecked (default) will not encrypt.
Also display any requirements needed for the option to be valid. Include “(requires certificate)” and check for the certificate when this option is updated.
The “Send unencrypted…” option is a requirement of message encryption. It should be displayed as a sub-option of of “Encrypt all outgoing messages” and be unselectable when the parent option is unchecked.
The wording “Send unencrypted when no recipient certificate is available” is unclear and confusing. Rewrite as “Send unencrypted when certificate is unavailable”.
5. “Always sign” option
The “Always sign” option is mentioned but not displayed. It should be included in the “Options” section. It should be written as “Sign all outgoing messages” where unselected does not sign outgoing messages which is the system default.
Also display any requirements needed for the option to be valid. Include “(requires private key)” and check for the key when this option updated.
seele :: Apr.27.2005 :: Blogging, General, Usability :: 2 Comments »
I agree with pretty much everything you mentioned. I still need to try the plugin to see how it works.
Hello!
I installed Wordpress on my server, and set up a site. It’s a relly nice piece of software. However, I am missing a piece of functionality, and
couldn’t find a suitable answer for it. Mayou you know a plugin I could use?I need to automatically inserts ads in my posts.And not AdSense ads, but rather HTML snippets defined by me (affiliate links, etc). Let’s say I would insert a tag in my post:
– ad here –
and the plugin would automatically replace it with some HTML code, when the post is displayed on my site.I really don’t need any fancy configuration options etc, just the basic replace functionality.
Do you know a plugin that can handle this?