3.8 Update is Terrible! Two plugins broke!

The new 3.8 theme update is on the ugly side in my mind. I selected the light version to make it match as closely to the previous version but the font is chunky and I have to scroll down to see all my left sidebar options or I have to scroll down when I didn’t need to before in order to read the same amount of text/information. It is missing all the lines that defined areas and made it much easier to read the page in general. The widget area seems a little strange. I also have multiple multi-sites and don’t want to update those but feel I have to because I need to keep my plugins up to date. Overall it is just difficult to read the page – the theme seems a little overbearing which makes it distracting to work with. The old theme version is aesthetically much better.

Thank you for providing the theme options and I see a lot of thought has gone into it but I think it would be better to keep the font size the same as it was previously and bring back the faint lines that determined areas. Kind regards, Vicky J

Indeed, the admin theme changes are grotesque. It makes one wonder how so many precious man-hours could be devoted to mucking around with such superficial concerns, particularly when the existing look and feel of the previous admin was visually pleasing and well defined. Adding features is one thing, but dictating personal taste is another.

Consider the statement posted on the WP site that defends the creation of this ugly theme: “Gone are overbearing gradients and dozens of shades of grey— bring on a bigger, bolder, more colorful design!” Wow! “Overbearing”? Really?–Orwell would love that one. The previous admin theme was subtle, perhaps a bit boring, but “overbearing???!” — give us a break.

Then there is the flat-is-cool virus that seems to have infected the coding community. There seems to be some fantasy about how elegant and beautiful flat, featureless, boxes on a stark background are to the viewer. My two year old son draws like that, but I would not call it elegant.

We need the folks at WP to work on improving security, load times, efficiency and other important improvements under-the-hood–not in your face. The admin area is a work space that needs to be functional well defined and easy on the eyes. The stark, flat, police-cruiser motif of 3.8 really is “OVERBEARING.” And the ability to choose other colors really doesn’t help much because the design is aesthetically juvenile. Admin themes are the domain of plugins, not the WP core.

What on earth are you doing? There was nothing wrong with the admin. section previously. Clunky describes this very well. Please let us have our easy-to-use design back again? This is change for the sake of change and is totally unnecessary. Moreover, the annoying black banner that keeps interfering with ones work for no good reason is still there. Now it would have been worth downloading the new software had that been dealt with. Please listen to your customers!

Please listen to your customers!

The WordPress software is freely available. If you’re paying for something then it is not from www.ads-software.com and you need to talk to the people who have sold you it.

@an: What is the point? Paying for what? This thread is about the ugly admin interface changes in WP 3.8.

I provided the quote that I was responding to.

@birdog: if you do not have something of substance to add to this topic, please do not post to it.

since applying the update nothing is working properly. Trouble logging in i.e sometimes yes, sometimes no. mostly no. when it does work none of the functions in the dashboard work properly. I was quite happy with the last version and only updated because it is recommended for security purposes.

Hope this can be resolved soon!

I like it! I find the flat interface to be clear and direct.

@mrkenfbnaks, create a thread in the How-To forum: https://www.ads-software.com/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting#postform

I agree with gaf, I don’t know why you are all here bashing 3.8 admin interface. The changes to enable “responsive, mobile first design” is extremely functional and clean. @birdog your statements are rediculous if you think the design changes were purely “design” and have no function enhancements. What a ridiculous thread of people that are not UIX experts saying the platform for millions of people needs to be reverted because their opinion matters more. If you have a problem with how its going, feel free to get involved and donate your time.

I also have two plugins that I need on my sites, and have been using them for a few years, and they are not working properly since I updated this one site

Back to the OP: Glen which plugins?

Folks, please don’t turn this into a rant. The original poster has a legit ISSUE and if you keep derailing it with your own complaints, he’ll never get it fixed. He has TWO plugins that don’t work in 3.8. If we can find out which ones, maybe we can make them work.

I will continue to delete all off topic posts in this thread (including general complaints). Please be respectful of the OP ?? Doesn’t he deserve help?

OP (issue #1 of 3 apparent issues): “First of all it is butt ugly, and is not setup for easy use, like wordpress has always been. It is clunky and annoying.”

I don’t understand why folks are being deleted for replyying to this in an assenting, clarifying fashion – especially as those who have commented saying they like the interface have not been, and that is clearly not fixing issue #3 (the plugins), either.

Agreed, however, that it’s necessary to know which theme and which plugins in order to fix those issues.

Because “I don’t like” is an opinion and “this is broken” is not (and no, “I don’t like this..” does not mean something’s broken).

I am also having problems with my theme settings, which I have never had before. When I go into the back office for my theme, to change colors, or settings, the controls are all distorted. I have been using this theme (Flexsqueeze) for years, with no problems.

I also have two plugins that I need on my sites, and have been using them for a few years, and they are not working properly since I updated this one site.

FlexSqueeze – https://www.flexsqueeze.com/ – is a third party theme so we can’t help that one :/ No access to the code. He’ll have to ask them for help. (Also it’s possible he didn’t update the theme for 3.8 and there’s already a fix, but since the theme’s behind a paywall, I couldn’t tell ya more).

If there are two plugins broken, it helps everyone to troubleshoot them, push the fixes upstream, and maybe hey! There is a problem with WP ?? It happens. But with everyone ranting, we can’t get there.

tl;dr: We can’t make WP’s code better if everyone climbs on and makes the post into an angry rantspace.