For those who haven't noticed, wordpress 2.7 has officially been released. While I have played around with the release candidates I am always eager to see the full release of new software, so I have already installed the update onto this site to get some initial impressions.
Obviously this is a big interface change from previous versions, and while many have hailed wordpress for having a simple and easy to use interface I never have fully agreed. Sure it is easier than some of the other CMS and blogging platforms out there, but it always had a lot to be desired in my opinion.
The reorganization of the dashboard improves it's functionality ten fold. With a quick post bar, easily to scan stats about your blog, and the news no longer takes up 75% of the page. Where previously I would instantly skip over the information on the dashboard as it was not easy to gain value or I had to hunt for what I was looking for— I now find myself glancing at the little bits before making my next action.
Despite some nice aesthetic improvements, the primary change that has improved the user experience is the navigation. Some of their initial menu and design decisions make sense considering the platform was originally built to be a blogging platform, and has evolved into what it is today (more of a framework). The new version really is an evolution of the platform itself to better fit the flexibility that it has adopted.
While the previous versions of wordpress had fairly good labeling, the labeling of navigational elements has improved significantly. What was "Design" is now "Appearance," and "Manage" has been forgone for a simple "Edit."
The organization of the navigational structure has been improved leaps and bounds. Now that wordpress is used as a CMS more often pages and posts have been separated, which should make clients lives a lot easier. Both categories have logical sub categories of edit, add new, categories, etc. Media has been separated into it's own section, no longer do you have to hunt for it in the ambiguous "manage" tab.
The administration navigation has been vastly improved, now in an area you can actually spot it seems much easier to use. A nice touch is the addition of the "tools" section, which will serve as an excellent spot for plug in settings and controls. Previously it seemed authors stuck plug in controls in any section, where this will be a bit more convenient and logical.
The editing interface of both posts and pages has been vastly improved. Again this looks as if the changes were made to improve the capability of Wordpress as a CMS. Previous versions of wordpress had what I called "option soup." Where boxes of all sorts of options simply appeared... well... everywhere. Sure with plug ins you could turn off a lot of the options that didn't seem to matter, but it was a hassle and certainly didn't make wordpress easier on clients that were not tech savy.
The layout and labeling of the editor interface is much more intuitive. The more complicated items such as custom fields are located below the fold where most users can safely ignore them, and logical workflow boxes are placed where they should. For example excerpt is under the post, where tags and categories are to the right.
On the pages editor you have a handy "Page Attribute" section that allows you to select the page parent, template, and order.
Additionally in both editors you have easy options to turn on / off any section that seems unnecessary.
The only area I have had significant trouble with is the image uploading interface. When I used the flash loader I seemed to be able to select files but not upload them, weird? Inserting the image into the post was a bit hidden, having to "show the image" and see the details in order to find the insert image is a bit clunky. Let's face it, being able to put pictures into a site/blog is extremely important to most clients. This being as difficult as it was is not insignificant.
Overall the upgrade is a huge improvement, especially looking from a clients perspective. The main areas I would love to see improvement is some ability to create custom write panels with out doing hacking, and easier linking interface (if you want to link to another page on your site you have to copy and paste it? come on now!) and better navigation control capabilities.
I am sure that in future releases these will be improved and wordpress will continue to excel as a framework.
Have some feedback? Leave a commentWow, that is a huge change. Like John Paul said, I wonder if it’s worth upgrading clients who are still using the old interface. Seems like it might be a good idea, I’m excited to check this out more over the holiday. Anything that simplifies the use of WP as a CMS = win for everyone 
Great Job, and I love this blog design! Do you think this version is worth upgrading clients with the older interface. From what I can see, it seems like it is a significant upgrade from the older versions. I love the new editing interface as it was a major pain to add HTML posts.
really nice review Ross!
i think new version is so awesome, much easier to use and very user friendly, excellent job!
Yea, I really liked the upgrade they did
PS Dude you have a lot of comments to approve!!!
Thanks for the round up, looks good!
2.7 looks great! However I have to agree 100% about the custom write panels becoming part of the Wordpress core.
From my experience with Expression Engine this is the biggest advantage it holds over Wordpress.
With this slick new 2.7 interface, if Wordpress just had custom write panel functionality..(.w/o having to worry about plugin compatibility , updates, reliability blah blah blah), then it would become one hell of a CMS for small to mid-size sites .
Nice review! Thanks.
2.7 is awesome. I was a bit unsure about the last design, but this one will definately catch on. Well done Wordpress!
I have nothing but good things to say about this upgrade, particularly seeing as my site is geared just as much towards content/media management as it is news.
I’m especially happy with how easy the upgrade was. WordPress has always excelled in this department, but due to the significant changes in 2.7 (threaded commenting, etc) I was expecting some editing of my completely custom theme. This wasn’t the case, and any of the additional functionality is simply not used — the site continues operating exactly as before. I’m not sure I even want threaded comments, to be honest.
Better yet, now 2.7 has introduced automatic upgrading this may well be the last overwrite-based upgrade I ever do.
Yeah, my thoughts exactly. For most sites I had strayed to silverstripe if it was more CMS and less blog/news. However with these latest changes it may have me straying back towards wordpress.
I gotta hand it to the wordpress crew, they did a great job.
Wow the UI changes look great, this might just be what i needed to get me playing with WordPress again!
on December 23, 2008
Thanks Ian & JP.
The new interface really is great. I do think it is worth upgrading clients systems, even though it might mean spending some time getting them reused to the interface it will make their lives so much easier.
I tend to look at every CMS from a client perspective, and very few leave me super satisfied. The more I can simplify their workflow, the less I have to spend in training/support time.
The new wordpress does a great job.