Overhauling WordPress’ Aging Admin Design: Exploring the Possibilities
The WordPress community is gearing up for a major revamp of the platform’s aging admin design. As part of Gutenberg’s Phase 3, which focuses on Collaboration, contributors have begun exploring initial mockups to breathe new life into the admin interface. This ambitious project aims to address the fragmentation caused by plugin developers introducing their own admin interfaces while waiting for WordPress to prioritize this revamp.
Design Concepts for the New Admin Interface
Saxon Fletcher, a product designer sponsored by Automattic, has shared some initial images and videos showcasing a design that seamlessly integrates the editor’s interface into the admin. These mockups serve as a starting point and are expected to undergo multiple iterations. The proposed structural concepts include three main areas: a sidebar for navigation, a page area for content management and settings, and a frame representing the front-end of the site.
The frame concept is particularly interesting, as it allows users to preview various types of content, including entire sites, templates, and patterns. Plugins can choose whether to display the frame while working on a task or hide it away. This flexibility ensures that plugins that don’t utilize the main content area can still benefit from the expanded state of the frame.
Potential Changes to the Admin Bar
While details are scarce, it seems that the admin bar may also undergo some changes as part of this redesign. The introduction of the frame presents an opportunity to reimagine the transition between the front and back ends of a site. However, further information regarding these potential changes has not been provided in the initial mockups.
Exploring Drill-Down Navigation
One of the most discussed aspects of the mockups is the implementation of drill-down navigation. This navigation style allows for more in-depth exploration of submenus and basic content. However, concerns have been raised about the potential complexity and increased number of clicks required to navigate through menus. Some developers have suggested the inclusion of breadcrumbs or highlighting recently visited sections as potential workarounds to address these concerns.
Critiques and Concerns
The drill-down navigation concept has received mixed feedback from the developer community. Some argue that it may make navigation too complicated, especially for new users. Additionally, concerns have been raised about the similarity between this navigation style and the Customizer’s navigation, which has been criticized for its usability issues. Developers emphasize the importance of maintaining a fast and intuitive menu system that allows for easy transitions between different areas of WordPress.
The Future of the Admin Interface
Participants in the discussion have also expressed skepticism about the frame concept, as most admin tasks do not require frontend previews. They argue that the proposed frontend-first approach may not be suitable for tasks such as managing orders on an e-commerce site or editing plugin settings. However, Fletcher has acknowledged these concerns and emphasized the need for iterative changes that do not break existing workflows and encourage gradual adoption.
Customizability and Backwards Compatibility
As part of the Collaboration phase, Fletcher has proposed making the admin interface more customizable for different use cases. This would involve tailoring navigation and system variables to enhance efficiency for specific purposes, such as blogs, e-commerce, portfolios, and multisite. The ability for the community to share their configurations has also been hinted at.
Developers will face a significant transition as they adapt their extensions to be compatible with the new admin interface. Fletcher’s proposal recognizes the importance of maintaining backwards compatibility to avoid breaking settings pages for plugins that are not updated. The challenge lies in rolling out admin changes iteratively, ensuring a seamless experience, and supporting plugin pages that may never receive updates.
Joining the Discussion
The discussion surrounding the admin design revamp is ongoing, and the developer community is encouraged to provide feedback on the initial concepts and structural elements proposed in the mockups. This collaborative effort aims to create a more modern and user-friendly admin interface for WordPress, enhancing the overall experience for both developers and users alike.
