[wp-hackers] 2.8 plugins page

[Joost de Valk]

Same here, +1 on all, right there with you Stephen.

mikeschinkel at newclarity.net wrote:
> +1 on all counts.
>
> -Mike Schinkel
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On May 12, 2009, at 11:47 AM, Stephen Rider 
> <wp-hackers at striderweb.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi all --
>>
>> I wanted to discuss the changes to the Plugins page for WP 2.8.
>>
>> * First, I definitely prefer to have all plugins on one long page 
>> rather than splitting them every 20 plugins.  It's just a lot more 
>> clicking around to find what I want now.  Plus, with one long page, I 
>> can (in Firefox) just type the plugin name and jump right to it -- 
>> not so if the plugin I want is on the next page....
>>
>> * Second, why are we now only showing the Action links on mouseover?  
>> This one in particular looks like change for change's sake.  ***How 
>> does this improve usability??***
>>
>> I think this was a mistake especially as more and more plugin authors 
>> are putting in links to the Settings page in the Action links.  (A 
>> trend I myself have championed, responding to the frequent complaint 
>> that it was hard to figure out where a plugin's configuration was 
>> located in the menus.)
>>
>> (One more point about this one -- changing the number of columns in 
>> the Plugins list messes up any existing plugins that were using the 
>> "after row" hook.  If there's strong reason to do it, so be it -- but 
>> don't do it on a whim!)
>>
>> Please reconsider the mouseover Action links.  Just make them visible.
>>
>> * Third -- I am... ambivalent... about re-combining the active and 
>> inactive plugins.  No personal preference, except I don't like the 
>> indecisiveness -- they were together, then we separated them, and now 
>> we're combining them again.  If we're bouncing back and forth it 
>> sounds as though we don't have a strong reason for either, so maybe 
>> just leave it alone?
>>
>> Overall, I guess I'm against arbitrary interface changes without 
>> strong reason for the change.  I'm not talking minor stuff like CSS 
>> colors, but structural changes.  With a system like WordPress that so 
>> strongly encourages customization via plugin, we should be very 
>> careful not to keep stirring things around and undermining those same 
>> plugins on a whim.
>>
>> Of course it's a case of where to draw the line -- you don't want to 
>> eliminate any changes or the program will stagnate, but when making a 
>> change, we must ask "What is the reason for this?" -- and if the 
>> answer is "I just like it better", tread carefully.  Compatibility is 
>> important.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> -- 
>> Stephen Rider
>> http://striderweb.com/
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-- 
me *Joost de Valk*
Online Marketing, WordPress, SEO & Social Media Strategy
OrangeValley <http://www.orangevalley.nl> & Yoast <http://yoast.com>
E: joost at orangevalley.nl <mailto:joost at orangevalley.nl> - 
joost at yoast.com <mailto:joost at yoast.com>
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