[wp-hackers] Idea: Drag-and-Drop WordPress Admin Design (with a functional example)

[Kaspars Dambis]

Ryan Boren wrote:
> I think some of that info will be released soon.  A presentation on it
> was done at WordCamp SF, but I don't know when the raw data and
> evaluation will be released.  We don't have the rights to release
> certain things.
>   
Great to know that, I am really looking forward to reading that stuff.
> The gist I got was that the left-hand nav tested much better than the
> top nav.  Left-hand nav brings more info above the fold, which was one
> of the main complaints with 2.5 -- if not the main complaint.  With
> the nav moved to the left and less stuff up top, you have less
> vertical scrolling to do in areas where it really matters, such as the
> edit forms.
>   
Thanks for giving your own insight into this. The fact is that the left
side *vertical* nav holds only as many items above the fold as the
screen allows, while the horizontal drop-down at the top with even 50
menu-space-hungry plugins installed would still have all those links
above the fold. Ozh's drop-down menu is the best example. And it even
splits them into columns if there are more than certain number of items.

Here is a comparison of the vertical space of my ui idea vs. the current
WP trunk:
http://konstruktors.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/wp-crazyhorse-ui-vs-konstruktors.gif

You can see that the only difference is that my ui has the nav where WP
has an empty unused space because of the site title floated to the left
and the top bar "secondary navigation". I honestly don't see how left
side nav bar is better. At the same time I am not saying that the left
bar is bad and should be avoided. It has its purpose and situations when
it works the best. I imagine an app where the menu has no more than 5
core and 5 sub menus and they can all stay open (expanded) for most of
the time.

> Coupled with the left-hand nav was the elimination of the Write/Manage
> menu split.  The Write/Manage split that has been with WP for so long
> proved to be one of the most confusing things for users.
>   
With drop-down menu we wouldn't have to go crazy trying to avoid verbs
just for the sake of not having two action pages -- one for creating and
one for editing content. People anyway will want to do only one of them
-- either create a post or edit a post. By grouping these options under
one menu, one of the actions (create or edit) have to have a priority
because Content > Posts can not contain both the content input *and* a
list of previously created content. My idea is to have Create menu as
the ultimate place for users to click when they have logged in only for
purpose of adding new content. Create and Manage are at the core of the
content management and I don't see a reason for grouping them.

What do you think?

Best wishes,
Kaspars

p.s. I am not willing to push the drop-down idea that much, but rather
want to understand what would work the best for both the experienced and
the average Joe/Ann WordPress users.