Wordpress 2.5

I’ve upgraded. Really, I’ve only upgraded so quickly because the screen shots of the new post page show how really sexy it is. It’s those buttons. And the dashboard is so… useful and beautiful!

Except for the fact that it’s stupid because it’s not very fluid. Very fluid? I mean that it’s fluid for resolutions up to 1024 by 768, but anything larger (in width) than that will have the main portions no longer stretch.

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one complaining about this, check search the blogs with Google with the words “wordpress 2.5 widescreen” if you’d like.

I’ve changed the stylesheet to my liking, however, and made a little plugin for those who don’t want to dig into their stylesheets. It’s only four lines of code, I believe. Just add it to somewhere like: wp-admin > css > global.css

.wrap, .updated, .error { max-width: 5000px !important; }
.updated, .error { max-width: 4970px !important; }
div.dashboard-widget { margin-right: 15px !important; }
#rightnow { margin-right: 2px !important; }

Here’s a quick plugin. Save it as a “.php” file and upload it to your plugins folder. Activate it. wp-fluid.txt

This plugin makes the max-width much larger, so that it’ll support much larger screen resolutions. It also fixes a discrepancy between the padding in the main pages. It was put together after a brief snoop of the current stylesheet.

Otherwise, here’s my pros and cons list

Pros

• It’s beautiful.
• It’s a welcomed design from the old admin panels, which was pretty cluttered in some spots. And this design isn’t one to distract.
• Tag management is completely supported.
• Searching everything is supported, no more plugins.
• Dashboard widgets.
• Automatic plugin upgrade. This is wonderful, no more wasted time on plugins.
• That media gallery is awesomes.
• No more messing with my code in posts.

Cons

• The contrast isn’t impressive. Some thing’s need me to squint a little on my laptop. The light blue’s not doing much favors.
• Obviously, the non-fluidity.
• The font size isn’t very impressive on some parts of the admin pages. Making it bigger with Firefox provokes some sections to semi-break. (See the “Settings, Plugins, Users” menu.)
• Some things that used to be on the sidebar of the post pages are now under the textarea. I don’t like that. Especially the categories.

Updating Everything

Do you ever get that really warm feeling inside when you check everything on a system and update it all?  I have that right now.

I checked through every plugin I had installed, decided whether or not it was needed, and looked for the most recent version.  Of course, Wordpress itself was also updated and prettified with Lighter Admin Drop Menus.  I also modified that plugin’s CSS to my taste.

And if you skulk around here at odd hours, you might see the new layout I’m working on.  It isn’t really public, yet, but I still like it, so far.  Though I’m sure no one has seen it, because my stats programs are telling me the only pages ever visited are the feeds.

I really shouldn’t be typing this up.  Anyway.  Winter break is ending in a few days and I’ll have to go back to school.  That won’t do with my currently effed-up sleep cycle.  But I can’t seem to sleep during normal hours.

My Conclusion

Happy new year!

I’ve been contemplating Wordpress suicide (and restart, dur) lately, feeling that I’ve just not been motivated. At all. You know the feeling. I just want to make a brand new theme, and focus on actually doing something.

Of course, that usual queasy feeling of “Oh-no! Deleting all entries and lions and tigers and bears? The terror!” So I’ve contemplated and contemplated; trying for an answer, WP suicide (plus restart), or continue with this miserable excuse of a blog?

I HAVE CHOSEN.

I’m just going to continue with this miserable excuse of a blog, hell yes.

Just get ready for a new layout. One that will dazzle, one that will shine, one that will tell you that I’m not just a pussy who is afraid of deleting anything. I will overcome, yo.

This fresh, but not so fresh, feeling may or may not have come with the new-ness of the year. And I having missed the count-down by a minute and a half.