WordPress Admin Set for Makeover: What to Expect in the Revamped Design
WordPress, the popular content management system, is set to undergo a major makeover with a revamped admin design. Matías Ventura, the lead architect of Gutenberg, recently published plans for the new design as part of the Phase 3: Collaboration road map. The aim of this project is to improve the overall user experience by giving plugins and users more control over navigation while ensuring that each WordPress experience is recognizable, intuitive, accessible, and delightful.
Ventura’s post builds upon earlier admin concepts he published a year ago, which aimed to create more fluid browsing and editing flows. The new design follows the block editor design, where the admin frame acts as a shell that wraps around a canvas containing the content in a zoomed state. Instead of users having to click back to access navigation tools, these tools will remain present but outside of the canvas view.
Although official designs for the project have not been produced yet, Ventura shared a light version of an admin concept. One aspect of the proposed plans that has excited the developer community is the possibility of rebuilding the admin with an extensible design system. This effort would formalize the design primitives and interaction paradigms that are part of the UI component system initiated in wordpress/components.
The new design aims to ensure that WordPress itself is built using the same pieces and APIs that plugin authors can use. In addition to color themes, the set of primitive components needs to work well in dense environments like the editor, as well as in environments that require more breathing room and focus, such as admin sections. Density, clarity, usability, and accessibility are key considerations in this endeavor.
The admin design concepts have reinvigorated developers’ excitement about the future of WordPress. They hope that this revamp will address several long-standing problems with the interface. One recurring theme in the feedback received was the need to curb the pollution of top-level menus and the overwhelming number of admin notices, which are often hijacked by plugin developers due to the absence of a standard notification system.
Ventura acknowledges the importance of aligning APIs and providing semantic descriptions of capabilities to offer the right levels of controls for both plugins and users. He highlights the ability to pin or unpin plugin sidebars on the editor as an example of striking a balance between plugins’ opinions and users’ interactions.
Another challenge that developers want the new design to address is its ability to accommodate WordPress sites with large amounts of content, such as posts, pages, categories, menus, and comments. The current UI can easily become overwhelming for users when dealing with such extensive content. The new design should leverage components across the admin interface and address functional gaps, such as table and list views, bulk editing operations, and more, to assist plugin needs.
Developers who have participated in the discussion have expressed optimism about the project and reacted positively to the concepts shared by Ventura. They appreciate the use of white space in the light admin concept and are excited about the prospect of a modern UI that reduces page refreshes. A standardized set of UI components would also make it easier for developers extending WordPress to match the admin’s design.
This admin design project is still in its early stages, and Ventura’s document serves as an outline for what is to come. More in-depth design explorations will follow in the future. The WordPress community eagerly awaits these updates, as they believe that a unified and standardized admin experience will not only benefit product creators but also greatly enhance the user experience. With this revamp, WordPress is poised for another successful 20 years.
