Experimental modules and themes should not have warnings after being installed

Created on 22 May 2017, over 7 years ago
Updated 28 August 2024, 4 months ago

Problem/Motivation

Back in #2657178: Warn about experimental modules on their help pages β†’ there was an issue to add warnings in three places once an experimental module is installed.

  • During install
  • On the modules page
  • in the site status

However, this commit has introduced a serious flaw in the UX for experimental modules on a drupal site. In general...

  • Warnings must be actionable
  • The site should not question the decisions of a site builder once a decision should be made
  • The site should inform the site builder the implications of installing an experimental module and provide documentation on where to find the status of the experimental module.

This has real consequences for 1st tier drupal shops, which run into issues when using otherwise best practices for drupal development. Not all experimental modules are equal, and the decision to use an experimental module, once installed, should not be questioned by the site. The lightning distribution is currently using layout discovery, which should be encouraged over the deprecated and unsupported layout plugin module.

Also note, there was no UX review of the previous issue, and it was hastily committed within 2 days. It should have not been committed without proper UX review and community feedback.

Proposed resolution

  1. Change the warning to 'info' on the status page, so that site admins are still informed that experimental modules are enabled
  2. Change run time warning into info message. Continue to use a warning message when installing.
  3. Add a better install notification/confirmation when installing an experimental module via the UI. This has basic support, but a handbook link or link to the status of experimental modules would be helpful.
  4. Filed https://github.com/drush-ops/drush/issues/2770

Remaining tasks

see #60
Before and after screenshots available from the issue summary.
Possible follow up with additional patch to make the confirmation page better when installing experimental modules.

User interface changes

Experimental modules should display a warning message only on the module confirmation install page.

API changes

N/A

Data model changes

N/A

πŸ› Bug report
Status

Needs work

Version

11.0 πŸ”₯

Component
HelpΒ  β†’

Last updated 11 days ago

No maintainer
Created by

πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈUnited States japerry KVUO

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  • Usability

    Makes Drupal easier to use. Preferred over UX, D7UX, etc.

  • Needs screenshots

    The change alters the user interface, so before and after screenshots should be added to document the UI change. Make sure to capture the relevant region only. Use a tool such as Aviary on Windows or Skitch on Mac OS X.

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Comments & Activities

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  • πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§United Kingdom catch

    It's been more than a few days, so I'm going to go ahead and remove the tag. We have warnings for deprecated modules, so if an experimental module ends up on its way out of core, people will be notified that way. The info level item is still a reminder you're running something that's not fully stable yet.

  • πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈUnited States xjm

    Let's bring it up in the RM channel so that folks have a chance to discuss and agree.

  • πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§United Kingdom catch

    Could use screenshots of the info-level message in the status report. The test coverage asserts that the warning doesn't appear, but should that change to a positive assertion that an info appears?

  • πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈUnited States xjm

    Via @quietone:

    +++ b/core/modules/system/system.install
    @@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ function system_requirements($phase) {
           $requirements['experimental_modules'] = [
             'title' => t('Experimental modules enabled'),
             'value' => t('Experimental modules found: %module_list. <a href=":url">Experimental modules</a> are provided for testing purposes only. Use at your own risk.', ['%module_list' => implode(', ', $experimental_modules), ':url' => 'https://www.drupal.org/core/experimental']),
    -        'severity' => REQUIREMENT_WARNING,
    +        'severity' => REQUIREMENT_INFO,
           ];
         }
         // Warn if any deprecated modules are installed.
    @@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ function system_requirements($phase) {
    
    @@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ function system_requirements($phase) {
           $requirements['experimental_themes'] = [
             'title' => t('Experimental themes enabled'),
             'value' => t('Experimental themes found: %theme_list. Experimental themes are provided for testing purposes only. Use at your own risk.', ['%theme_list' => implode(', ', $experimental_themes)]),
    -        'severity' => REQUIREMENT_WARNING,
    +        'severity' => REQUIREMENT_INFO,
           ];
    

    This patch is going too far. The scope should be limited to runtime warnings being turned to info mesages. We should still be warning about them during installation/update.

    I am also not sure the warning should be removed from the help pages.

  • Status changed to Needs work almost 2 years ago
  • πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈUnited States xjm

    Sorry, crosspost.

  • πŸ‡³πŸ‡ΏNew Zealand quietone

    This was discussed by the release managers yesterday. We agree with the direction in #60 and I have changed the Issue Summary to reflect that.

    Also, the proposed resolution includes, "Add a better install notification/confirmation when installing an experimental module via the UI. This has basic support, but a handbook link or link to the status of experimental modules would be helpful." The current message does have a link to
    Experimental modules and themes in Drupal core β†’ . I think that covers this point, or am I missing something?

    Removing the tag.

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