The WordPress Admin UI has become a mess

  • I don’t have a question and hopefully you read this as more than a complaint.

    —-

    I work with clients and on most projects I have extensive control over the plugins they use in order to control stability and workflow. However I have clients who prefer the 100+ plugin approach.

    Putting aside the problems that come with that approach (there are many) I want to address the UI issues. WordPress allows plugin developers to organize the UI of their plugins within the admin in ANY WAY THEY WANT TO. Am I the only one witnessing how awful of a UX problem this is?

    I have a client who needs/wants 26 plugins. They come with their own “buy now”, “Don’t forget to…”, “You need to install…” messages each with their own colors and styling.

    These plugin settings are each placed in their own special, discreet location sometimes with different Menu names not related to the specific plugin name. Together they create absurd user experiences each contrasting with each other.

    Don’t get me wrong. It creates work for me. I get paid to navigate through these interfaces in order to find that one button that fixes “X”. However it’s completely untenable. Am I the only one who sees this? This can’t be WordPress for another 5 years. We’re in Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 territory.

    How many of you have looked at the admin of Drupal 8? Install many extensions. Take a look at what happens. Extensions fall within certain Admin menu categories such as “Configuration”, “Structure”, or “Content”. These categories have sub-categories in order to organize the nature of the extension. You’re not forced to have a long list of vertical menu items.

    Example

    dupal

    Now I imagine I’m not the only one with this complaint. As clients become dependent on 20+ plugins due to their features or familiarity I think we’re taking a risk not addressing the UX pathway WordPress is taking.

    Is this an issue that is being addressed by anyone? I haven’t been able to find out.

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