[wp-testers] Reasoning behind admin navigation?

[Jennifer Hodgdon]

Paul Gregory wrote:
> But I'm amazed that there are people on this list who are unaware that this
> is happening! My main interest in joining this list was to get the locations
> of the work-in-progress so I could see the new backend and see how it fits
> into various plans. I'm sure that the developers of any plugins that depend
> on the exact arrangement of the backend are following developments. 

I think most of the discussion here has been on the aesthetics and 
usability of the back end, not the issues for plugin developers.

But I must jump in here to point out that there are real issues for 
plugin developers, independent of the look of the admin section. The 
issue is that in previous versions of WP, the API for adding to the 
post edit screen and to the admin menu system depended on the exact 
layout/coding/order of the screens/menus. So when that changes, the 
previous code of plugins will not add their screens/sections in a 
compatible way. In the case of the post edit screen (where many 
plugins add sections), I don't think the new API has yet been 
articulated either (has it? I haven't checked the code in the last 
couple of weeks, so I'm not sure). But even when it is, plugin 
developers will either have to abandon support for previous WP 
versions, or have branches in their code based on WP version. Neither 
is extremely desirable.

I'm not saying the admin section should not be redesigned, just trying 
to point out what the difficulty is, by the way... I like the new 
design. :)

     --Jennifer

-- 
Jennifer Hodgdon

Poplar ProductivityWare * www.poplarware.com
Web Databases/Scripts * Modeling/Analysis/Palm OS Software