Theme editor: Edit preset option; Feedback on Theme editor on 0.9.0

[canstudios-kent]

Affected Area

Theme editor

Requested Feature

• Edit existing preset values.
• Include another Preset option to view currently applied course variable values.

Use Case

Edit existing preset values

1. User selects preset to edit.
2. User changes values of course theme variables.
3. User clicks "Save preset changes". Changes to preset are saved; User remains in Theme editor; Edited preset is not applied to the course.

View currently applied preset values

1. User selects "Custom/current preset" from Preset dropdown. Course theme variables display last applied values.

Current Workaround

• Editing existing presets
  • The user has to save another preset with the new changes, and then delete the old version.
• Viewing currently applied Custom preset.
  • The user is shown the Custom preset and corresponding preset values upon entering the Theme editor area. However, when the user wants to view the last applied after selecting another preset from the dropdown, the user will need to switch Base themes in order to view the last applied Custom theme.

Additional Information

1. Notes about phrases used in these comments:
   1. “Saved preset” refers to presets that have been saved as a preset and can be found in the Preset dropdown.
   2. “Custom preset” refers to the colour scheme that is currently applied to the course, but has not been saved as a “Saved preset”.
2. Not clear to the user what should happen when Save button is clicked.
3. Not clear what is being shown to user in Theme editor when a preset has already been applied to a course.
   1. When entering the Theme editor, the Custom preset variable values and the current Base theme are displayed, with the “No preset” preset selected for the Preset menu (An issue has been raised to show the previously selected preset if it has been applied).
      1. However, “No preset” implies that it should be showing the Base theme’s colour values instead of the Custom preset values. This is further evidenced as switching back and forth from “No preset” causes the Base theme values to show instead of the Custom preset values.
         1. There should be a preset option to display the Custom preset values that were last applied.
4. Theme editor area gives a misleading impression on what happens in Theme editor area.
   1. Clicking "Save" in other areas confirms and saves the current settings. In Theme editor, this implies that when "Save" is clicked, the current changes are applied to the course and onto the Saved preset.
      1. Instead, the current theme variable settings are saved onto the course, but does not affect the Saved preset being used. The Saved preset will not be affected.
         1. Perhaps "Save" should be "Apply to course" instead?
   2. "Restore to preset" button only appears when changes have occurred. Clicking "Restore to preset" will restore the colour values to the original values of the Saved preset that’s currently selected in the Preset dropdown.
      1. It’s not inherently clear which preset the button refers to e.g. does clicking "Restore to preset" restore the values of the currently selected Saved preset or will it restore the values of the last saved Custom preset?
      2. This furthers the misinterpretation that clicking "Save" will alter the Saved presets in some way, when in actuality only the Custom preset is affected.
      3. The "Restore to preset" button makes the Theme editor area different to other areas. Other areas use a Reset icon on every field when the value has been changed to a non-default state.
   3. Current warning message when deleting a preset: “This will affect any existing courses using this preset.”
      1. Delete preset warning is misleading. It implies that affected courses have a dependency on the soon-to-be-deleted preset.
      2. Though the preset is removed from the preset dropdown, courses that had the preset applied will retain the colour scheme.
         1. The warning should be about how it will remove the preset option for other users.

[canstudios-kent]

#2362, #2363, #2364 were raised due to my misunderstanding on how Theme editor was expected to work. The comments on in #2388 are based on #2362, #2363, #2364.

[tomgreenfield]

See also https://github.com/adaptlearning/adapt_authoring/pull/2209#discussion_r276575623.