A nice WordPress 2.5 admin hack

April 15, 2008

There’s lots of things I like about WordPress 2.5, but the admin panel has taken some getting used to – I’ve felt quite disoriented often because things aren’t where I was used to them being.

I thought I’d give it a bit of time before writing about my thoughts.

I think that for new WordPress users, things are much better organized in general than they used to be but some things leave my scratching my head. Why is “Design” put before “Comments” in the top menu? Why is “Comments” in the main menu when it’s really a part of “Manage”? Why are Settings, Plugins and Users so hard for me to get used to being in the top right?

One general thing that has caused problems for some clients who are seasoned WordPress users: moving categories, post author and other meta information below the post box, rather than to the right and having draft posts listed up the top of pages, rather than hunting for them. Also, it allows the post box to be wider if you have a wide screen, rather than limiting it.

A massive thanks to Judy from Persistent Illusion for providing a WordPress 2.5 admin hack to solve this problem. As usual, use at your own risk and back up your files to be sure but I have found this invaluable already.

Check this screenshot of how the admin panel will look after applying her hack versus how it would look beforehand. Make sure you show your support for this change to be a part of WordPress 2.6 if you find it useful!

Kyle

“the admin panel has taken some getting used to – I’ve felt quite disoriented often because things aren’t where I was used to them being.”
I know, I feel lost too :p

That hack is GREAT! I honestly hate having everything under the post box. But there’s nothing I can do about it because I use wordpress.com. Heh
http://www.persistentillusion.com Judy

Thanks for the shout-out! I really hope we can get these changes included in the next version! The more voices that are heard over there the better.
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http://ma.tt/ Matt

No offense, but that’s really ugly.
http://blog.groundswellcollective.com James David

Agreed, the switch-up still confuses me, and I use WP several times daily. It was over simplified. Besides, nothing was confusing about the first interface – everything was where it should be. I find I’m frustrated with the interface almost every time I log in now.
http://www.persistentillusion.com Judy

Thanks for voicing your opinion, Matt. Personally, I’ll take usability over aesthetics any day.
rachelcunliffe

Matt: I guess you haven’t seen the WP 2.5 admin panel then yet? Judy’s added no new design just moved things around.

Thanks again Judy
http://janio.sarmento.org Janio Sarmento

It would be great if you could provide a link to the hack itself. I was not able to find it in that home page, full of contents that are not interesting to me.

And it would be great to have a “subscribe to comments” option, too.

Thanks!
http://janio.sarmento.org Janio Sarmento

OK, I was able to find it. Who could tell that an article about socks would have a link for a WordPress hack?
rachelcunliffe

Linked to it in the post, but will make it more obvious – thanks.

http://trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6709
http://www.persistentillusion.com Judy

yeah, yeah… it’s a knitting blog. We knitters are everywhere.

The hack itself can be found here: http://www.persistentillusion.com/wp-2-5-show-draft-title.zip
http://www.friskdesign.com Matthew Hill

A note to Ma.tt: This amendment is an effort to get back some of the improved functionality of the old 2.3 interface, even if it isn’t the prettiest hack in the world.

Unfortunately for a lot of WordPress users, the 2.5 Write screen is a step backwards, not forwards, with the main issues being that it now takes more up-and-down scrolling to complete a post than before, and the sidebar area is now largely wasted space, when it previously held items which contributed to a smoother workflow because the items were above the fold.

I’m trying to understand very hard why these functional changes were made to the 2.5 write screen, but I’m still kinda baffled. I asked on Zeldman’s blog if he could share the results of the user analysis that led to these decisions, but I received no reply.

I’d be very grateful if you could offer your ‘official’ perspective on the issue. Or perhaps point me to a place where I can find the user analysis results that prove the new Write screen is quicker and easier to use than it’s forebear.
http://www.flirt-wind.net/ Nelson

I’d have to agree that with the hack, it looks better. Needing to scroll downwards for the categories, etc. sure is pretty annoying.
mercime

Thank you so much for the hack. Will check it out now.

I just love Zeldman and Matt. But the Write Post/Page redesign was just not right. At the very least the users should have had the option to moving the settings we want back to the sidebar.

The 2.5 Write Post/Page layouts is definitely not user-friendly. It looks like someone’s sabotaging WordPress as a CMS.
http://jackuul.com Jackuul

Thank you Judy! This is awesome!

If it gets to the point that they won’t accept it and it has to be a hack that remains a hack, will you continue to support the hack and update it for the future versions of WP? (2.6)

This is invaluable. It brings back a tiny bit of what was lost, which was actually quite huge for me.
http://www.snoskred.org Snoskred

Matt – I do intend offense so I won’t lie and say no offense. Perhaps the only way you people are going to listen to the users at this point is for us to out and out insult you.

What you have done to WordPress with the release of 2.5 is disgraceful.. You have taken something usable, something good, something decent and most of all something I was quite enthusiastic about, and turned it into a pile of turds.

People are TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING. They are saying it on their blogs. They are saying it in the .org support forums. They are saying it in the .com support forums. They are saying it in other places, too.

Why can’t you LISTEN? And then to come along here and insult the efforts of a user who has worked hard to turn 2.5 back into something usable by saying it is ugly?

You are ugly on the inside – I would call it arrogance. And apparently deaf as well, because users are crying out for you to fix this version as well as provide support for 2.3.x but you are refusing to hear.

This is precisely why people hate Microsoft – nobody was listening to the users. You want to do the same with WordPress?
http://www.citypaper.net Marc Steel

While I’m sorry the tone of this page is turning ugly, I agree with everything that is said. This is a huge hack, thank you so much.
http://davidwindham.net David Windham

I strongly agree with matt and think the rest of you are crazy.
Andrius

Best ever. Thanks!
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http://www.bencotten.net Ben

Are we sure that was Matt M.? Seems like an odd comment to make… Sounds more like a troll to me, but I could be wrong.
rachelcunliffe

That is what I was thinking Ben!
http://tbotcotw.com/ Matt Moore

If only this could be done in a plugin. I hate hacking core files.
http://www.webweaverproductions.com/ ronnie

I couldn’t get this hack to work, I think I might have messed something up. I added the changed files, wrote a long post, clicked Publish and nothing.

Either way, I was liking the new 2.5.1 layout myself. While this hack is nice, you still have to scroll to publish. Not putting it down, just for me, seems as much scrolling as the original. And of course the work and time put in to the hack is appreciated!

I have 12 blogs I publish at least every other day on each and the 2.5.1 standard layout hasn’t slowed me down one bit. Then again, I don’t get real fancy, so maybe I am not a good example..:)
xanathon

This looks great and gets back the functionality I and the other users of my news-blog were used to.
The only problem I see is that those hacks will get reverted with an update…
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http://www.QueenZSoftware.com/ QueenZ

Yay!! I’ve been looking for such hack for weeks and hadn’t found anything.. thanks i will definitely add this to my website http://www.QueenZSoftware.com/ so users can enjoy it
http://www.rajma.net Website Design

This is the best. Thank you so much!!
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http://lepixelshoppe.com Turnkey Sites

I love the changes I saw from some one else’s link, yours doesn’t seem to work anymore. I love it I shall use this tips. thanks.
http://www.binh.name/ SEO Binh Nguyen

This shouldn’t be a hack, or plugin at all. It should be what WordPress is using in the core. Not only I notice this new interface make things slower to make and edit a new page/post, but also the ajax functions seem to be gone.

I hope that “No offense, but that’s really ugly.” is not from Matt himself, because it’s not like a statement from a well educated man.

Beside this, the automatic formatting and removing of HTML is another big issue causing great pain to every blogger.

And the new widget settings which totally is degraded. Where is the lovely drag and drop for all the sidebars? Now I have to do 3-4 clicks to get widget updated, even worse can be more then 10 page views just for a simple task.

Hope the users voice have more value. After-all, isn’t success is all about meeting people’s need, not about satisfying the developer’s own ideas?

Sorry for this final statement: It seems like the older they get, the more outdated they become (at least applied to me).
http://webunleashed.projectweb.gr Web Unleashed

I use the plugin ‘Lighter Menus’. It organizes the menu in drop-down menus. It meets my current blogging needs.
This is the link http://www.italyisfalling.com/lighter-menus/ with screenshots.

A nice WordPress 2.5 admin hack

Hi, I'm Rachel Cunliffe!

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