My devious little brain finally talked me into downloading the latest developer’s build of WordPress 2.5 the other day and loading it into my local Sandbox and oh, what they’ve done to my Admin!
I know there’s a few pics of the new (really unfinished) Dashboard running around on the Net and even a demo you can peruse through but I decided to post a couple-three pics of my own install of the upcoming new version of our favorite blogging software just to throw into the mix. The editor even has all the icons filled with the appropriate images now (the demo doesn’t–early version). Nothing fancy here, just a taste of what’s to come besides, I don’t know if the WordPress Trac police are out and about my area [glances apprehensively over shoulder].
First the login: (click on the following images for a larger version)
And the top of the new Dashboard (very unfinished yet). BTW, it’s going to be widgetized. Drag and drop your Dashboard!
And the new TinyMCE editor (Write Post view). The "Post Status" box on the right floats down the page as you scroll down.
Absolutely nothing is written in stone here as far as the new Admin UI is concerned, I just want to make that clear but this gives you a good idea where they’re headed with it. In some ways it appeals and in other ways it repels as far as I’m concerned but as I’ve heard deep within the dungeons of the WordPress developers–it’s only 10 to 20 percent finished so far. It ought to be interesting indeed to see where they go with this.
I’ll be along with more pics and write ups as the builds improve. That is unless the developers threaten to take away my computer and ban me from the "Dev" for releasing inside information. 
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Tags: Wordpress 2.4, Wordpress 2.5
January 20th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I agree with you - partially it looks promising and partially I am worried. Too often bells and whistles are added that don’t provide any real value and just make it harder to do things than with the more simple previous tools. Overall Wordpress does very well though so I am hopeful.
January 20th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Hi John,
We agree then but it’s still very early in the development so we can hope that user/tester feedback has it’s way. I think the editor makeover is badly needed and testing the nightly builds shows a much improved way of uploading and manipulation of images to say the least. Can’t say as I’m too impressed with the overall design of the admin interface though. At least they didn’t change the DB tables again.
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:30 pm
When are we suppose to get this? I’m still undecided what to do about my account . Most likely I will renew it but that means counting on you to keep up with all this crappola which does not interest me in the least. Decisions decisions.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Hi Elaine,
WordPress 2.5 is scheduled to be released March 24th so there’s time yet. Now I’m not planning to go anywhere so I hope you’ll renew and I’ll just keep your blog’s innards working properly.
January 28th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
I’ve already seen the new login page- we’re using it at Wp.com. While the new UI does look cool, I hope it doesn’t come at the cost of unlearning what I learned before. I’m not in the mood for “adapting” to a new way of settings and stuff…if you understand what I mean.
January 28th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
My comment seems to have vanished again
Anyway, what I said is- I’ve already seen the login page- we’re using it at WP.com. The new UI definitely looks cool, but I hope that users don’t have to do a whole lot of unlearning for adapting to it.
January 28th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Hi Ruhi,
That’s my “Vanishing Comments” plugin at work.
Sorry about the disappearing act but I switched from Akismet to Defensio (like Aksimet but has to be “trained”) in order to track down a rather weird problem and I haven’t beaten it enough yet. Anything it’s not sure of it throws into moderation.
Just keep commenting and I’ll keep beating on it.
Anyway, I wouldn’t worry about having to adapt to any massive changes since the menus operate much the same way. “Presentation” is now “Designs” and “Options” is now “Settings”. I like the new editor though especially the new media uploader. Beats the old uploader all to you know what. For clicking around purposes, they just rearranged menus a bit. I think you’ll like it alright.
January 28th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
I’ve heard a lot about Defensio. Good thing that you’ve switched to it from Akismet. Automattic is receiving lots of negative publicity at Wp.com forums.
Anyway, “Designs” and “Settings” are more intuitive than “Presentation” and “Options”. Can’t wait for 2.5 then.
Hell, I might even shift to WP.org.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I was wondering if others were complaining about it. Looks like it’s been messed up ever since the last update.
Now if you go to a “do-it-yourself” WordPress blog you have to stick to it this time.
January 28th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
All right…I’ll try to stick to it
I’ll just follow you and tag along. 
January 29th, 2008 at 9:39 am
And I’ll show you where to the best berry pickin’ is.
Tag along? Oh, now that one was bad! (I like it).