A while ago I wrote a post berating WordPress UI that got more attention than I wanted. I still stand behind my words, but I’d rather be known for something else.

Hearing that new WordPress is around the corner, I was eager to write something more positive. Thanks to Shelley , I got a chance to test new WordPress (WP from now on) and see for myself improvements they made.

First the good news. WP provides a new WYSIWYG editor ( tinyMCE ) that certainly makes editing easier. It does just what you’d expect it to. I also like improved post preview, which uses iframe to show post in real environment, using theme of the blog. This has been something that really bothered me in current version, since it makes post preview barely usable. Previews are also available for themes, so you can see what blog should look like before you apply the theme.

WP has been “ajaxified??? and mostly for the better. For example you can add a new category while editing post. UI has been somewhat simplified by arranging it in boxes that can be closed or opened according to user’s need. User can also reorder them and since WP remembers their position and state, it’s a fairly effective way to customize UI to personal needs. Nice. I wish reordering was extended to other lists (e.g. links), but for all I know, this might be fixed by the time of 2.0 release.

However, my old complaints are still valid. While posts can be edited by other people of appropriate level, this hasn’t been extended to pages. Not a week passes by in which I wouldn’t bump against this limitation. Theme editor still gives you the same stupid choice between security and usefulness. User interface is more flexible, but still largely the same and often overloaded. There’s only so much that can be achieved by hiding stuff in boxes.

Nevertheless, WP 2.0 is a big step forward. Even bigger under the hood according to what I hear, but since I can’t be made to care about PHP, it’s not all that relevant to me. I certainly don’t think it sucks anymore, but I still think it has a far way to go before it will truly be a friendly tool for everyone.