CPanel XP 2005

[AlphaWolf]

As we add beta testers, I'd like to hear from you what you do and what you don't like about the new Cpanel XP.  There are some things I am not really thrilled with, but others, like the ability to let you access all our customer support features from within Cpanel, that I really love.

But most important is what do YOU think?

[Equalizer]

First off I'm not a pro at this so take that into account.

Initial Impressions:
- I love the way things are divided into sections, very easy to find what your looking for.
- The "System Links" section is great - Every support option we could need in one spot, I can eliminate the 6 links in my favorites.
- The "Application Directory" is very nice also.  A nice overview and links for the 3rd party applications you make available to us.  Easier than clicking through each one to see the info.

more as I use it...

[AlphaWolf]

Thanks Coach! ;-)

Tell me, was it intuitive for you to click the links at the very top to see more options for each of the 'sections'?

Did you find having a non-functional 'support' button on the bottom of the screen confusing?

this is one of the things bugging me at the moment.  I'd like to see a <more> link in each menu box that leads to the complete feature selection for that option type.  We can't fit them ALL in the menu box, due to the design of the application, though we were able to add menu boxes, (so thats an option), reorder them etc.  And we can select what features we want from each section in the menu box on the main display...so that helps.

But take SSH and SSL for example.  99% of people here do not have SSH - it should be gone.  SSL, we can, on a package by package basis edit that so it takes them to a screen to contact sales, but thats a royal pain.

Another issue is the comparison chart for plans.  Its not accurate and I cant find a way to get rid of it.

LOL...ok so I am looking at all the things *I* don't like.

peace

Wolf

[Equalizer]

Tell me, was it intuitive for you to click the links at the very top to see more options for each of the 'sections'?

Yes, I had no problem with this.

Did you find having a non-functional 'support' button on the bottom of the screen confusing?

No, because I did not click on it... even if I had I would have just assumed that it was not "Hooked up" yet.  IF it remained not working I wold have been frustrated by it I suppose.

this is one of the things bugging me at the moment.  I'd like to see a <more> link in each menu box that leads to the complete feature selection for that option type.  We can't fit them ALL in the menu box, due to the design of the application, though we were able to add menu boxes, (so thats an option), reorder them etc.  And we can select what features we want from each section in the menu box on the main display...so that helps.

But take SSH and SSL for example.  99% of people here do not have SSH - it should be gone.  SSL, we can, on a package by package basis edit that so it takes them to a screen to contact sales, but thats a royal pain.

While a "More" button could be helpful a lot of those Items in advanced fall across categories if you know what I mean.. so having them separated does not cause a problem for me.

I have not noticed anything yet but on that same note if the tool I was looking for was obviously part of a section and was not there that could get frustrating.  example.  If "Fantastico" was not listed under "scripts" and I had to go looking for it.


A suggestion: On the Account Info page perhaps a shortcut to the "comparison chart for plans" (once it's functional) I believe a lot of people like me don't know exactly what they need or want when they sign up for a website.  If we could then see the numbers that are current and quickly compare to another plan that would make "What if" scenarios easier to see.

Thanks!!!

[AlphaWolf]

Did you find having a non-functional 'support' button on the bottom of the screen confusing?

No, because I did not click on it... even if I had I would have just assumed that it was not "Hooked up" yet.  IF it remained not working I wold have been frustrated by it I suppose.

Thanks for the great feedback!

I am trying to get someone to tell me how I get rid of that blasted image and link.  Thing is that the standard CPanel has it as well.  It just is not as noticeable.

While a "More" button could be helpful a lot of those Items in advanced fall across categories if you know what I mean.. so having them separated does not cause a problem for me.

I have not noticed anything yet but on that same note if the tool I was looking for was obviously part of a section and was not there that could get frustrating.  example.  If "Fantastico" was not listed under "scripts" and I had to go looking for it.

Nods.  And I found a work around to add my own more... button for each...grin.

If you do find a tool that is NOT on the main menu that you use frequently, let me know.  Also let me know which ones might be there that you don't use regularly.  I will try and sort through the results so we can try and put the tools used by most users right up in front.

A suggestion: On the Account Info page perhaps a shortcut to the "comparison chart for plans" (once it's functional) I believe a lot of people like me don't know exactly what they need or want when they sign up for a website.  If we could then see the numbers that are current and quickly compare to another plan that would make "What if" scenarios easier to see.

Unfortunately we can't do a darn thing with either the comparison charts or the account info page.  At the moment.  I am asking to have the comparisons page be something we can choose to either use the built in auto-generated comparisons OR a unique page of our choosing.  The reason for this is that our ordering software allows people to order plans that are 'owned by' ROOT.  Once they have been ordered and created, the owner of the account then changes to either 4-christ.org, (for Webs 4 Christ), or q4c.org, (for AlphaOne Tech).  Since the plans are owned by root, there ARE no comparison charts auto generated. (If that made sense)

Besides that, we don't have hard bandwidth limits.  But we have to PUT bandwidth limits in the plans in order for us to put a limiter in case of a big attack on a site and also because there is no such thing as unlimited bandwidth.  99% of the time if someone is getting close to what we have them set to, we just bump them up.  But a comparison chart would show bandwidths and it would be wrong.

Peace,

Wolf

[pferdner]

Overall it looks nice. Most features I've used work the same. Here's a few small issues:

1. When I selected "Default Address" and then clicked "Go Back" it returned me back to a menu titled "Mail Manager Main Menu". I expected to go back to the main menu. This menu appears to duplicate some of the options from the main page and there doesn't appear to be an easy way to get to it if it really should exist at all. I suspect it is a left over from the old menu and the "Go Back" buttons need to point to the new page.

2. The hover prompt describing a button when the cursor moves over it is nice, but it is hard to read with the blue fade and star graphic. Simple white on black would be better, if you have the ability to tweek this. The user appears to have the ability to disable it using My Cpanel, but it is not obvious from the main menu that the feature exists or how to do it.

3. The top box on the main menu has an alert yellow triangle symbol and the message "Please update your contact information here" - which implies I should do just that. So I did. After dutifully complying, I expected the alert box to change, but it didn't. I was uncertained if I missed something and the system still wanted action (which an alert like this generally implies).

[pferdner]

I found a bug:

1. Go to My CPanel
2. Change Appearance to X2
3. Go to Themes
4. Change Appearance back to XP
5. Go to My CPanel
6. Results in 404 error - trying access frontend/xpevolution/mail/mycpanel/index.php

[pferdner]

The main menu has a subset of options available. All the options for a section are under the menu for that section. I didn't realize this and thought features had been removed.

I suggest replacing the last option of each section on the main menu with an option that reads "More Features" and takes the user to that section's menu. This is redunant, since the same links exist at the top of the page, but it may avoid confusion.

[Brad]

Overall it looks nice. Most features I've used work the same. Here's a few small issues:

1. When I selected "Default Address" and then clicked "Go Back" it returned me back to a menu titled "Mail Manager Main Menu". I expected to go back to the main menu. This menu appears to duplicate some of the options from the main page and there doesn't appear to be an easy way to get to it if it really should exist at all. I suspect it is a left over from the old menu and the "Go Back" buttons need to point to the new page.

No, this is how CPanel has always worked.  The new CPanel allows us to put some of the most used options in each section on the main page.  If you click MORE from the email 'menu box' on the main page you will end up at the Mail Manager Menu.  Unfortunately, Cpanel, (the inner workings which are standard and not affected by CpanelXP), doesn't know you 'callled' Default Address from the main page since it doesnt exist on the main page in the standard app. You can get to "Default Address" from main page or the MORE, which is the mail manager menu.

2. The hover prompt describing a button when the cursor moves over it is nice, but it is hard to read with the blue fade and star graphic. Simple white on black would be better, if you have the ability to tweek this. The user appears to have the ability to disable it using My Cpanel, but it is not obvious from the main menu that the feature exists or how to do it.

I thought so too and mentioned it to Wolf. Too bad that isn't a configurable feature.

3. The top box on the main menu has an alert yellow triangle symbol and the message "Please update your contact information here" - which implies I should do just that. So I did. After dutifully complying, I expected the alert box to change, but it didn't. I was uncertained if I missed something and the system still wanted action (which an alert like this generally implies).

This is also the same as normal Cpanel.  It always says "update your contact info here", but is not very noticeable.  But I think CPanel XP is supposed to only put that up once every 120 days.  Let us know if you see it next time you log on.

  I found a bug:

1. Go to My CPanel
2. Change Appearance to X2
3. Go to Themes
4. Change Appearance back to XP
5. Go to My CPanel
6. Results in 404 error - trying access frontend/xpevolution/mail/mycpanel/index.php

I just tried that and you are right.  I will report that to Wolf and the author of the application.

The main menu has a subset of options available. All the options for a section are under the menu for that section. I didn't realize this and thought features had been removed.

I suggest replacing the last option of each section on the main menu with an option that reads "More Features" and takes the user to that section's menu. This is redunant, since the same links exist at the top of the page, but it may avoid confusion.

Now that is strange because one of the first things I think Wolf did was add that.  You don't see it?  Do you see the links to billing, tech support, the forums, etc?

[Brad]

I don't understand what exactly is happening because your CPanelXP is not the same as others.  You are missing all the added features and everything.

But I went and changed the owner of your domain (reseller) to AlphaOne Tech from Webs 4 Christ and that gave you the correct options.  Now I wonder who else might not have the correct options.

Let us know if it all looks different to you now.

[pferdner]

I don't understand what exactly is happening because your CPanelXP is not the same as others.  You are missing all the added features and everything.

But I went and changed the owner of your domain (reseller) to AlphaOne Tech from Webs 4 Christ and that gave you the correct options.  Now I wonder who else might not have the correct options.

Let us know if it all looks different to you now.

No difference. I logged completely out, closed all browser windows and logged in again. I still see "Webs 4 Christ CPanel" at the top and the same options as before.

[Brad]

That's pretty crazy. We changed you owned by AlphaOne and I went and logged in to your Cpanel.  It was absolutely fine.  Now I logged in and its back to Webs 4 Christ with no customized features.

Please e-mail your CPanel password to info@webs4christ.com so we can let the author take a look.

thank you

Brad

[pferdner]

Please e-mail your CPanel password to info@webs4christ.com so we can let the author take a look.

Emailing passwords around isn't my idea of good security procedures. Can't you log in as root and then su as me? Or better yet, set up a test account and reproduce the same results - I have kept my account very simple.

[Brad]

We can not reproduce the results no matter what we do.

We have tried many times.  You are the only account that has this out of 50 or so.

The only way to troubleshoot it is to let the author into your cpanel.  su does not applu to cpanel.  We can log in and change your password.  But since your password would have to be mailed to you to let you log in once he is done testing its the same thing.

Even if you change your password because you forgot, Cpanel e-mails you your password.

[TJ]

Have you checked the owner and group?

[Brad]

Yes checked that first.  Something is wrong with his account and we can't make it happen in a test case.

Brad