[wp-hackers] 2.next - plugin options

[Mark Jaquith]

On Mar 8, 2006, at 1:17 AM, Kaf Oseo wrote:

> There's a discussion on the forums right now about how best to
> handle the increasing use of option pages by plugins, which is
> beginning to crowd the sub menus for some:
>
> http://wordpress.org/support/topic/63824
>
> I've previously brought up the suggestion Matt Read makes in that
> thread, which is to provide a *master* plugin options page plugin
> devs can hook into when only one-two settings are needed. However,
> I'm wondering if a better alternative would be to add a mechanism
> where a plugin's options is linked from its entry under Plugins.

There is some talk of moving some core items under "Manage" up a  
level, which would free up more room on that Submenu.

I think that relegating plugin options to a special plugin menu is  
unintuitive.  For example, see where Akismet's menu item is located.   
The beauty of WordPress is that it can be so drastically altered or  
enhanced with plugins.  Plugin menus should be in natual places.  The  
vast majority should be under Options or Manage.  If you're changing  
the way the plugin functions, changing its settings, it should go  
under Options.  If you're manipulating data in some way, it should go  
under Manage.  A user shouldn't have to think "hm, is this core or  
additional functionality?" when using the menu system.

I think that the Plugins submenu should be restricted to things  
having to do with plugin management... like editing, activating,  
downloading, upgrading etc.

--
Mark Jaquith
http://txfx.net/