Exponential Admin UI: the adminui design and siteaccess #

This page is for administrators who want a different look for the administration, and for site builders who look after admin designs. Exponential Admin UI (the extension exp_adminui) is the Netgen Admin UI look and layout for the Exponential administration: a dark side bar with the main sections and the user menu, a search header, a light left column with the section's menu or content tree, and the Admin UI's tables, tabs and buttons. It runs as its own siteaccess, adminui, next to the stock administration, which keeps its admin4 / admin4l design.

What you get #

• The Admin UI page frame, ported from Netgen Admin UI's Twig layout to Exponential templates. No Symfony is needed.
• Every admin view, in the Admin UI look. The Admin UI's own view templates are merged with everything Exponential added since (Exponential UI widgets instead of YUI, jQuery 4, escaping fixes, new menu entries and views). Views the Admin UI never had (audit, cronjobs, maintenance, Exponential Layouts, newsletter ...) come from admin4l and admin4 and get the Admin UI frame and colours.
• Exponential's logo and names. The accent colour is the Admin UI blue (admin4 keeps its orange).

A new installation has it already #

Since 2026-10-06 the installation makes the adminui siteaccess by default whenever extension/exp_adminui is in the installation: the setup wizard, the kickstarter and exp:install (CreateSites, createAdminUISiteAccess() in kernel/setup/steps/ezstep_create_sites.php), and the multisite package installer of sevenx_multisite and sevenx_multisite_clean, which calls the same function as the last of its own post-install steps. What is written:

• settings/siteaccess/adminui/: a copy of the admin siteaccess's *.ini.append.php files as the installation wrote them (database, languages, VarDir, RequireUserLogin=true, LoginPage=custom, ShowHiddenNodes=true, the override, menu, toolbar, content structure menu, content and view cache settings), with SiteName=Admin UI, SiteURL the admin's address with the path /adminui, SiteDesign=adminui, the design chain admin4l, admin4, admin3, admin2, admin and ActiveAccessExtensions[]=exp_adminui. Its icon.ini.append.php and ezoe.ini.append.php hold no settings, so the extension's icon set and editor settings win.
• adminui in AvailableSiteAccessList[], RelatedSiteAccessList[] and SiteList[] of settings/override/site.ini.append.php, matched by URI only: no HostMatchMapItems[] line, no port. uri is put in front of MatchOrder when the access type is host or port, so https://<admin host>/adminui works whatever the other siteaccesses are matched by.
• Not in ActiveExtensions[]: exp_adminui is an access extension and stays switched on for adminui alone. The multisite installer also leaves adminui out of the public siteaccesses (HTTP cache, anonymous login).

Without the extension nothing is written and var/log/setup.log says why ("no adminui siteaccess, the exp_adminui extension is not in extension"). An installation made before then, or one that gets the extension later, is set up by hand as below.

Switch it on by hand #

1. Install the extension in extension/exp_adminui (git clone of se7enxweb/exp_adminui, or Composer once the package is published).

2. Create settings/siteaccess/adminui/ as a copy of the admin siteaccess's settings and set:

   [ExtensionSettings]
   ActiveAccessExtensions[]=exp_adminui
   
   [DesignSettings]
   SiteDesign=adminui
   AdditionalSiteDesignList[]
   AdditionalSiteDesignList[]=admin4l
   AdditionalSiteDesignList[]=admin4
   AdditionalSiteDesignList[]=admin3
   AdditionalSiteDesignList[]=admin2
   AdditionalSiteDesignList[]=admin

   Leave out (or empty) the icon.ini.append.php and ezoe.ini.append.php of the copy: the extension brings its own.

3. Add AvailableSiteAccessList[]=adminui to settings/override/site.ini.append.php.

4. Clear the caches: php bin/php/ezcache.php --clear-tag=ini --allow-root-user, then --clear-id=template,template-override,template-block,content,translation; under Velocity also ./console exp:velocity cache clear --apply --allow-root-user.

Open https://<host>/adminui and sign in as for the administration.

Settings #

extension/exp_adminui/settings/exp_adminui.ini: the title, the logo type, the side bar entries ([MenuPlugins]), the navigation parts without a path bar, the default node view tab and the code editor fields. The extension's guide (extension/exp_adminui/doc/) describes each one, the architecture, every view and its template, the merge with Exponential's changes, extending the design, known gaps and troubleshooting.

Good to know #

• Below 640 CSS pixels wide the Admin UI shows "The current window is too small", as Netgen Admin UI does.
• The extension is a design with settings: no PHP classes, no database tables. A template or stylesheet change needs the caches cleared, not a server restart.

Related pages #

• The admin4 design and admin4l
• Templates and design (the guide)