---
title: First Impressions of WordPress 2.7
date: 2008-08-25T15:24:44+00:00
modified: 2012-08-23T09:48:23+00:00
image:: https://kaspars.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/wordpress-27-screenshot.png
permalink: https://kaspars.net/blog/first-impressions-of-wordpress-27
post_type: post
author:
  name: Kaspars
  avatar: https://reverse.kaspars.net/gravatar/avatar/92bfcd3a8c3a21a033a6484d32c25a40b113ec6891f674336081513d5c98ef76?s=96&d=mm&r=g
post_format:
  - Aside
category:
  - WordPress
---

# First Impressions of WordPress 2.7

I just tried the trunk version of WordPress (2.7 to be) which features another administration interface overhaul, so here are my initial thoughts and observations:

- The left side Mac-like expandable vertical main navigation is definitely the wrong design decision. I can’t even imagine the amount of vertical scrolling that will be necessary to get to the plugin settings pages if more than say 20 of them are active.
- The new automatic plugin installer is simply amazing. It takes only seconds to find, choose and test new plugins.
- Theme and Widget settings are now placed under ‘Templates’ menu. The original ‘Design’ definitely makes more sense.
- Tag and Category management is now under ‘Utilities’, which again is not a good description of the functionality it contains.
- Link to a new post is placed both in the top navigation bar and also on top of the left side navigation. I think that one would be enough.

I should note that every item mentioned above may look and function differently in the final 2.7 release (except the concept of the left side navigation, maybe), and the above feedback is based only on how things look now.

On a side note — both Tabbed Widgets and Widget Context plugins work perfectly.

### Screenshot of WordPress 2.7 (trunk revision 8727)

[![WordPress 2.7 administration dashboard](/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/wordpress-27-screenshot-480x444.png "WordPress 2.7 administration dashboard")](https://kaspars.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/wordpress-27-screenshot.png)WordPress 2.7 administration dashboard with Widget Context plugin enabled