{"id":18972,"date":"2013-12-16T14:46:41","date_gmt":"2013-12-16T12:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/?p=18972"},"modified":"2013-12-16T14:47:12","modified_gmt":"2013-12-16T12:47:12","slug":"the-history-of-wordpress-user-interface","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2013\/12\/16\/the-history-of-wordpress-user-interface\/","title":{"rendered":"The history of WordPress user interface"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

inMotion Hosting<\/a> runs the article “WordPress through the ages<\/a>“, which shows in a number of screenshots how WordPress user interface has changed from version to version. \u00a0It is a long run indeed, and the one that brings a nostalgic tear to those of us who have been using the system for a while. \u00a0Just look at how much it has changed, how much it has matured. \u00a0From this in WordPress 1.0.1<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\"wordpress-1.0.1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

to this in the latest and the greatest WordPress 3.8<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\"Wordpress-3.8\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I don’t think that there is a single item that was left untouched. \u00a0Main menu has been reorganized a number of times, moved from top to the left, given sub-menu items, icons, and a variety of different fonts and colors. \u00a0The editor has been through a tonne of transformations, adding the What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) feature, icons, HTML preview, media uploader, which is a story of itself, and more. \u00a0Custom post types are a fresh addition, but even they went through a bit. \u00a0So did all the other elements – social networks integration, publishing options, categories, SEO, and more. \u00a0And that’s just the post editing screen. \u00a0 As much or more has happened to the rest of the screens. \u00a0Being redone in responsive layout, ready for smartphone and tablet screens comes to mind.<\/p>\n

All these changes happened for a variety of reasons. \u00a0Of course, people building WordPress learned better ways, got more feedback, and spent more time on it. \u00a0But also the Web itself has changed. \u00a0We are seeing faster networks, more powerful browsers, and richer interfaces.<\/p>\n

Which brings me to another point. \u00a0Pretty much every single time I was involved in building a website or an application, a non-technical client would raise the question of deadlines and phrase it like “When is this going to be finished?”. \u00a0And every single time I have to explain that applications and websites they are not finite. \u00a0They are more like kids – once you start, you never stop. \u00a0It’s an ongoing project, with more and more features, fixes, and improvements. \u00a0(There are exceptions, of course, but they are just that – exceptions). \u00a0Most times, it’ll never be done. \u00a0And one can’t just put everything into a single version, release it and forget about it. \u00a0Instead, one should make a plan, a roadmap and decide what goes into each version, leaving some space and time for things that were unthoughtful at the time.<\/p>\n

WordPress, like may other awesome applications, illustrates this nicely. \u00a0WordPress 1.0 has been released and has been used by a lot of people. \u00a0Was it done? \u00a0No. \u00a0More changes came in during 1.x, 2.x, and now 3.x version series. \u00a0Is it done now? \u00a0No, not by a mile. \u00a0It is a much better system than it used to be. \u00a0But there are still gazillion things to be done. \u00a0And that’s a good thing! \u00a0I wish such a lengthy (and successful) roadmap to every project.<\/p>\n

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go back and drop that nostalgic tear of days gone by…<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n

inMotion Hosting runs the article “WordPress through the ages“, which shows in a number of screenshots how WordPress user interface has changed from version to version. \u00a0It is a long run indeed, and the one that brings a nostalgic tear to those of us who have been using the system for a while. \u00a0Just look … Continue reading The history of WordPress user interface<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,62,1334,60],"tags":[286,1158],"keyring_services":[],"class_list":["post-18972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-technology","category-web-work","category-wordpress","tag-history","tag-user-interfaces"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t