FreePBX 2.10

[wardmundy]

You might want to read up on the upcoming changes to IVRs in FreePBX 2.10...

 

[wardmundy]

Here's the official announcement of FreePBX 2.10.

Excerpt:

So what has been going on? Well let me warn you that when you load the 2.10 beta be prepared for a lot of great things and some really big changes on the "look and feel" front. Let me also precede this by saying WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR FEEDBACK! This is not a "done deal" but we need to hear from you now to affect change, not 3 months after final release! (and if you do scream then, we are going to point you right back to this blog post!)

Upon loading the beta you are going to find that the whole GUI has gone though a MAJOR facelift. Kudos to some awesome work by mbrevda whose efforts started back in 2.9 to make this a reality and here we are today with a MUCH NEEDED modernization of the interface. With that said we are well aware that this sort of change may not suite everyone and further more, with a large community like we have, there is probably NO single solution that will make everyone happy.

MORAL: Speak now or forever hold your peace!

The FreePBX Dev Team is making every effort to be inclusive so take advantage of the opportunity and give FreePBX 2.10 a whirl.

 

[bucasia]

I have a FreePBX 2.10 beta demo system here if you'd like to see what the interface looks like without installing it - http://sysadminman.net/blog/2011/freepbx-2-10-beta-demo-system-2944

Matt

 

[tm1000]

3rd Party modules can go under any menu. it is not restricted.

user panel is the ARI interface which has not be re-written (looks as it used to)

I am not sure if this is the appropriate forum for comments on the interface, if not apologies in advance. Thank you for providing a public facing demo system, I expect this will be my only exposure to 2.10 for quite a while.

1. I like the new look, it has a bit more polish than what we are used to, but personally, I attach very low importance to aesthetics for something like this.
2. I like the quick language selector, and seems to work well for the three that I struggle with.
3. The frog logo at the top left has a link to nowhere, but I assume it will link to freepbx.org, there is a link to freepbx.org in the admin menu and a frog logo at bottom left that will likely link as well. Given the prominent location of the two logos, I don't see value in the third link in the admin menu.
4. The placement of the individual items in the menus seems a bit arbitrary. The new system classifies conferences as an application but the parking lot is accessed via the setting menu and followme is placed in the other menu. In pre 2.10 versions, all of these are accessed the same way, and to my mind at least, makes more sense that way. I don't see any logic that clearly separates items that now appear in the admin, applications, other and settings menus.
5. The connectivity menu does have menu items that are logically related to connectivity, which is nice. Consideration should be given to moving extensions in to this menu.
6. Reports menu works exactly as I would expect it to.
7. I assume the non-working user panel button is for FOP/FOP2 and if so, it is a good placement for me.
8. What kind of mechanism will be in place for 3rd party modules, which menu will they appear in when installed?

Those were just my first impressions of the retooled interface. I didn't actually try to use anything, just browsed the new look

 

[rossiv]

4. The placement of the individual items in the menus seems a bit arbitrary. The new system classifies conferences as an application but the parking lot is accessed via the setting menu and followme is placed in the other menu. In pre 2.10 versions, all of these are accessed the same way, and to my mind at least, makes more sense that way. I don't see any logic that clearly separates items that now appear in the admin, applications, other and settings menus.
5. The connectivity menu does have menu items that are logically related to connectivity, which is nice. Consideration should be given to moving extensions in to this menu.
6. I assume the non-working user panel button is for FOP/FOP2 and if so, it is a good placement for me.

I completely agree with number 4. Menus are, IMO, in a strange organizational structure. I don't like them at the top, personally.

Maybe its just my screen, but on the Follow Me page and on most pages, the text that says "Choose a user/extension:" is huge compared to the tiny extension button on the right side of the screen. Both are also eclipsed with white space and tons of it.

On the IVR screen, "IVR Options (DTMF)" settings have nothing to do with DTMF. DTMF would be below at the "entries." Under Destination - if you want to send a call to a feature code, it is listed as "Feature Code Admin" rather than "Feature Codes." That's kind of odd. Also no description for what "Return" does - guess it returns to the IVR if busy/no answer.

Extensions should be under the Connectivity screen. For Extension recording options, "Don't Care" seems grossly inappropriate. Granted I don't exactly know what that option does, but I'm guessing that it doesn't record if it hasn't already and it does record if it is already. May be renamed to "Inherit" or something similar.

 

[mbrevda]

On the IVR screen, "IVR Options (DTMF)" settings have nothing to do with DTMF.

Those are the settings for a DMTF interface to the ivr. (vs say a speech recognition interface). It has nothing to do with the entries.

MORAL: Speak now or forever hold your peace!

Indeed - although not here. The proper place to make your self heard is at freepbx.org, in the forums or you can comment directly on the blog post.

 

[phoneguy]

Something is weird on this guys Demo site with the menus. Its like modules have been thrown everywhere and now how my FreePBX 2.10 looks like at all. Not sure what is going on but it is not correct.

 

[bucasia]

Hi Tony,

It was a FreePBX upgrade from 2.8 -> 2.9 -> 2.10 beta. As far as I can remember there was nothing special done that would rearrange the menu options.

Do you mean the sub menus just appear under the incorrect menu headings?

Does the latest FreePBX Distro Beta include FreePBX 2.10? If so I'll download it and have a look.

Cheers, Matt

 

[phoneguy]

Yes something is not right on your demo box. Not sure how you updated to 2.10 but you are missing things and lots of weird menu things. Yes the latest Beta Distro includes FreePBX 2.10 feel free to get that up for people to test drive.

 

[bucasia]

I'm checking the distro out now but do you just mean some of the menu options are missing, or are things in the wrong place?

Some are the menu options are disabled - security, module admin, misc applications etc so that people don't mess up the box.

If menu items are in the wrong place could you give an example?

Thanks, Matt

 

[bucasia]

Besides the disabled modules things look pretty much the same on the FreePBX Distro.

Speaking of disabled modules, it looks like there's a bug when creating a user account in FreePBX and then only assigning certain permissions. It generates an internal 500 error. Thought it might just have been on my template (I changed something to work round it) but it does it on the FreePBX Distro too.

Tony - do you have the link for bug reports in 2.10 beta? I could only find the 2.9 bugs, or I'm I missing it.

Cheers, Matt

 

[TheShniz]

Because FreePBX's news thread is more feedback than discussion (here in forums), I'll simply copy & paste...

Perhaps you could create a poll if people would prefer top/horizontal drop down menus, or already expanded left/vertical menu.

While the interface is certainly more 'clean' and the bublier look is more modern, it really feels a lot more cumbersome to operate... menus are no longer expanded, requires a lot of mouse clicks, and the organization I agree seems very arbitrary. My opinion is that most modules are very long vertical pages, and therefore offer alot of blank unused realestate on the sides... this to me begs a fully expanded left/vertical menu.

If you are ultimately determined to 'clean things up' with a top/horizontal menu, I would at the very minimum beg for the menus to appear on mouseover and NOT mouseclick. Just compare FreePBX w/ a program like Microsoft Excel or Word, where there is an inordinate number of menu items... you're effectively burying all modules in a *long* file menu, as opposed to having (at the very least) the most often used modules available w/ a direct single-click of the mouse on a toolbar (or in this case an already expanded menu).

Pretty form, but lacking function
- J

+1 Vertical Expanded

 

[phoneguy]

Yes I just added the 2.10 as a version in trac for FreePBX. Feel free to open a bug against the 2.10 version.

 

[bucasia]

Cheers Tony, I opened a ticket - freepbx.org/trac/ticket/5387#preview

Yes I just added the 2.10 as a version in trac for FreePBX. Feel free to open a bug against the 2.10 version.

 

[Socs28]

drop downs

In looking at the demo instance, I have to click to get the drop downs, is that they way it usually is or do they drop down with a mouseover?

 

[bucasia]

As far as I'm aware they're currently designed to be clicked on. They don't auto drop down in any of the browsers I've tried.

 

[GameGamer43]

At this time the dropdown menu in FreePBX 2.10 requires you to click on the menu option in order to dropdown.

 

[EndeavorPBX]

I don't mind the switch to pull-down menus. The number of modules has grown so large that two main divisions is not enough. However, it'd be nice if you could search for modules by typing their name in a search bar and having any matches come up with a link.

At this time the dropdown menu in FreePBX 2.10 requires you to click on the menu option in order to dropdown.

 

[bucasia]

Recently I’ve been searching for a web GUI for Asterisk that is much simpler than FreePBX to be able to offer customers as an alternative, for those that do not need all of the functionality.
I really like FreePBX but it can be overwhelming when starting out as there is just so much of it.

However, thinking about it some more, I’m wondering if FreePBX could be adapted to provide a much simpler interface quite easily.

With a master BASIC/ADVANCED switch at the top of the screen it could be possible to switch a lot of the advanced features off to provide a simplified interface.
I would see the BASIC interface to have the goal of allowing users to get extensions, incoming and outgoing calls working.

It could include the Extensions, Trunks, Inbound Routes, Outbound Routes and CDR menu options only. Also, within those menus a lot of the options could be hidden. For example in the Extension menu page there would be maybe 5 or 6 options – extension number, secret, voicemail on/off and not much more.

This would give new starters a real chance at getting calls going in and out of the system quickly. Once they were comfortable with how FreePBX worked they would switch it in to ADVANCED mode and get all of the options.

I’m not sure how easy this would be to implement, or if the underlying architecture allows for menu options within pages easily allows options to be flagged as advanced, and hidden.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

 

[bucasia]

The FreePBX team are continuing to improve FreePBX 2.10.

The latest beta includes the automatic drop-down menus that lots of people asked for - freepbx.org/news/2011-10-10/2-10-update-and-come-say-hi-at-astricon-this-year

I updated the demo system to reflect this - http://sysadminman.net/blog/2011/freepbx-2-10-beta-demo-system-2944