Very disappointing

This plugin does make full use of custom post types and taxonomies. So you can extend, export, theme, etc.

We just don’t use the boring old WP post editor for the editing interface so that it could be rocking simple and work on the frontend.

“Rocking”?! No, it’s hideous!

And if you are using CPTs, why aren’t you using the standard WP way of listing units in the back-end?

Don’t tell me you think that’s boring too, because it’s a great deal more efficient than your design. The only way it can be reached at the moment is by selecting CoursePress -> Courses -> Specific Course -> Unit.

That’s several clicks and screens more. And if I can’t remember which Course the unit is in, I just have to keep searching. A simple, standard WP listing of posts avoids all that hassle.

You have certainly chosen a rum way of implementing CPTs.

Hi there!

Sorry for jumping in as I had the same concerns as @kts915 first. However, I reviewed the plugin code and it is using CPTs for all stuff, which is very good!

And, unlike @kts915, I really like the interface that the plugin is providing, as for that content type it makes WAY MORE SENSE this way!!

CPT usage does not mean it has to use the same interface as “always”. WordPress just provides an parameter for registering post types which is “show_ui” — I wish more developers would use that – well thought out of course. It all should depend on the use case and content type.

The way CoursePress offers its backend stuff is great IMHO, as it guides the user when setting up content – much unlike other plugins in that area where you get lost and don’t know what step is the next or something like that.

I guess it’s just different taste/and use cases.

Thanks, Dave ??

Dave,

You’re welcome. I actually use one of your plugins.

Unfortunately, though, I am not really reassured by what you say about this plugin. I think the difference between us here is more than taste — though I do absolutely abhor the WPMUDEv corporate color scheme (which is what is used here).

I write tons of courses. The organization of this plugin makes it utterly inefficient to edit anything unless I can be completely sure where everything is. The interface doesn’t help me there. In fact, it utterly prevents me from knowing until I click on the right place.

And, in fact, the CPTs don’t work as they should. Try using another plugin to reorganize their order, for example, and you’ll see what I mean.

Hey Dave (daveshine),

Thanks for dropping by and leaving your thoughts, it’s really appreciated, thank you!

If you wouldn’t mind leaving a review separately that would be awesome, no stress if not though. ??

Hey Tim (KTS915),

Thanks also for leaving your honest feedback and thoughts.

From your first comment it seems the loss of two of those stars was due to us not using CustomPost Types, and that meant you couldn’t customise within the theme/design. As we’ve established that is false and they are in fact CPT’s, with that in mind do you think we could earn a star or two back now?

The last star seems to relating to getting locked and the fact you don’t like our blue colour or layout. Well changing the colours is just some styling, if you wish to open a support ticket on that we’d be more than happy to work with you on changing the colours with CSS, I think that’s fair. ??

The locked in thing, as with any plugin that uses multiple post types together, if you moved to another plugin it would first need to support the same post type name, it would also need to respect relationships where applicable along with the fields. I don’t know of many plugins that truly do that except those based of each other.

Anyway, I get you don’t like the interface I understand why you might not award that final star.

Naturally we are passing all constructive feedback along to our developers and thank everyone for helping and providing their input. This plugin has been in development for a long time, research conducted with many users and the interface based upon those who tested and provided feedback to us over that time.

Thank you again for your valuable feedback.

Timothy,

The tone and content of your response is appreciated. Let me address your points.

I am not some ideologue about custom post types. I want developers to use them because they are usually the best way to ensure that (a) the plugin is efficient and straightforward to use, and (b) content is never locked into a specific plugin.

Taking (b) first, what you say about the requirements of transferability to another plugin are true, but in my experience it’s actually pretty straightforward to transfer CPTs from one plugin to another. I have done so with portfolio and Q&A plugins, for example. That’s the beauty of keeping it modular.

Anyway, on that point, CoursePress is, it turns out, doing what I want, so I will upgrade my rating by a star.

On (a), however, the fact that you are using CPTs has not achieved the desired effect of making use of the plugin simple and efficient. This is because you have chosen to implement CPTs in a manner that is, I’m afraid, just silly.

I would love to know who your testers were, because they clearly have to take some responsibility here. I very much doubt that they write anything like as many course modules as I do, and your implementation of CPTs is as problematic for efficiency as if you had not done so at all.

Your way means taking several more steps, which I might well have to re-trace, when the standard WP way gets me there in one, and without mistakes. When you write as many course units as I do, this is just hopeless.

If you implemented CPTs properly, I would also be able to use another plugin to re-order my course units. This is an absolutely vital tool for me. But — currently, at least — you don’t. So I can’t (and neither can any other user). I have to take all those steps again just to get to the units I want to re-order.

And your Visual Composer-lite implementation of the writing field means that, even on my large, widescreen desktop monitor, when I get to the unit’s page, the content field for writing/editing each unit is not actually visible! That is just crazy. You have gunked up the screen with so much above it that I have to scroll down even to find the place in which to write or edit anything.

So while the color scheme is hideous, the impediments to usability are far worse. I don’t want to have to keep scrolling down a whole screen just to get to where I can write or edit something! (Apparently a colleague of yours thinks that this is “rocking,” but I think they meant “scrolling”).

I appreciate that you have made this available for free, and you have no obligation to me or anyone else. I actually would really like to use it, which is why I gave it a long review. But there’s just no way I can do so at the moment.

Finally, thanks for the offer to work with the CSS. But, unless you are going to change the way of accessing each unit (or provide the standard method as an alternative) and move the unit writing/editing area to the top of the window, where it belongs, I won’t be using the plugin anyway. So that would be wasting your time. Thanks again for the offer, though.

Hey again Tim.

On (a), however, the fact that you are using CPTs has not achieved the desired effect of making use of the plugin simple and efficient. This is because you have chosen to implement CPTs in a manner that is, I’m afraid, just silly.

I guess I don’t really understand why you think they’re silly but if you could elaborate further I’ll happily pass this along to our developers so they can discuss further.

I would love to know who your testers were, because they clearly have to take some responsibility here. I very much doubt that they write anything like as many course modules as I do, and your implementation of CPTs is as problematic for efficiency as if you had not done so at all.

We run one of the largest installations of WordPress multisite behind WordPress.com, this is called Edublogs (over 2.5 million websites). We also provide large installations for some of the most well known universities around the world through Edublogs and our recently launched CampusPress.

https://edublogs.org/
https://www.campuspress.com/

Testers were varied as I’m sure you can imagine, and also included normal DEV members and people that mailed in asking about a course plugins.

Your way means taking several more steps, which I might well have to re-trace, when the standard WP way gets me there in one, and without mistakes. When you write as many course units as I do, this is just hopeless.

I think what I’m taking away from this, and please correct me if I’m wrong, but a way to search all units, maybe a live search, this would help remedy your frustration because you need an easy way to locate content that takes you there when you click?

So this is more about navigating to the content through the interface rather than the actual CPT itself and if the normal view was exposed this should help you get what you need, you’d prefer units to be listed like you’d expect posts or pages, within their own view?

Thanks for taking the time to feedback again, really appreciate it! ??

You’re right it isn’t about CPTs themselves. I just thought that, because the plugin doesn’t play nicely with standard plugins that re-order content, and because you have made the writing/editing area awkward to use — both characteristics typical of plugins that don’t use CPTs — that you weren’t using them either.

I had never seen anyone implement CPTs like this and, frankly, I really don’t understand why you’d want to complicate things like this. If you’re using the right bricks and mortar, why build that?

But no, I don’t want a search function. I just want the ability to see a full list of all units in one place, with information provided as to the author of each unit and the course to which each unit belongs.

That’s the beauty of the standard WP posts (or custom posts) list. All the info (with categories or taxonomies replacing courses) at my fingertips in one click. I can also choose for myself how many should be visible.

Not only that, but I can even re-order them all, in one click, by title, order, course, date etc. And, of course, I can set a custom menu order by using one of a whole host of other plugins available for the job.

You may have large institutions using your stuff, but did the WPMUDev devs actually ask them how their content-producers write, particularly the order in which they write? When you write a ton of stuff, it’s often not done sequentially. So the ability to see in one view what’s where is vital, and a search capability can’t do that.

Really, it’s the same with the individual unit page. I need to be able to see what is where immediately I navigate to the page. Currently, it’s all out of sight.

I know your colleague thought the standard WP approach is boring, but it really is highly functional.

Hey again, hope you had a great weekend! ??

Excellent, I got it all now and will of course feed this back to our developers. We will then continually monitor feedback from all members/users.

Naturally if it’s something the majority of members/users want changing then we’d address that further.

Have a fantastic day!