Massive changes to the WP interface
-
This is like Meetup.com all over again.
They made massive changes without consulting anyone, people were pissed, they talked their way out of all criticisms.
And there was a mass exodus.
Tick, tock.
-
We core groupers are your foundation but we’re starting to feel like the horse in Animal Farm that got sent to the slaughterhouse after the pigs got all that they wanted from him.
Oh my! I’ve been leaning vegetarian lately myself…
Really? I’m shopping for a new blogging community and this is your Hail Mary sales pitch for WordPress? Wow.
-
You have asked for specifics. We have possibly assumed wrongly that WP had tested the product, new its failings and understood the feedback. You have been distinctly patronising. Therefore :-
My credentials, over a period of 40 years:-
Computer hardware/software/support.
Equipment Engineer
QA creation and documentation
In-house Technical AuthorWP’s failings (specifically):-
New Stats
It is now necessary to scroll down to view information – previously all was available on one screen.
Only ten days of stats – previously was 30 days
No total of views for the day, or any day – previously was shown
No summaries of totals and averages by day/month year – previously was available via the “Summaries” icon
No drop down menu or icon for immediate access to these other facilities:-
Dashboard – Previously was available
Sign Out – Previously was availableNew Reader
There is no direct means of signing out – previously there was.
The sidebar on the left is counter intuitive to a right handed mouse user and requires more pointer movement.Pre-existing –
Only one of a posts Categories or Tags is shown/linked – previously all were available
There is no obvious means of by-passing the intermediate mini-post, other than discovering one can click on the time stamp
Despite one’s chosen post layout the reader displays the first gallery or video in the post.
There is no indication that, when creating a post, exceeding 15 categories+tags can result in exclusion from the reader.
Other than by category or tag, it has no search function.New Editor
One cannot get directly from one’s post to the old editor.
There is no immediate way of signing out.
There are no screen options available and therefore no means of choosing one column (wide screen) or two.
The editor panel size cannot be adjusted – previously it could
There is no “Add Poll”, “Add Contact Form” or “Add Location” – previously there was.
There is no means to change the author – previously there was a drop down list.
As for Beep boo etc, you’ve had plenty of annoyed feedback on that, and ignored it.And, whilst reviewing – Editor in general
A toolbar that scrolls up the screen rather than being static is a nuisance and far behind industry standard for presentation software.
A non wysiwyg editor is a nuisance and far behind industry standard for presentation software.
Additional CR’s appear using the “Text” tab and in the post, but not when using the “Visual” Tab. Also, they have a tendency to disappear.
One can change the font size only by using code. The facility is not available from the tool bar.
Images, positioned by the author, will not stay put.
– – Much more if had time– – These are old and remain unaddressed.
Conclusion
The changes are ill considered and inconsiderate. Not properly testing first is incompetent. Not consulting first with those who have to deal with this, is high handed hubris. Any notion that we cannot adapt to change, if it be useful, is patronising.
There are no recognisable Customer Service Protocols or QA Procedures
Trust rating 0.
-
grahaminhats
Brilliant! Well said! Thanks for being the users champion.
It is the obvious lack of testing which really astounds and irritates me. I can only conclude that we the users are the testing process.
The supporting software and code is in an almighty mess with far too many different routes available.
The response by staff on this forum is not only patronising but deeply insulting. -
Yes very brilliant summary of graham!
I add some facts that I mentioned in another thread too.. I did inspect both stats pages..
Comparison: screen estate of the old stats element is 960 pixel wide. Fact check, the new stats element is just 653 pixel wide resulting in a loss of 307 pixel in width!!! That means the designers threw away one third of screen estate and that in times of wide screens for desktop systems. This is clearly setting a focus on mobile experience. The change from two columns to one column is horrible.
-
diaryofdennis
Agreed. And all of those ugly chunky icons are designed for one thing – mobile and tablet!
-
“Here’s another wild and crazy idea: how about asking desktop users what changes would help them, if any, *before* designing and implementing the changes? “
Spot and your not the only person to suggest this. Unfortunately I don’t think that WP like the idea of being user driven. We need to persuade them. :-)
-
True. It’s clearly visible where the design is focused. What is strange too, in the old times we only had this slick and nice dark top bar that was accessable everywhere… today we have party this brownbar but then at some pages only the blue bar. This is confusing. Especially if the content in the dark bar changes depending which site you have loaded… sometimes you can access your blogs through the drop down menu, sometimes now.
Then, but I believe this has already been suggested… who did place this huge white button on a dark top bar? This is impacting a lot on my eyes!
-
Thank you for your kind comment :-) and for nice piece of research.
I’m beginning to think we need a WP Users Association. :-)
-
Look, the changes just foisted on us really stink. You have succeeded in wrecking something that worked very well indeed. Why? http://neilcommonplacebook.wordpress.com/
-
I’m trying to find something positive in all this.
Okay so I pay a little bit of money to get the URL thingie and the CSS thingie
That’s nice. Dont have to pay for bandwidth. That’s nice. Free themes. That’s nice. Free tech support. Sorta, hmmm….So what is the problem?
First, the jokes: No one asked to me for feedback re these changes. I feel powerless. Not in control. My life has suddenly become meaningless, thanks to WP.
er.. not really. I do have another life.
However, it sound like there are a lot of really experienced tech people who come here. That is pretty good. That is a resource WP, if I may say so, WP should take advantage of.
I think WP should make a concerted and focused effort to allow this vast pool of talent to improve its product, which has suddenly become Bloggo Densiflora.
From a technical standpoint, I really think WP needs vast improvement. My particular focus is CSS3 and HTML5.
They are falling behind the times in that regard, and what you cannot do here is more than annoying.
So it is time for WP to grow up, and start being a real software company.
Then again, I could be wrong.
-
-
Reading this thread has been utterly depressing. I’ve always heard good things about WordPress – the ease of use being the primary one.
Yesterday I took the plunge and started to set up a blog. Nothing but aggravation and the two themes I’ve tried to work with seem to be missing the features that were the main reason I chose them. It has been so far impossible to find the information I need to either access those features or make them work.
I need a drink.
-
btw someone complained elsewhere about the bell thingie on the new WP interface
i say… perhaps … er… watch this to decompress?
;-)
-
I agree with the others that WP’s recent changes are not user-friendly for desktop users.
I do not like the “new” Stats page, too much scrolling, too-blue, and too many words for a Stats page. Give me numbers, please on a Stats page.
I do not like the “new” add a new post button. It’s too big, too much white space, overall too ugly.
-
@grahaminhats, thank you so much for your summary!
Since you have experience working in QA, then you know that not all of these decisions are in my hands directly and I am the messenger here. :) The best thing I can do for you is collect all the feedback and report it in a way that is unbiased and has clear detail.
Your summary is a good beginning because it starts to scratch the surface on specific reasons for why certain changes don’t work well for you—those details are what I want to pull out of these conversations.
There are a couple of points you made where I would like to get more info. from you, if that’s okay?
No summaries of totals and averages by day/month year – previously was available via the “Summaries” icon
You are referring to the full blog table summary view, correct? https://wordpress.com/my-stats/?view=table
Did you see the new summary views for weeks, months, and year at the top of the page? What do you think of those changes?
Do you like the links under the graph that let you switch the graph to visitors, likes, and comments in addition to views?
There is no direct means of signing out – previously there was.
This one is a pain point for me too because I sign in and out a lot for testing—my use case is not a typical user use case though. So if you, or anyone else, would like to start a new forum thread specifically about this topic so we can see how many people reply just about that issue, that would be awesome. My goal would be to collect a number on this one—to see how many people participate in a conversation specifically about that by itself.
Other than by category or tag, it has no search function.
That’s a cool suggestion for the Reader!
One cannot get directly from one’s post to the old editor.
We actually added a link for that, it’s at the bottom of the right sidebar and says “classic mode.” I know some people might not think it’s prominent enough, but I wanted to point it out because it was user feedback that got the link there at all, which is a good thing. :)
A non wysiwyg editor is a nuisance and far behind industry standard for presentation software.
Do you mean the Text tab at the top right of the editor?
Thank you again for your feedback.
-
Not sure if this is related to the changes but when I go to sign into my blogs I’m taken to the Stats page instead of the My Sites page (which was improved/messed up a while back). Anybody know what if anything I’m doing wrong? WordPress used to be a pleasure to use but it’s getting less and less user friendly.
-
It is the obvious lack of testing which really astounds and irritates me. I can only conclude that we the users are the testing process.
grahaminhats and apetcher, we did usability testing on the features before the updates went in. We also did a ton of testing internally. We could do more testing in my opinion :) but I just wanted to quickly point out that testing was indeed done and that we don’t skip that step.
-
What is strange too, in the old times we only had this slick and nice dark top bar that was accessable everywhere… today we have party this brownbar but then at some pages only the blue bar. This is confusing.
Good feedback. The toolbars have had a lot of changes and it’s disorienting. What’s happening is that the dashboard at WordPress.com will have the blue toolbar and the WP Admin pages will keep the gray toolbar but both are being adjusted. Sorry those changes are disruptive! I can’t change that there are two separate toolbars now (gray and blue), but I will suggest that getting those updates settled more quickly would be helpful.
- The topic ‘Massive changes to the WP interface’ is closed to new replies.
WordPress.com Forums 