WordPress undoubtedly is one of the most loved Opensource personal Content Management Systems for running a site but like any software its not without its share of much needed improvements. I’m also aware that die hard WordPress enthusiasts are burning the midnight oil to take it to the next level of finesse at Shuttle which encompasses a whole range of changes in terms of user-interface, design, code. I am listing down a a few things that in my opinion could make WordPress go a step further, Feel free to add yours. Some of the points mentioned may have been discussed elsewhere.
- Root of WordPress is messy. Leave just the index file here, move rest in appropriate folders
- 2 types of Dashboard entry: Basic and advanced level, depending on the user role
- Drafts should be visible right from the Dashboard, and why cant pages be saved as drafts (until one is ready to post?)
- Dashboard is very cluttered. Not everybody, especially authors want to have 20 links of WP news feed. Focus of Dashboard should be, to use dashboard effectively and not just to get WordPress news!
- A crisp and fast loading CSS for Admin panel (with a few themes atleast 2)
- Post Preview could be an optional link for those that need to see preview while writing. Refreshing the preview pane slows down page loading considerably.
- 2 Theme options out of the box (one fixed width and the other fluid)
- Presentation theme screengrabs could be smaller than 200 pixels wide
- Succinct documentation that allows people to use wordpress to roll out a static site using pages, just as much it would a blog
- Integration with a ready to use contact form (hack 1 | hack 2), author pages, searching ‘pages’ + ‘post’(hack)
- Option of having dashboard show up news only if user wants it
- Easily customisable login and register pages with existing theme of site
- Support for visual rich editor in Safari
- Seamless updating on server without having to delete and reupload files.
- Subscribe to Comments (hack)
- support for hcards in comments (hack)
- Ability to generate static content for ’sidebar’, ‘header’, ‘footer’… so they can be re-purposed within the site with or without the use of WP
Few of these may already be underway over at Shuttle (is there an ETA?) but do leave your thought on what could make your WordPress experience more usable.
And on a somewhat similar note Derek wrote about some nifty WordPress Plug-ins,you might want to have a look at.
I support your suggestions Amit. I especially agree that the dashboard is very cluttered and it should be optional to have the news. Also about the ready-made contact pages, search, post and author pages - that would be good.
Thanks Ruth, some of these already have hacks and WordPress enthusiasts have worked around these short coming and found a way out. It would probably be an idea to links those in for the interested readers. However, nothing like having some of these fixes straight out the box.
I couldn’t agree more with the need for a draft option on pages. While WordPress is probably thinking that hey.. the chances of a reader finding a fresh page are slim, a little more peace of mind would go a long way. Shuttle should take care of the cluttered dashboard that you speak of
I share your feelings on all the features Wordpress should include by default:
-> Contact form
-> Notify of followup comments
-> Email subscription
-> Sidebar widgets!
But it makes sense that not everyone will want these , and it makes the download package smaller.
Nice article