Comments on: Some pleas to reduce WordPress misery http://adrianshort.co.uk/2008/10/13/some-pleas-to-reduce-wordpress-misery/ Design, citizenship and the city Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:12:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Adrian Short http://adrianshort.co.uk/2008/10/13/some-pleas-to-reduce-wordpress-misery/comment-page-1/#comment-140 Adrian Short Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:13:42 +0000 http://adrianshort.co.uk/?p=134#comment-140 Of course you can't please everyone all the time but that's all the more reason to be explicit about who you're trying to please most and to create beautiful defaults for them. I'm not suggesting that WP should be characterless and impersonal. More that it should favour what I imagine to be the mass of users -- people who get a few dozen visitors a day, a handful of comments per post if they're lucky and whose overwhelmingly most common reason for logging in is to write a new post. The mass aren't developers or even tweakers, they just want to post and go. One-click plugin installs and core upgrades in 2.7 will be a big step forward. It'd be better still to see writing rather than monitoring put at the heart of the application. If you're after character, start being "cool blog software" rather than a "state-of-the-art publishing platform" and strip the power user features out into plugins or options in the admin UI. WordPress Lite? Of course you can’t please everyone all the time but that’s all the more reason to be explicit about who you’re trying to please most and to create beautiful defaults for them. I’m not suggesting that WP should be characterless and impersonal. More that it should favour what I imagine to be the mass of users — people who get a few dozen visitors a day, a handful of comments per post if they’re lucky and whose overwhelmingly most common reason for logging in is to write a new post. The mass aren’t developers or even tweakers, they just want to post and go.

One-click plugin installs and core upgrades in 2.7 will be a big step forward. It’d be better still to see writing rather than monitoring put at the heart of the application. If you’re after character, start being “cool blog software” rather than a “state-of-the-art publishing platform” and strip the power user features out into plugins or options in the admin UI. WordPress Lite?

]]> By: Matt http://adrianshort.co.uk/2008/10/13/some-pleas-to-reduce-wordpress-misery/comment-page-1/#comment-139 Matt Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:46:41 +0000 http://adrianshort.co.uk/?p=134#comment-139 Ouch! Some of the things you hate are the favorite features of others. We've never tried to be bland or generic in our approach, which means that some people will be horribly offended and some will be delighted by some choices big (news feed) and small (howdy), but I'd prefer that than something generic and soulless with no personality, character, or ties to the larger community. Second I'd say if these things bother you so much it might be worth investing in some minor changes like bookmarking the write page, using the setting to change the news feed, or <a href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/better-howdy/" rel="nofollow">one of the plugins</a> to de-howdify your admin and relieving you from significant misery. If you need help with any of these just drop me an email and I'll arrange for someone to walk you through everything. The beauty of WordPress is in its customization, not its defaults. The average WP blog has 4.96 plugins active and the distribution is huge. My WordPress is probably completely different from your WordPress, and that's a beautiful thing. There is no one size fits all. Ouch!

Some of the things you hate are the favorite features of others. We’ve never tried to be bland or generic in our approach, which means that some people will be horribly offended and some will be delighted by some choices big (news feed) and small (howdy), but I’d prefer that than something generic and soulless with no personality, character, or ties to the larger community.

Second I’d say if these things bother you so much it might be worth investing in some minor changes like bookmarking the write page, using the setting to change the news feed, or one of the plugins to de-howdify your admin and relieving you from significant misery. If you need help with any of these just drop me an email and I’ll arrange for someone to walk you through everything.

The beauty of WordPress is in its customization, not its defaults. The average WP blog has 4.96 plugins active and the distribution is huge. My WordPress is probably completely different from your WordPress, and that’s a beautiful thing. There is no one size fits all.

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