Last week I introduced the idea of working to improve the default dashboard screen in the WordPress admin.
Project leads
I will be leading this project, and I’m excited to announce that @joen will be co-leading with me.
Meeting time
We’ll hold our first chat tomorrow at Tuesday, August 27th, 2:00pm UTC in #wordpress-ui. Please come if you’re interested in working on this with us. If you can’t make it, but would like to participate, please make a note in the comments below. We’ll plan on having a chat each Tuesday, and we’ll post a status update each Friday.
Proposed scope
My proposal for the dashboard screen redesign includes the following:
Components that I’ll oversee:
1) Move “Other WordPress News”, “WordPress Blog”, “Plugins”, an potentially “Incoming links” out of core into a plugin called “Dashboard Extras”.
2) Remove the “columns” screen option, and instead use responsive CSS to determine the optimal number of columns to display.
3) Transform “QuickPress” into “QuickDraft” changing the focus from posting to drafting new ideas quickly. Potentially merge the “Recent drafts” widget in with this one. Huge props to @melchoyce for coming up with this idea. Here’s a super rough mockup:
4) Add a new “Quick Links” dashboard widget offering an easily customizable section for links you use all the time.
Components that Joen will oversee:
5) Add a new “Admin Activity” widget to the dashboard. This would allow you to see important logged in activity for your blog.
6) “Right Now” widget re-imagined. We’ll see what we can do to make the “Right Now” section more insightful, and more comprehensive.
Joen is already working on a v1 mockup of this stuff which he’ll post in the comments for feedback.
Planning spreadsheet
Here’s a link to the planning spreadsheet we’ll use over the course of the project to track our progress. I’ve done my best to break down each component into actionable items (they may change as needed). Each item lists what skills are required. Have a look at the list, and feel free to mention in the comments below which items you’d be interested in working on.
What are your thoughts?
Tell us what you think in the comments below.