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!
“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
— Kyle, April 15, 2008
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.
— Judy, April 15, 2008
[...] Read more from the original source: A nice Wordpress 2.5 admin hack [...]
— A nice Wordpress 2.5 admin hack | Drupal Digest, April 15, 2008
No offense, but that’s really ugly.
— Matt, April 16, 2008
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.
— James David, April 16, 2008
Thanks for voicing your opinion, Matt. Personally, I’ll take usability over aesthetics any day.
— Judy, April 16, 2008
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
— rachelcunliffe, April 16, 2008
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!
— Janio Sarmento, April 16, 2008
OK, I was able to find it. Who could tell that an article about socks would have a link for a WordPress hack?
— Janio Sarmento, April 16, 2008
Linked to it in the post, but will make it more obvious - thanks.
http://trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6709
— rachelcunliffe, April 16, 2008
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
— Judy, April 16, 2008
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.
— Matthew Hill, April 16, 2008
I’d have to agree that with the hack, it looks better. Needing to scroll downwards for the categories, etc. sure is pretty annoying.
— Nelson, April 16, 2008
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.
— mercime, April 18, 2008
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.
— Jackuul, April 19, 2008
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?
— Snoskred, April 24, 2008
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.
— Marc Steel, April 28, 2008
I strongly agree with matt and think the rest of you are crazy.
— David Windham, April 29, 2008
Best ever. Thanks!
— Andrius, April 29, 2008
[...] Cunliffe is left-handed and is adjusting to the new platform about the same way I will be. This new 2.5 platform is made for right-handed people. If I have to chose between spam and adjusting my online home to [...]
— Upgrades at Bene Diction Blogs On, May 6, 2008
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.
— Ben, May 7, 2008
That is what I was thinking Ben!
— rachelcunliffe, May 7, 2008
If only this could be done in a plugin. I hate hacking core files.
— Matt Moore, May 8, 2008
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..:)
— ronnie, May 15, 2008