New admin panel 3.8 is terrible

I see so many posts with pushy mods unhappy with responses from users, sometimes shutting down threads/posts because they just don’t like what they are reading. You have a product you want the masses/customers paying(in some instances) and non-paying to use, so listen to what were saying.

To clarify, forum moderators are not normally core contributors. If they’re disliking comments it is unlikely to be because the comments give negative feedback to WordPress core.

You have a product you want the masses/customers paying(in some instances)

www.ads-software.com distributes free software. If they are paying for something then it is not from www.ads-software.com. I wouldn’t call the WordPress user base “customers” of WordPress.
They may well be customers of agencies that sell website services, but in that case those agencies should be more than prepared and capable for changes in WordPress that affect their customers.

A top down management style never works.

WordPress is not a business or an organisation, it’s an open-source project ran by a community of volunteers.

I see so many posts with pushy mods unhappy with responses from users, sometimes shutting down threads/posts because they just don’t like what they are reading. You have a product you want the masses/customers paying(in some instances) and non-paying to use, so listen to what were saying.

To clarify, forum moderators are not normally core contributors. If they’re disliking comments it is unlikely to be because the comments give negative feedback to WordPress core.

You have a product you want the masses/customers paying(in some instances)

www.ads-software.com distributes free software. If they are paying for something then it is not from www.ads-software.com. I wouldn’t call the WordPress user base “customers” of WordPress.
They may well be customers of agencies that sell website services, but in that case those agencies should be more than prepared and capable for changes in WordPress that affect their customers.

A top down management style never works.

WordPress is not a business or an organisation, it’s an open-source project ran by a community of volunteers.

I rest my case… ??

In the literature touting the wonderful features of 3.8, the writer writes – “scrolling, scrolling, scrolling”. How appropriate. Because you can only fit two vertical columns anymore (I guess that works for mobile) e.g. on the widget page, I find myself, scrolling scrolling scrolling, constantly (sung to the tune of rolling, rolling, rolling), unfortunately all that scrolling makes me lose what I had clicked on in the first place, and I have to start. All. Over. Again.

I cannot WAIT till this trend blows over.

christinabarefoottrimmer – The magic is actually that you scroll down, click on the item you want to add, and then click on what widget area to add it.

christinabarefoottrimmer – The magic is actually that you scroll down, click on the item you want to add, and then click on what widget area to add it.

What if I may ask is ‘magical’ about scrolling, scrolling, scrolling down to where your item is (and how are you supposed to know where it is and find it without a lot of back and forth scrolling), clicking and adding? This adds many multiple steps to the process, and that is if a) you already know what you want or need and b) it works correctly. Otherwise it takes even longer. In order to be able to design your website it is necessary to see all the choices of widgets, then choose among them, since there is a pre-determined amount of widgets you can use which is determined by the website design. So if you can only have say, 4, you need to see ALL of them and choose the 4 best ones. What you are describing presumes already knowing what you want. The way it was before you could evaluate them all together. And you have to be very handy and lucky not to have your widget drop off as you are scrolling scrolling scrolling back to the top of the page.

It’s bad enough that a solution isn’t being offered but to be told the problem doesn’t exist is really infuriating.

I forgot to add, my inquiries to plugin designers (as per instructions from moderators) – as expected – have dropped into the black hole of support requesets, never to be heard from again, despite the fact that I followed all their requests of lists of all plugins, screenshots, direct request thru their website instead of forum or pluging support, etc etc etc. So ‘contact your plugin designer’ is not worthwhile advice, yet the chosen way of dealing with problems it seems.

I don’t really have a horse in the race about widgets, I was just explaining to you what was meant by the term ‘magic’ in this sense.

So ‘contact your plugin designer’ is not worthwhile advice, yet the chosen way of dealing with problems it seems.

It’s the best we can do, I’m sad to say. We give plugin devs freedom, just like you have, to do what they want ?? If they chose not to support their plugins, or don’t have the time to, then the only thing for you is to vote with your feet (or hire someone). And yes, I’m aware of how much that absolutely sucks. I hate saying it ??

The new look in 3.8 is the ABSOLUTE best thing (visually) to happen to WP!! It was such a needed fix, yes, FIX! What year is it? So why did WP look like bad 90’s design with horrible 3D shadows?

As I visual person (photographer, graphic designer) I HATED presenting the WP admin to clients, who were also photographers etc… I used several plugin and CSS to get rid of the crap design and was somewhat successful, but it’s so much nicer to have it baked into WP. And I can always download plugins for more choices or just change with CSS.

Anyone not thankful for the new look is probably making websites that look like the 90’s! OK, yes, that was rude and uncalled for. Although probably true, the ones to hate the look are probably code gurus and think functionality trumps design. I ask, if a site looks bad, why would anyone use it no matter it’s functionality?

I’m a little bit late in finding this thread but thought it might be worth offering a response.

Aesthetics are subjective (I could probably stop writing now, but bear with me). And every design is a product of the era in which it was created. The things the original poster preferred about the previous design of WordPress were popular around the time it was designed, as much or moreso than “flat” design is today (fun fact: if you check the official 3.8 announcement or my post about its design, you won’t find the word “flat”). That’s why we explicitly chose not to eliminate all traces of “3D-ness” from the admin — metaboxes still have drop shadows, buttons still have gradients and heft, text fields still have inner shadows; all of this is meant to ensure that WordPress doesn’t fall into the trap of a visual aesthetic so flat that it affects usability.

It’s understandable to feel frustration when there’s a visual redesign that introduces changes that are unfamiliar or uncomfortable at first. But with every change in 3.8, from the choice of font to the color schemes, we took care to ensure that accessibility and usability would not be sacrificed in the name of change for change’s sake. We understood that not everyone would be a fan of the new design, but our experience so far tells us that on balance, the changes have had their intended effect.

With that said, we’re far from perfect and always welcome input for future versions — here is fine, but joining the effort and contributing directly to a future release cycle is a much better way to get your voice heard. We may not be able to make some individual users happy in the short term, but in the long term we’ll continue working to make the design of WordPress as good as it possibly can be.