Platform Pub

I am very happy that the decision was made to update the design and architecture of the WordPress Dashboard and Administration; the outcome is exceptional. Sticking with Happy Cog was the right way to go, specifically due to the excellent work that Jason Santa Maria did with the logo a while back.

I will admit that when I first saw screenshots put forward a month or so ago, I was very skeptical. The new direction seemed like a very big leap, and at the time I wasn’t sure in what direction that was going. After finding out that the new direction was being guided by Happy Cog I breathed a sigh of relief and began to get anxious. After a week or so running Release Candidate 1, we now have the full release of version 2.5 of WordPress.

And it is a beautiful thing indeed.

The following is a comparison of each of the areas most affected in the transition from 2.3 to 2.5. My purpose is not to give some sort of exhaustive list of apparent changes. That would exhaust me. Anyone with eyes can see all of the differences, anyway.

I also don’t mean to try to convey to anyone the experience of operating the new interface. Go try it out.

What I hope to do is to provide some points of discussion for all of those with a design mind out there. What does the thought behind some of these design decisions look like? What can we learn from the work of these industry leaders? What do these changes say about how well we are listened to, as a community? I hope to give some fodder to these questions, and I look forward to seeing what the community insight is like.

Covered in this post:

• The Login Screen
• The Dashboard
• Writing Posts
• Managing Posts
• Widgets
• Left versus Center Alignment
• New Navigation Architecture
• Overall Thoughts

Note: Each image leads to a much larger screen-by-screen comparison.

The Login Screen

The first noticeable addition is the bar along the top of the screen, reminiscent of what you see when logged in at WordPress.com. This bar does not contain any important navigation or real content at this point, but it does draw together the administration experience right from the get-go.

Longtime users of WordPress might see this login screen as a return to the spirit of an earlier WordPress - lighter and more subtle. Take this as a message. Despite the appeal many had for the bold blue login when it was introduced last year, this new approach suggests a retreat from the bold blues of the past to a more subtle (and more colorful) WordPress. I think classy is a word we could use here¹.

The Dashboard

The Dashboard is the first place where the changes are most evident. More conservative (some would say close minded) WordPress users are going to be temporarily blinded by the splash of color that they, to their defense, have not been faced with in a long time using WordPress. To these users: stick with it! Give it a chance! This is a big improvement, and you shouldn’t disregard it as anything less.

It is worth noting that more emphasis is now being placed on the the user’s specific site information, by default. The WordPress Development RSS is now pushed down to the bottom, which is no doubt in response to a few users’ requests.

At the Dashboard we also see the first real look at the new administrative panel architecture. The adjustments are very interesting. More on this in a second.

Writing Posts

Writing has, believe it or not, become even more streamlined with this new setup. For those who want posting speed, this is now more possible. At least, this is how I’m reading the changes.

The Old Way: Scrolling Isn’t Fun

WordPress prior to 2.5 offered buttons for Saving and Publishing at the bottom of the posting area. What this meant is that whether you cared about categorizing or not (believe it or not, some really don’t. Crazies.) the list of categories was displayed prominently to the right. So for every user the process of posting would involve writing followed by scrolling to the bottom to hit Save or Publish.

The New Way: Faster is Better

Now, for anyone more interested in pushing out their content than about nuzzling all the nooks and crannies: the Save and Publish buttons are right at the top of the screen. For those who care about speed and despise scrolling when they don’t have to, this is a welcome change.

Tagging and Categories

The category and tagging interface has been improved as well.

Notice that the new category panel now has a link to Most Used categories. For those with lots of categories, I suppose that this would be nice.

There are many more elements which have been improved and, in some cases, added, to the writing screen. I suppose they recognize that since this is where most WordPress people live, this space deserves attention. Now, a bulleted list to maintain my sanity.

• The media uploading and managing section has received a major overhaul, including the new built in ability to manage galleries. Screenshots just won’t do for this one. Head over to the development blog for Matt’s (admittedly hoarse) screencast of the new digs.
• Once an autosave has happened for the first time an editable permalink is shown underneath the post title. Prior to this one had to travel over to the sidebar among a variety of other options in order to change this. Much more intuitive this way.
• The icon on the toolbar which opens up even more options (things like Paste from Word and whatnot) is now atl-texted as “Show/Hide Kitchen Sink”. Just clever. Wonderful.
• Matt has assured me² that this new Visual Editor does a much better job of dealing with, well, everything. For those of you who have struggled with it in the past, breath a sigh of relief. I’ve found it to be much much better than it has been in the past.

Managing

The Manage Posts screen has seen a noticeable face lift. Whereas is used to bear a resemblance to a raw database display it now looks like a well styled table of information. Which is what it should be. In a way, it seems that this move from raw to well manicured may be an attempt to make WordPress viewable as more than a platform for geeks.

Honestly the only complaint I have heard about this part of the redesign is that the post ID is not listed in a column alongside the other post information. I understand this complain, although the fact that we will only hear this from users with knowledge of the inner workings (read: geeks), I’m sure the thought is that these users will be able to discern other means of locating this information. And there are ways³.

Widgets

A significant shift has been made from 2.3 to 2.5 in which the bulk of space on the top half of the screen is given to actual widgets available instead of the faux sidebar regions of 2.3. Once again, less scrolling is almost always more fun.

The widgets screen underwent a big transformation, honestly. Whereas the widget edit boxes didn’t need to be saved individually before (but only needed to be closed) each widget now must be saved (”Change” I believe it is called) as well as the widgets Save button itself. But really, I’m ignoring most of these usability issues I’ve experienced because this concept is not yet polished and will probably travel a bit farther before all is said and done. The improvements are welcome, and with a bit of adjustment will be just as easy to fire through as the previous screen.

Left versus Center Alignment

You have probably noticed by now. Instead of main administrative content aligning to the center it is now aligned to the left. This is interesting, in a time when most would fight for, and prefer, center alignment (myself included). So what could the reasoning be? Your guess is as good as mine.

New Navigation Architecture

What I find to be the most interesting part of this redesign (as well as the most obvious) is that the navigation has been updated. Here, for my own sake as well as those interested, I’m going to break down the previous navigational structure of WordPress 2.3 as well as the new one. Maybe something interesting will emerge.

Old Navigation

Top Bar:

• Sign Out
• My Profile

Main:

• Dashboard
• Write: Write Post, Write Page
• Manage: Posts, Pages, Uploads, Categories, Files, Import, Export, [Plugin Links]
• Comments: Comments, Awaiting Moderation
• Blogroll: Manage Blogroll, Add Link, Import Links, Categories
• Presentation: Themes, Widgets, Theme Editor
• Plugins: Plugins, Plugin Editor, [Plugin Links]
• Users: Authors & Users, Your Profile
• Options: General, Writing, Reading, Discussion, Privacy, Permalinks, Miscellaneous, [Plugin Links]

New Navigation

Top Bar:

• Dashboard
• Your Profile
• Log Out
• Help
• Forums

Main:

• Write: Post, Page, Link
• Manage: Posts, Pages, Links, Categories, Tags, Link Categories, Media Library, Import, Export
• Design: Themes, Widgets, Theme Editor
• Comments: Comments, Akismet Spam

Sub navigation:

• Settings: General, Writing, Reading, Discussion, Privacy, Permalinks, Miscellaneous, [Plugin Links]
• Plugins: Plugins, Plugin Editor, [Plugin Links]
• Users: Authors & Users, Your Profile

A couple of broad, sweeping comments regarding some of the changes from 2.3 to 2.5. The main (largest font size) navigation is trimmed down from nine items to four. This move toward simplicity shows that the Dashboard appeared to be much too cluttered. However none of these items are really deleted. They are simple moved into other areas, mostly out of the way, because their nature lends them to be used less often than the main navigation.

I also smile when I see Manage: Uploads changing to Manage: Media Library. What a happier title, am I wrong? Which would you rather have: uploads or a media library?

Most of the duplicate navigation items are removed on the upgrade (I’m looking at the doubling up of Write: Write Post and Blogroll: Manage Blogroll) however a couple still remain. The Comments: Comments
item stands out quite a bit, really, since it is one of the four main navigational items.

But now I’m just getting picky.

Overall Thoughts

I’m extremely happy with this new move WordPress has made. The renovations have all been made, it seems, in order to improve one’s productivity while using WordPress. The updated look also contributes to what will no doubt be its greater mass appeal (in response to those who believe WordPress is just for geeks). Although not everyone will agree with every change made, such is life. I’m very excited about where this is going, and I look forward to what is coming up next.

My next big anticipation? Seeing the rest of WordPress.org take on the new design which it features on its home page. Actually, much of the site features the new colors. Only the Codex, really, still needs the refresh. Can’t wait for that to happen. Someone want to give me a heads up when it does?

1. I have been a solid user of Ben Gillbanks’ (of Binary Moon) Plugin which allowed for graphic customization of the WordPress login box. Unfortunately this upgrade to 2.5 also introduces new styles that make the old Plugin irrelevant. He has commented on his own site here in response to questions about potential updates, but as of yet no promises have been made. [↩]
2. As well as everyone else who reads the development blog. I’m nothing special [↩]
3. For example, I’m using Sandbox and the ID of every post is printed in the list of classes of the post div. If you don’t use Sandbox (why not?) you may need to jump into the actual database information to locate your post ID. [↩]