I bet you thought I was shitcanned AND blocked from WPMU.org, didn’t you? Not to worry, that’s not the case. I’m sorry to say that surgery and other nastiness that hospital visits spark kept me from annoying you guys.
The recent WordPress Ghost concept by John O’Nolan, featuring an easier to use admin interface, have gotten some space within the WordPress. Even this site have talked about the Ghost concept, and since they want me to add links in my columns I’ll oblige this time around.
First of all, the Ghost concept is interesting. I don’t agree with it, but that’s a matter of taste at this point. When there is something to actually use we can talk about how well it works, but I’ll say this right away: Mobile first.
Now, Ghost not only shows that there are people who want to improve the WordPress admin area, but also that I’m not alone in wanting everything to be a bit easier on the user. Sure, administrators and possibly editors will need a comprehensive admin interface, but if your site is more blog than magazine then you have different needs.
The solution could be to just create an admin theme, which is closer to the route Ghost is taking right now as far as I understand it. O’Nolan is still talking about forking WordPress, which I think is a sure way to make sure that the Ghost won’t fly, but who am I to talk?
There is definitely a need for an easier, more accessible WordPress admin interface. I think the solution is a complete overhaul, even more modular thinking, and getting it ready for mobile once and for all. The community seems to agree, Ghost proves this. I do think that this is something that needs to be in the core, not a plugin. I also think that it should be easier to theme the admin interface and hence offering a more complete package when using WordPress for both front and backend.
I’ll be following the Ghost project closely. I doubt it is the future of WordPress, but I applaud O’Nolan for the effort and you should too.
Random WordPress Tip
Did you know that you can alter the look of wp-admin? You’ll have to write a plugin containing your stylesheets, graphics and whatnot though, essentially overruling styles from WordPress. Read more about it in the Codex. I also touch it briefly in Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog in case you prefer books.
Photo by Super Awesome (CC)
