Bug 31761 - Toolbar clarity and consistency
Summary: Toolbar clarity and consistency
Status: In Discussion
Alias: None
Product: Koha
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Staff interface (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All All
: P5 - low enhancement
Assignee: Bugs List
QA Contact: Testopia
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on: 30952
Blocks:
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Reported: 2022-10-13 11:04 UTC by Martin Renvoize (ashimema)
Modified: 2026-01-02 18:34 UTC (History)
8 users (show)

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Description Martin Renvoize (ashimema) 2022-10-13 11:04:41 UTC
Our toolbars are widely inconsistent across the staff client and with bug 30952 they became much less obvious as a 'call to action' to the end user.

See https://github.com/jajm/koha-staff-interface-redesign/issues/26 for some discussion around this.

I think we can still improve here.. Consistency wise and also overall contrast/clarity improvements.
Comment 1 Martin Renvoize (ashimema) 2023-06-07 11:15:31 UTC
See also: https://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Style_Guide#Toolbars_.28DRAFT.29
Comment 2 Pedro Amorim 2023-06-07 11:35:06 UTC
Visit /cgi-bin/koha/catalogue/itemsearch.pl
Check "Go to advanced search" button style

Visit /cgi-bin/koha/catalogue/search.pl
Check "Go to item search" link style

These 2 things should match.

Additionally, in /cgi-bin/koha/catalogue/search.pl "More options" and "Clear fields" are actions that affect the current page, whilst "Go to item search" takes the user to a different page.
The "go to" in the label may be considered a good enough hint, but bug 33190 introduces a new optional link to this toolbar, that also navigates to a different page, and to keep adding "go to" to these links does not seem like a sustainable option.
I agree with Martin's comment in bug 33190 that we should find a way to further distinguish these actions in this toolbar.

-------

These docs are very good:
https://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Interface_patterns#Toolbar_buttons

But I think this specific case for advanced-search toolbar does not fit in any of the examples there.
Comment 3 Fridolin Somers 2023-08-31 18:18:41 UTC
Maybe we should first fix contrast on another bug report right ?

It is really hard to see the toolbar text grey on grey.
Comment 4 Pedro Amorim 2023-09-01 10:17:11 UTC
(In reply to Fridolin Somers from comment #3)
> Maybe we should first fix contrast on another bug report right ?
> 
> It is really hard to see the toolbar text grey on grey.

+1
Comment 5 Pedro Amorim 2023-09-05 11:19:01 UTC
(In reply to Fridolin Somers from comment #3)
> Maybe we should first fix contrast on another bug report right ?
> 
> It is really hard to see the toolbar text grey on grey.

What I think we really need is a template block for toolbar-button and a template block for toolbar-link. See bug 34707.
Thoughts?
Comment 6 Aude Charillon 2025-12-23 12:47:51 UTC
I am working with a library team who raised the same problem as Katrin in GitHub issue 26: the action buttons do not look like buttons.

They are grey against grey, and look like placeholder text: if you look at a patron account, the buttons are a similar shade to the "No [data] stored" text in the user summary. If you don't know Koha, you don't spot that these are actually buttons that you should pay attention to.

Can we move this bug report to something else than "In discussion" or, since it now covers other aspects than the initial report, should I create a new bug report to suggest making the buttons more obviously button-y as a future enhancement?
Comment 7 Owen Leonard 2026-01-02 18:34:39 UTC
(In reply to Aude Charillon from comment #6)
> should I create a new
> bug report to suggest making the buttons more obviously button-y as a future
> enhancement?

I think if you have an idea about how to improve the style of the buttons you should file a separate bug report.

I'm torn about this issue, though. The style was chosen as a way to de-emphasize controls which are less important than the main content of the page. I don't think it's difficult to recognize once you've seen it once or twice. Most users of the staff interface will use these controls again and again.