[wp-hackers] Suggested IA/UI Changes to the Admin Area

[Chris Poteet]

Group,

I would like to submit some IA/UI suggestions on the admin UI before
we close the book on it for 2.5.  I want to say that the new UI is
great, and I don't want to diminish the work that Happy Cog/Automattic
has done as they are far more talented than I.

You want to see an image before reading I know so here's my mockup.

http://flickr.com/photos/cpoteet/2266424936/sizes/o/

You'll notice that I've obviously moved a few things around.  The
first thing that struck me about the interface was that it included 5
different areas of navigation (not including the sub-menus) on the
prominent navigation.  I felt a need to make a clearer distinction and
combine/collapse some areas.

- I removed "dashboard" in lieu of having the h1 blog title link to
the dashboard.
- I changed around the main navigation.  I have also put together a
layout to the navigation that can be seen here:

http://www.gliffy.com/publish/1369362/

- I have changed "Write" into "Create", because you don't really
"write" links.  I felt it more consistent to describe all three.
- I moved "comments" next to "manage" although I think that maybe
comment moderation can be moved under "manage"
- I removed "Link categories" because all category moderation should
be on one page
- I combined import/export
- "Design" became "Theme" to more aptly describe the sub-content (the
page it links to is even named "themes.php")
- You'll noticed I moved the "Settings" up to the upper right.
Conceptually, I would like this to toggle via jQuery to present
options below similar to the navigation in the CodeIgniter
documentation (the toc): http://codeigniter.com/user_guide/
- The link to "visit site" was also moved up there.
- I removed "help" and "forum", because I found them more in line with
WordPress.com and not the stand-alone software.  That would be a good
place for them for WP.com
- I also included "Users" under "settings" because (1) it's only 1
page and (2) it's only 1 page because your user name in that same spot
links to the same thing

If any or all of this might be considered for the trunk then I will
happily generate the patch.