[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #23415: Reducing visual noise within the admin

[WordPress Trac]

#23415: Reducing visual noise within the admin
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 Reporter:  melchoyce       |       Owner:
     Type:  enhancement     |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal          |   Milestone:  3.6
Component:  Administration  |     Version:
 Severity:  normal          |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  ui-focus        |
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Changes (by Archetyped):

 * cc: Archetyped (added)


Comment:

 Is this really necessary?  I'm sure some of the grads and drop shadows
 could be refined to be more subtle, but I think going fully flat is rather
 heavy handed.

 We also need to consider how this will affect usability.  Some may call it
 "visual noise", but when done right, I would refer to the use of these
 "effects" as '''visual cues''' for the end user.

 For example, the meta boxes in 3.5 have been refined quite well.  The top
 bar has an ever-so-subtle gradient that is lightweight, but gives enough
 of a sense of depth that indicates to the user that it is an element that
 can be interacted with.

 If everything has the same visual weight, then '''nothing will be
 differentiated'''.  This is not good for usability because we want to make
 it as simple as possible for a user to know what to do (what to click on,
 etc.) on a given page.

 Believe me, I'm all for completely tearing things down '''when it's
 necessary''', but in this case I would advocate further refinement of the
 current admin styling.

 Increasing the negative space (as has been done for this ticket), being
 more selective with the greys (e.g. meta box content areas), etc. will go
 a long way toward making the admin feel lighter.

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/23415#comment:52>
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