Support » Requests and Feedback » 2.5 admin backend annoying

  • I have to admit, that I’m heavily annoyed by the way the 2.5 admin turned out. I’m using WordPress for years now and with every update it got better. But this one is a step back, by graphic design as by functionality.

    Drag’n’drop widgets gone. Huzzah! back to olden days…
    Admin-GUI by no means more accessible or more ordered, you find nothing

    And my biggest concern is the new post-GUI: EVERYTHING lined up in one row? gimme a break! categories UNDER the post, so i have to scroll? Image-insertion in a popup??? You cannot be serious?

    I installed Fluency to get the admin panel a little more bearable, but I will definitely go back to 2.3.3, I certainly hope there will be security-updates for that version. If not, I will probably switch to another software altogether.

    A pity, since I tested quite some blog softwares and WordPress was my favourite…

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 176 total)
  • It just takes some time to get used to it

    Thread Starter xanathon

    (@xanathon)

    Having the categories under the editor (so I have to scroll on my 1680×1050) and having to wait for a popup to just insert an image instead of just inserting it is nothing I will get used to, it is something I will not even tolerate.

    What about usability? If you do not see the categories users are most likely to more often just forget to set a category.

    Is it not possible to move the category-div to the admin-sidebar? Cannot be so hard. I would look into the code, but I do not want to include any hacks that get overwritten with the next update (which is likely to come soon, seeing all those bugs in the backend).

    Thread Starter xanathon

    (@xanathon)

    Plus: I just noticed that the quality of WP2.5 generated thumbnails is far worse than those of WP2.3.3. The images are pixelated at contours.

    What is that? Did you change the algorithm or the image-manipulation package used?

    With the new category location I’d guess the idea is probably to get users to switch to using tags instead of categories.

    Since the admin area is themeable, maybe someone will develop a classic admin theme if they haven’t already.

    I agree with Xanathaon. The new admin interface is a usability error. No biggie, that happens sometimes.

    I hope the conclusion is not that everyone simply has to get used to the “new thing” because an additional 6-10 clicks for 1 post is in no way useful to anyone. The handling of pictures, categories and positioning was a mistake.

    Of course, excellent multiple picture upload, one-click plugin update and gallery integration.

    But the core is posting articles with pictures and life for WordPressers hasn’t been made easier in 2.5, unfortunately.
    A classic interface would be great 😉

    Plus: I just noticed that the quality of WP2.5 generated thumbnails is far worse than those of WP2.3.3. The images are pixelated at contours.

    Thumbnails seem the same to me. Screenshot of multiple thumbs from a post in 2.5…

    screenshot

    I like the new look admin panel layout, It only seems a bit confusing seeing it’s different compared to previous versions of wordpress.

    The categories under the post annoys the hell out of me, because now I have to scroll on every post.
    The drop down widget stuff is also a step backward from the nice drag and drop.
    I also had both sidebars on ONE page, so I could shuffle things around. To do that now takes several extra steps.

    I haven’t upgraded the main blogs to 2.5 yet – and as it is, I won’t, either. 2.3 works nicely, 2.5 is full of bugs it seems.

    what puzzles me is that the new admin UI was redesigned by Happy Cog Studios who seem to trumpet “elegant architecture and design”. Supposedly a specialist in interface design. I think they should reconsider a few ideas (categories, widgets, picture upload ui)

    IMHO they cogged up on these issues….

    For a company that prides itself on attention to detail, this little tidbit caught my eye:

    God is in the details.

    http://www.happycog.com/design/dictionary/
    Assuming that was supposed to be “good”, I found that humorous.

    For the most part, I think Happy Cog did a decent job on the admin backend. However, the removal of the categories from the sidebar, and the hiding of the scheduled date until expanding it (for EVERY post you wish to schedule or backdate) were, in my opinion, just terrible decisions.

    With that one single change to force longer scroll times, and to remove relevant information / options from view until you scroll or expand options, they have made other competitor’s software posting interfaces superior by comparison.

    That’s a shame.

    Well I’m an atheist but God is in the details is a well known phrase.

    It has been attributed to German-born architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) and many others.

    I like the new design. My resolution isn’t nearly as high as some of you and I don’t have the multi screen scroll you all seem on about.

    Some people just can’t abide change. I don’t know how those people survive on the internet or with being involved in any sort of tech.

    I stand corrected then. I had never heard the phrase.

    That said, I run my primary monitor of 1280×1050 resolution and the secondary one at 1280×1024. I have to scroll to get to the categories whereas before, I could simply arrange the sidebar how I needed for maximum efficiency.

    Simply put, 2.3.x allowed for all pertinent information/options to be displayed within a single screen without any scrolling, including the image upload functions and categories, author, posting date, adjacent to the posting screen.

    In other words, the Write Page has, for me, taken a pretty big hit in terms of efficiency.

    Yeah I agree with you guys, I was really enthused about WP 2.5, but now I really don’t know – I’m still hoping that they can resolve a lot of the issues that lot of people have been experiencing (I can’t embed or upload any image or even a LINK in the WYSIWIGH in Firefox), preferably with a new release ASAP! I agree with a lot of users too that the changes to the admin dash interface are not up to par, like some of the buttons, and ESPECIALLY the moving of the categories down below on the page.. I like some of the overall attempts to put things in more global categories for publishers (# Write # Manage # Design # Comments), but let’s hope for improvements (and contribute back to the community ourselves).

    It amazes me that anybody likes the old backend better than 2.5.
    I have been using wordpress for a long time and by far the biggest drawback to the older versions was the insanely stupid organization and labeling of the backend. It is obvious that the WP team has spent much more time organizing 2.5. and it will payoff because new users will love it.

    The defense is that new users will love it because they don’t know better? That’s rather weak considering the millions of people installed base that still want to work with WordPress.

    Also, calling the old UI “insanely stupid” and loving the new one makes me suspect you really don’t know what you are talking about or you are really involved in this. What is it?

    Without a doubt much time was spent to do a complete rework. I appreciate that very much. However, a lot of time spent is not always a guarantee for success.

    Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)

    (@otto42)

    WordPress.org Admin

    Plus: I just noticed that the quality of WP2.5 generated thumbnails is far worse than those of WP2.3.3. The images are pixelated at contours.

    What is that? Did you change the algorithm or the image-manipulation package used?

    No, you’re imagining it. Thumbnail generation is actually improved.

    The basic thumbnail generation is the same functionality as before. It’s using the built in PHP functions. The main workhorse is the imagecopyresampled function. There’s some additional bits to determine correct resize resolutions for the two thumbnails, and a patch to preserve PNG transparency (I know some people will love that).

    The functions have been moved around and rewritten, but the core functionality doing the resizing for thumbnails is identical to 2.3.3.

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 176 total)
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