[UX] UI terminology: Decide what "manual updates" refers to, and fix admin pages that use it

[klonos]

This came up in #5085

@jenlampton

Hm. Actually, this may need more work than we can do before the 1.19.0 release.

In the world of Backdrop updates, we already use the word "Manual" to mean something else:

In the settings form (see screenshot) "Manual" means that someone can click a button in the Backdrop UI and the files on disk will be replaced for them.

In the PR for this issue, the word "manual" is used to mean that someone will need to go into their filesystem, and replace files themselves. I think it will be confusing to use the same word for those two different actions. The second action requires that someone has ssh or ftp access to their code. It's a whole different level of access to a site.

[klonos]

In the world of Backdrop updates, we already use the word "Manual" to mean something else.

I saw that too, but thought that it could be a separate follow-up (this issue here), because I feel that it will need a whole discussion of its own. The current behavior is to call the section I'm trying to merge into the main table in #5085 "Manual updates required".

Anyway, we currently have:

1. automatic updates: this feature is not available yet ([UX] Auto Updates for security/modules #414)
2. manual updates: we currently use that term to refer to updates that require manual downloading of project/core packages from b.org, manual extraction in the file system, and manual copying in the correct folder in the web server
3. updates that are done via the admin UI: we don't have a "catchy" one-word term for these, and in the context of automatic updates, these are currently called "manual" (which is what causes the ambiguity we're trying to solve here)

So, do we all agree on the above? ...and if so, then what do we call point 3 above?

[klonos]

...I'm throwing a few ideas here (not particularly fond of any one specifically):

• Installer updates
• Project Installer updates (calls for more ambiguity IMO, as in "updates for the Project Installer")
• admin UI updates (calls for more ambiguity IMO, as in "updates for the admin UI")
• assisted updates
• push-button updates

[jenlampton]

push-button updates

I like this!

[jenlampton]

manual updates: we currently use that term to refer to updates that require manual downloading of project/core packages from b.org, manual extraction in the file system, and manual copying in the correct folder in the web server

Well, we currently also use this term to mean "updates that are done via the admin UI". Hence the problem. I don't think one of these things requires using your hands more than the other, so I'm not sure "manual" is really a good term for either.

I would love if we could differentiate between "push-button updates" and "FTP / File replacement" updates.

[olafgrabienski]

push-button updates

Sounds okay in English but I'm not sure how to translate it to German. Apart from that, in the list above I don't see the term "Self-update", which we already use ("Manual self-update" vs. "Automatic self-update"). It's still a convenient term, in my opinion. If "manual" is problematic, we could drop the prefix and just differentiate between "Self-update" and "Automatic self-update".

[ghost]

I think 'manual' in the OP screenshot is wrong. If Backdrop is adding/removing files, then that's a form of automation. If there's any automation involved then I don't think we should use the word manual at all.

So I think 'automatic' for full-automation, 'manual' for no automation, and then something like 'semi-automatic' for this hybrid option...

[klonos]

I don't see the term "Self-update"

I think that this term needs to still be used, but only to distinguish updates for Backdrop core vs contrib projects.

So we'd have core self-updates, as well as contrib project updates. Both of these could be:

1. "manual", which would be used to describe scenarios like the following:

• download by visiting b.org → extract in local computer → upload to the server via FTP
• download by visiting b.org → upload by FTP → extract on server (if ssh is an option, or via tools like cPanel etc.)
• ssh into the server → download using wget → extract
  ...basically anything that doesn't involve the Backdrop admin UI.

2. "push-button" (for lack of better terminology for now), which would describe automatic, but performed via the admin UI.
3. "automated", to describe "set and forget" scenarios, where admins configure any available options (frequency of check / update on bug fix releases, minor releases, or security only / etc.) and then Backdrop handles everything else.

...and now that I've typed all that, I'm thinking that perhaps we should consider:

• manual (admin UI not used)
• automatic (via the admin UI - although I still like "push-button" for these)
• scheduled (what we currently call "automatic")

[jenlampton]

The problem with Scheduled is that there is no schedule -- releases can come out at any time. The word is incorrect, but I get the intent, and I like it better.

• 'automatic' for full-automation,
• 'manual' for no automation, and then something like
• 'semi-automatic' for this hybrid option...

I dislike these three options because even though we can discect them in this issue, they won't mean anything to the person who has to choose between the options. I still think we should put something more specific in each one that gives the chooser some context.

• Manual (use FTP / File replacement)
• Push-Button (push the button manually, hah)
• Automated (??)

Is "automated" any better than "automatic"? My head hurts...

[stpaultim]

My thoughts.

• Manual Updates (use FTP / File replacement)
• User Applied Updates (updates initiated through the UI) - Admin Applied Updates?
• Automatic Updates (Updates without user involvement)

I'm not sure that "semi-automatic" will be understood or that it's really accurate. If I have to push the button and apply them, I don't think about them as automatic.

I agree with @jenlampton that "Scheduled" updates instead of "automatic" doesn't really work.

I think that Automatic and Automated work about the same. I prefer Automatic, but I don't feel strongly about this.

"User Applied Updates" - One could argue that manual updates are also user applied, but to me a "user" is interacting with the site through the UI. It makes sense to me that User Applied (or Initiated) Updates would happen through the UI. Manual updates are applied by developer or admin, not a regular user/editor. "Editor Applied Updates" "Admin Applied Updates"?

[izmeez]

As someone new to this discussion I find the entire section is a bit confusing. The heading "Self-updates" may be better if it is "Core self-update" since it only relates to core. Or more verbose would be "Backdrop core self-update". It does not apply to self-updating contrib modules which did come to mind and required a more careful read.

The options then may make more sense as: "Manually update core" and "Automatically update core".