This past week of WordPress 2.5 developments saw the addition of changeable color schemes to the 2.5 admin interface.
Ryan started us off by announcing that WordPress 2.5 will feature two different color schemes. One color scheme will be called Classic while the other will be Fresh. Fresh will feature the newly redesigned color scheme while Classic will contain darker shades of blue and gray. Now, the only decision is whether to have Classic or Fresh be the default color scheme. So far, it looks like Fresh is winning the race.
If that were not enough, I asked Ryan if this would allow end users to upload style sheets that are created by members of the community into the back end which could then be selected to change the color scheme. Ryan simply answered with “New color schemes can be added as plugins”. For those that need a visual aid, Ozh has published a post which explains how to add a custom stylesheet via a plugin.
And as an added bonus, I think I’ll throw in the fact that the first full fledged WordPress 2.5 administration theme has been released called Fluency. Fluency features a smooth gray color scheme with the main menus displayed in a vertical column on the left hand side of the site and sub menus appearing horizontally across the top.
This theme does have a few rendering issues. For instance, if you are using FireFox and you have too many entries in the second tier navigation menu, the menu will overlap with the header of the subpage. Also keep in mind that not all plugins will look normal within this theme as was the case with WP-PostRatings. Some plugin Option pages will look incorrect but Dean acknowledges that additional plugin option page support will be added as necessary.
You can change the look and feel of the WordPress 2.5 back end yourself or you can use one of the community produced themes and style sheets to make it look just the way you like. 2.5 is starting to come together and I can hardly wait!
Nice theme. It’s too bad it can’t do anything about the horrendous layout of the Write Page. That Write Page may be one of the biggest faux paux’s I have seen coming from the WordPress Developer’s camp thus far. I am still amazed at that blunder.
You really have to wonder what the heck they were thinking when they decided it was a good idea to take the usefulness of the sidebar options in previous versions, and bury these options inside collapsed options out of view at the lower part of the page, ultimately reducing efficiency.
I’m still chuckling, and shaking my head, wondering just what were they thinking.
Hopefully, someone with some better development sense can come up with a plugin to restore the efficiency of the Write Page. Based on negative comments all over the place, I’m betting a plugin to restore efficiency to the write page would be very welcomed.
SWEEEEET! I love new grey look, pretty idea guys 🙂
Wow that fluency admin style is looking class! Hope 2.5 is released this weel :D.
good sounds, I hope with new release WP have more power too.
Thanks for mentioned Fluency, much appreciated.
Since the WordPress devs are still changing things, you might notice a few little oddities when you install it. The current version has been tested up to the 11-03-08 nightly, and once the final WP2.5 is released I’ll have an updated version which will work completely.
With regards to plugins, its worth noting that any plugins that have fairly standard admin pages will work fine with Fluency, its only those plugins whose admin pages differ greatly from the ‘standard’ that will need special support. I am more than happy to take suggestions/requests for certain plugins to be ‘supported’.
I’m working on fixing most of the rendering issues as they arise, so if you find one please let me know and I’ll tyr to get it fixed.
after reading this post, i became more excited for wp2.5
I think I like FLUENCY better. LOL
Fluency looks fantastic. I can’t wait until I get to play around with it officially.
Looks solid! Can’t wait for 2.5 to be stable!
In my honest opinion the theme fluency should not be released until the ‘bugs’ are worked out. I am a big user of Firefox and if I have problems displaying the admin in Firefox I know I will be thoroughly disappointed in the release. Furthermore if I am forced to use IE due to the issue with Firefox I will be looking for another format. To me the issue with the admin and displaying in Firefox are issues that must be resolved before it is released. Otherwise it will be short of what Word Press has promised.
Well I know that a couple of my plugins I use like Now Reading does have a non standard menu… I wonder on how it would react in it. I also wonder theme wise if the Tiger Admin will be getting an update.
Hope we will see it available tomorrow for download.
Wow, I think I am going to upgrade after all. This Fluency thing looks classy.
Hopefully this is not the most important new feature of WordPress 2.5. 😉
Well this is good news. I’m cool if they have multiple styles for the admin, and I hoped they would go this route to make them selectable. Perhaps it would be nice if in the setup stage you can ask the admin which kind of admin you want .. Classic or Fresh. That way it keeps everyone happy.
@Stefan – I hope so too. I don’t need a pretty dashboard. Something slick and quick would do me just fine.
Great…looking forward for 2.5 now! I wish they do something with the subpage listing too.
Fluency is what the admin template should look like if the Shuttle project is never going to be finished.
Mad props to dean. I was dreading the thought of having to deal with the new admin, until I saw Fluency.
The new default admin clearly highlights the features that most bloggers will use the most, but it makes things a little strange for non-standard uses of the software. Fluency is much more extensible, the way the old admin and tiger admin were.
I know I can modify the admin control panel… but I don’t because I like it the way it is. With 2.5 I will probably *have* to wait until someone comes up with a work-space like 2.3 🙂
To have a fixed layout of the Admin area is important for ease of maintenance, the admin area should be easy to navigate and tidy so that information is easy to see. The colour scheme is something I have wished to do something with for a long time. I prefare dark backgrounds, though most admin areas I have worked with tend to use black writing over white backgrounds. A fully costumable color scheme for the admin area is something I have wished for a long time now. Hope the addition of Admin themes will allow for that in the near future.
It’s nice to see color themes options, but they shouldn’t focus too much on this, as it’s just a cosmetic to the admin section, in which most people don’t really care 🙂 (although I do care about cosmetics, especially if I’m going to see it everyday)
I’m concerned by the negative talk I’ve heard about the Write page. I use a low resolution, so all of the options had better appear on the first page, or WordPress will lose a ton of utility for me and those like me.
This is all really very cool and looking awesome!!!
I am dying waiting for a stable release of WP so I can upgrade my blog!!