Matt on Not-WordPress

Admin Bar

September 6, 2005 · 18 Comments

We’re experimenting with something new, now when you’re logged in across WordPress.com you should see a blue “admin bar” across the top of your blog and others with a few handy links, including “Edit this page” if you’re on your own site. This is only shown to people who are logged in.

I’m curious what people think of this, and what other sort of stuff would you like to see in your admin bar?

Categories: Feedback · Wordpress.com

18 responses so far ↓

  • miklb // September 6, 2005 at 11:27 pm

    Obviously I think it’s a great idea ;) … maybe a scrolling ticker of other wp.com post titles, via an RSS link….

    I kid, I seriously kid….

    Could the “link this” be incorporated into the admin bar though? It would be nice to have a “wordpress.com friends” section. Obviously the ‘link this’ works, just thinking out loud.

  • Derek Punsalan // September 6, 2005 at 11:33 pm

    I don’t mind the admin bar along the top. It reminds me of Blogger. At least it’s not there for readeres. It does allow quick access to the admin section. I actually just received an invite for wordpress.com today. I was wondering if we were going to be able to remove the admin login link from the sidebar?

  • Matt // September 6, 2005 at 11:35 pm

    Two things we’re thinking about adding are “Blogroll this blog” and “Press this” which do what you probably think they do.

    Derek, not sure what will happen to the sidebar link yet. We also need to make login links more prominent.

  • SkullyFM // September 7, 2005 at 1:01 am

    Matt, there’s already a plugin available to use such a bar with some preconfigured actions like Dashboard/Themes/Options/Add Link/Write/Logout.
    http://mattread.com/projects/wp-admin-bar-20/

    You can see a screenshot made on a test blog:
    http://img345.imageshack.us/my.php?image=adminbar5hj.png
    As you can see I added the Plugins button. It can easily be done.

    It’d be nice if you could perhaps enhance this tool and made it part of WordPress.

  • Matt // September 7, 2005 at 1:10 am

    SkullyFM, I know! That was what miklb pointed me to when he made the original suggestion. I think ours is going in a slightly different direction though.

  • mdawaffe // September 7, 2005 at 2:38 am

    There should be some sort of :hover visual feedback for the “Sign Out” and “My Account” links. Fading underlines to parallel the admin section seems the obvious choice.

    Perhaps also a “New Announcement!” link pointing to a master WordPress.com blog when something important happens (such as a slick new feature…).

  • Andrew // September 7, 2005 at 4:14 am

    Yes, it reminds me of BlogSpot. I don’t like it. It takes a band of screen real estate that I didn’t offer, and it paints it in a color not of my choice. (At least BlogSpot gave me a choice of colors.)

  • Matt // September 7, 2005 at 4:16 am

    Andrew, just to clarify none of your visitors are seeing that bar, it’s not for visitors it’s for you.

  • daysies // September 7, 2005 at 2:03 pm

    i noticed this the other day and figured it was only for wordpress.com users. i think it’s nifty! always something new in WP-land. :D

  • Mikey // September 7, 2005 at 4:32 pm

    I’m enjoying the convenience of it. Don’t need to scroll down to the admin link. The color and other such effects don’t make a difference since I’m the only one looking at it.

  • Andrew // September 8, 2005 at 1:58 pm

    Matt, I see the bar when I am signed in to wp.com and am at a wp.com blog. So I can see it now, at your blog. I admit that this won’t be a big deal until wp.com takes over the world, and I don’t think that’s due to happen until next Tuesday…

  • Derek Punsalan // September 10, 2005 at 4:48 pm

    I’m beginning to use the Admin bar more and more. I actually find it a lot more conveniant compared to using the sidebar because we’re able to create posts from anywhere on wordpress.com.

    I have two ideas: One is to have pages automatically cited when clicking the ‘New Post’ button. Kind of reminds me of a feature on ergh… Flock? The second is to have an option to have the admin bar scroll down the page for even quicker access.

  • Lorelle on WordPress » More News from WordPress, wordpress.com and WordPressMU // September 16, 2005 at 5:41 am

    [...] A new administration bar was added a couple weeks ago which adds a narrow blue bar to your wordpress.com site when you are logged into your site. No matter which site you visit on wordpress.com, as long as you are logged in, the bar is there for you to access your Dashboard, Add a Post, and logout. It also helps you to recognize when you are visiting a wordpress.com community site, since you will see the bar at the top of the page you are visited. This is a nice feature and I hope it improves. I’ll be commenting on a few improvements I’d like to see in an upcoming post about the Administration Panels and Dashboard. [...]

  • nicotinestain // September 19, 2005 at 10:50 am

    after a few days’ experiencing of the new admin bar, i felt probably the “my account” link is a little bit redundant? although nobody else rant about it. a “Trackback this” instead would be more useful.
    and maybe i don’t need an admin bar with flock , but i’m fine with it overall.
    hope this would be helpful.

  • dailygoodness // September 21, 2005 at 1:43 am

    Nice one Matt ;-)

    Except when I click on “My Account”, I get the following error:
    “You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.”;
    in fact now that I check, it’s the same with all the links in the Dashboard section:

    Welcome to WordPress.com
    Use these links to get started:
    * Write a post
    * Update your profile or change your password
    * Add a link to your blogroll
    * Change your site’s look or theme

    Know it’s prob. not the right place to put this, but thought you should know anyways.

  • corey // October 3, 2005 at 7:17 pm

    I think it’s a very handy tool! Thanks for the great work you guys are doing!

  • center of the miklb universe » Add to Blogroll Feature // November 9, 2005 at 9:56 am

    [...] Funny, sounds vaguely familiar [...]

  • jark // November 29, 2005 at 9:51 am

    What are the chances of making this plug-in available?

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