Will we ever get a responsive design?

Lewis8195

Hi,

Can I just say I've seen some fantastic new features, seemingly faster development, and the new YouTube channel which shows the new features in some versions which is a much nicer way to show them and how they work. This is great to see, and I look forward to what else comes out of osTicket.

We’re in 2019 and we're still using a theme that looks like it could fit in with Windows 95. I don't mind the look of it so much, I don't expect 30 themes to be released but wouldn't mind seeing some basic theme differences with colour changing options like free forum scripts like MyBB. MyBB's default feel feels a lot more modern.

However, what I'm mainly referring to is the lack of responsive layout! Responsive designs starting lurking around 2009, it had a lot more adoption early in this decade, and now most websites are responsive. Most scripts support it, most themes for other software support it, and most web design blogs and services support responsive design. So much that Google now considers it a factor in their search engine ranking. It is now an expectation.

The point I'm getting at is that osTicket seems to be leading with the way with fantastic features and in my opinion a lot of the osTicket features can even blow paid solutions out of the water, and we're seeing updates recently, but we STILL don't have a responsive design making working from mobiles much harder and putting off end users from using the front end of the system. In fact, on my next system I'll probably only accept new tickets via email because the front end interface is so unattractive and difficult to use on mobile devices.

There are very few good responsive theme choices that are actively updated being provided by external parties. The main one is expensive at 100 dollars when an average MyBB theme is 20 dollars, and the other I noticed has been closed since Feb 2019 but don't offer a backend version anyway. There are others but again they seem to be outdated or not being sold. I would much rather osTicket get on with creating a WELL OVERDUE responsive design and I will donate 100 dollars to osTicket to support the excellent recent developments and have the benefit of avoiding third parties.

Let me be clear, I appreciate the work that osTicket are doing, however the lack of responsive theme has gone on so long it feels like some focus has been lost. End users and staff both want an easy system and the current design doesn't allow this for users on smaller devices and I wouldn't be surprised if others have been put off from using osTicket for this reason alone.

Will we ever get it?

heart1010

and I will donate 100 dollars to osTicket to support the excellent recent developments and have the benefit of avoiding third parties.

👍️

Lewis8195

heart1010 Not even kidding there either!

stevland Thanks for your response and insight Stevland. I'm glad you didn't take my mention of you as an attack. I can absolutely see why you created it, and agree that the encouragement of something official is needed. As you rightly say, what I did not consider is that MyBB has a framework for it, whereas a theme option within osTicket is nowhere to be seen because no framework exists. At this point, the sooner the better for at least the framework even if the default theme isn't updated. I can't imagine the hours you've put in but I feel like the $100 price tag, for only one site, and only two years of updates, and no cheaper renewal price, is very expensive for smaller projects. I get the impression that most businesses would go for something like zendesk and the majority of users are very small business, freelances or other personal users and the price tag is a bit stiff for us which has always put me off. However thank you for the insight regardless, just a shame you had to put all of that work in because osTicket doesn't see the benefits of a theme framework as a priority.

ntozier Trouble is we're only on 1.12 stable and 1.14 beta. There could be a 1.16 and 1.18 before, and by then osTicket powered scripts will be the last ones left on earth that aren't responsive. They need to bring it sooner and in my opinion, I'd rather not see future improvements until a responsive theme is developed first. This is so basic and it infurates me that the developers aren't taking it seriously.

stevland

Hi lewisteck,

I am the author of osTicket Awesome, the 100 dollar theme that you refer to.

I have been a user and a big fan of osTicket for over a decade myself, and my motivation to create osTicket Awesome was the result of the same frustrations that you express here.

You are perfectly right to encourage Enhancesoft to integrate theme support and a responsive design into their road map. I anticipate that ntozier will pipe in soon to tell you that theme capabilities is planned for the v2.0 release, but it is anyone's guess when that will be available as Enhancesoft do not publicly discuss their release schedule.

In the meanwhile, I would like to register a small objection to your comparison of my product to "an average MyBB theme".

MyBB has provided a framework for themes. To make osTicket Awesome possible I had to create the framework myself. I've also hacked osTicket into behaving responsively, and all while trying to modify the source code as little as possible.

I cannot even begin to tell you how many 100's of hours I've spent on osTicket Awesome since 2015. Fortunately there are enough businesses that consider the $100 cost of osTicket Awesome a worthwhile investment for the advantages that it provides. Luckily for them and for me, it continues to be worth my while to keep working on it and supporting my customers as a side project.

While the term "theme" is the best way to describe osTicket Awesome, in reality it is so much more than just a theme. Cheers.

ntozier

@stevland Well now I dont have to mention that I've been told this features will be coming out in v2.0.