Preview The Secret New WordPress Admin Design

Preview The Secret New WordPress Admin Design

It’s about time that the WordPress Admin got some love! It was starting to look a little bit like the Velveteen Rabbit of the web. The good news is that the WordPress elves have secretly been hard at work designing a beautiful new update for the dashboard and we think you’re going to love it.

Hold on to your hats, folks! Here’s a sneak peek:

New WordPress admin design

MP6: A Plugin to Break the wp-admin UI

MP6: A secret plugin currently suitable for only the most savvy WordPress ninjas
MP6 is where all the work on the new dashboard is happening. It’s supposedly a secret plugin, with a secret spy project name, but it’s the kind of secret that everybody is talking about. You can actually install the plugin right now as they’re working on the new design and making it ready for the core.

This project is trucking along at a decent pace. Matt Mullenweg announced everything that’s been newly added from last week:

  • A visual treatment for the toolbar and menubar that visually unifies the two and reduces clutter.
  • Flatter visual styling, with square corners, for tables and grouping elements like .postbox.
  • Increased saturation of the traditional WP blue (old vs new comparison: http://cl.ly/image/1X2G3X1Y0y2g ).
  • A splash of color to denote the current menu item.
  • Removed the burnt orange hover state in favor of a lighter blue.
  • Single-color icons are now served via an icon font, making them load instantly and look crisp at any zoom factor.
  • Consistent typography for all operating systems by including the Open Sans web font. (Cognizant of complications embedded this could entail.)
  • Added padding between links in the menu for easier touch navigation
  • Lightened the page background using white backgrounds for grouping elements and a gray background for the body.
  • Removed the large header icons for a cleaner look at the top of the page.

Matt also hinted that they don’t plan to support an alternative admin style like the current admin does. (And can I say, thank God? Because that blue one makes your dashboard look like it took a time machine back to the 90’s.)

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Unlike the upcoming Twenty Thirteen default theme, reaction to the new admin design has so far been overwhelming positive. If you cannot wait and must have this dashboard now, go ahead and install the MP6 plugin. Of course, it’s still a little rough around the edges style-wise, but installing it on your personal blog will make you feel like you’re living on the cutting edge. Have a play and let us know what you think.

photo credit: Pimthida via photopin cc

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