In WordPress we’ve been given a robust framework to make our websites amazing for visitors around the world, but what about making the editing and administration experience exceptional for us? How much time do we give ourselves to make the WordPress administration experience in wp-admin as efficient and usable for our Editors and Authors?
Recently I discovered that a lot of design love has been given to the UI of WordPress.com but not so much to WordPress Core. Much of those improvements would be terrific in Core but unfortunately, that decision is out of our hands.
So in the meantime, I’ve found other ways that we can make the admin experience what we want it to be through some code and plugins.
LearnDash is taking cutting-edge e-learning methodology and infusing it into WordPress. Trusted to power the learning programs for major universities, small to mid-size companies, startups, entrepreneurs, and bloggers worldwide.
is_admin() and current_user_can() – these functions helps us know if the current page is an administration screen and whether the user is signed in as someone who has the capabilities for something. This is my hidden little gem to make messages appear in custom ACF Blocks or execute a function only on a specific admin page to specific user roles. I’ve found it invaluable over the years to do anything I want to in the administration area.
Admin Menu Editor Pro – a staple for many WordPress Developers, it helps customize almost the entire user interface of the administration area. While the free version in the .org repo focuses on just customizing the side menu, the Pro version goes way beyond that and provides that capability to handle the top menu, override the admin CSS, turn blocks off, edit user roles, and more with minimal load to the back-end.
ACF Extended – If you work with Advanced Custom Fields then you’ll love this! This plugin provides optimizations and improvements for ACF like the ability to create a new Gutenberg block or a front-end form via a GUI. This helps
WPTavern shares some thoughts on the Clarity Ad Blocker plugin from Stanislav Khromov that makes “obtrusive ads” in the wp-admin screens disappear.
Clarity Ad Blocker for WordPress Announced, Receives Mixed Reactions
Marco Venturi provides a step-by-step walkthrough of how to create a react app inside the WordPress administration dashboard.
How to Build a Custom Dashboard with WordPress APIs and React
UI Press, a custom admin experience plugin, now has the capability to create WordPress Admin pages from Gutenburg, classic editor, Elementor, Oxygen, or any other page builder.
Building WordPress custom admin pages has never been so easy
David Bisset and Post Status will be hosting a Twitter Spaces on WordPress Admin Notifications this Friday 10am ET / 3pm UTC with special guests Aurooba Ahmed, Jon Bossenger, and Matt Cromwell.
View the Event Info and Share Your Questions about Admin Notifications
Editor Plus, a plugin that extends the block editor with advanced design and typography controls has just surpassed 7,000 installs. It’s a great plugin to make any theme work better within Gutenberg.
Gutenberg Blocks Library & Toolkit – Editor Plus
Although launched a few months ago, it should be noted that David Gwyer’s theme.json generator also helps lock down the colors, gradients, and other interface elements in the editing experience.
Theme Gen App
David McCan provides a walkthrough of Block Studio, a “modern and flexible block framework” for creating blocks in WordPress with Advanced Custom Fields or Meta Box.
Blockstudio ACF Blocks and the Full Site Editor: A Game Changer?
Mark Wilkinson expresses that the Dashboard is possibly “one of the most under developed areas of WordPress.” What are your thoughts? Have you done something interesting to make it look good or more useful to users?
Discuss what you think of the Dashboard in this tweet thread
Delicious Brains releases a new database management plugin called SQL Buddy. It will be interesting to see how this evolves and integrates with their other offerings like Migrate DB Pro and Advanced Custom Fields.
SQL Buddy – Database Management Made Easy
Aurooba Ahmed has developed a new feature called Quick Post that lets admin users create a new post right from the block editing experience. She shares why she created it and the journey it took to come to life, including a detour to have similar functionality considered for Core only to be turned down. I know this plugin will be another regular install for my toolbelt with clients.
Create new posts right from the Block Editor with QuickPost
Channing Ritter shares what the Make WordPress Design team has been up to in recent weeks with an overview of several recent concepts and improvements.
Make WordPress: Design Share
Headless WordPress is here to stay and the tools are advancing alongside the Javascript landscape. In Torque Magazine, Will Morris shares how to create a website using Faust.js, a new framework built on top of Next.js and React with the capability of finally being able to Preview changes before publishing them!
How to Create a Headless WordPress Site With Faust.js (In 9 Steps)
Kelly Hoffman, a designer from Automattic, shares that WordPress News gets a beautiful makeover that “leans on the aesthetics of jazz, intrinsically connected to WordPress and which ultimately translates its uniqueness, historic significance and future potential”
A New WordPress News
LearnDash is taking cutting-edge e-learning methodology and infusing it into WordPress. Trusted to power the learning programs for major universities, small to mid-size companies, startups, entrepreneurs, and bloggers worldwide.
Dan Goodin, Security Editor at Ars Technica, writes about the major security threat for the UpdraftPlus plugin, installed on over 3 million websites, that allows “untrusted visitors to download a full database backup”. Make sure you update immediately.
Millions of WordPress sites get forced to update to patch critical plugin flaw
The latest Underrepresented In Tech Podcast episode features an interview conducted by Allie Nimmons with Leslie Sims about her journey creating the Newsletter Glue plugin.
Underrepresented In Tech Podcast
Artificial intelligence plugin Bertha AI debuts on the .org repo to offer assisted writing for heading, call to action, blog posts, and any other content needed for a website.
Bertha AI – WordPress.org
