With WordPress version 3.3 around the corner (at the time of writing) I checked yesterday whether the admin tweaks I use to customize the WordPress Dashboard of website I develop for clients still would work.
But, since the admin bar (which from version 3.3 is called toolbar) has received yet another makeover, some things didn’t work anymore. I sort of expected that already…
Since I depend on those tweaks to make the WordPress Dashboard of the websites of my clients look a bit different, I don’t have time anymore to wait around until someone comes up with something, so I decided to wrap all the code I need into a neat plugin: Dashboard Tweaks.
Below follows the readme.txt and at the bottom you will find the download link.
Please let me know in the comments whether you like the Dashboard Tweaks plugin!
=== Dashboard Tweaks ===
A collection of Dashboard Tweaks that enables website developers to customize the WordPress Dashboard more towards their clients.
== Description ==
With the arrival of WordPress version 3.3 the WordPress Dashboard once again received an overhaul/makeover. The tweaks we have been using since 3.2 no longer cut it and that inspired me to develop this plugin for WordPress version 3.3 or higher.
I have not included an options panel as this plugin is catered to developers and you are meant to play around with it. If you don’t develop WordPress websites for clients, then most likely you won’t have much use for this plugin and if you do, then be prepared to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.
If you try to install the plugin on any WordPress version lower than 3.3 it will die nicely and you will be taken back to the Dashboard.
A list of the tweaks included in the Dashboard Tweaks plugin:
- change the WordPress logo in the top-left of the toolbar with a custom admin logo
- link that logo to the home URL instead of the new wp-admin/about.php
- hide the entire sub-menu with links to Codex, forums and what not
- hide the Visit Site sub-menu under the site’s name
- hide the Comments balloon in the toolbar
- change “Howdy” into “Welcome back”
- add a special favicon for the Dashboard only (ideally different from the frontend, but up to you)
- change the tab title into a standard “Dashboard of [sitename]“
- hide icons in front of Dashboard menus
- reduce page heading size
- hide publish icon of Add new Post/Page screens
- add colored background to sidebar active sub-menu to add contrast
- add colored background to activated plugins to add contrast
- add custom footer text
The plugin comes localized for use on sites other than the English language and/or on bi/multilingual websites.
== Installation ==
The Dashboard Tweaks plugin requires WordPress 3.3 or higher.
1. Upload dashboard-tweaks.zip to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
2a. Edit the files dashboard-tweaks.php and /css/wp-admin.css to your liking (link: /wp-admin/plugin-editor.php?file=dashboard-tweaks/dashboard-tweaks.php). See below what can be changed on which lines.
2b. Alternatively you can unzip the file on your computer, do your edits and then upload the entire directory dashboard-tweaks to the wp-content/plugins/ folder.
3. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress and enjoy your customized WordPress Dashboard!
Change images for admin favicon and dashboard logo:
Use FTP to upload your own images, the admin favicon is called dashboard.png and the dashboard logo is called adminbar-logo.png; both files are located in the images folder of the dashboard-tweaks folder.
Which lines of `dashboard-tweaks.php` can be edited?
lines 63-81: change menus that are hidden and/or the text that shows when hovering over the new toolbar logo
line 89: If you want to change “Welcome Back” to something else
line 96: change tab title text
line 103: change custom footer text
Which lines of `/css/wp-admin.css` can be edited?
lines 6, 10-11: (hover) background color for toolbar logo
line 18: change page heading size
line 25: change colored background to activated plugins to add contrast
lines 28-29: change colored background to sidebar active sub-menu to add contrast
== Frequently Asked Questions ==
= On the front-end the WordPress stuff in the toolbar is still visible! =
Disable the toolbar for the user when viewing the site. Most clients rather see their own website in its full glory instead of with that ugly toolbar at the top.
= Are you planning to add an options panel? =
Yes. That will be the last “problematic” update where you have to edit your edits. You can definitely expect a working options panel for the next version!
== Screenshots ==
Dashboard after installation
Plugin screen after installation
== Download ==
The Dashboard Tweaks plugin has already been downloaded 820 times.
Get your own copy from the WordPress Repository or check out its page on WordPress Plugins.
The minimum WordPress version for this plugin to function is 3.3. Hopefully it will stay compatible for any version higher than 3.3. The Dashboard Tweaks plugin was last updated on December 13, 2011 to version 1.0.5.
i’ve tried but the plugin deactivated as I still using 3.2.1
Thanks for your comment. Yes, I built in a version checker, so it won’t install on any version lower than 3.3-beta4.
I did mention more than once that “The minimum WordPress version for this plugin to function is 3.3-beta4.“, probably what I meant is that it won’t work on 3.2.1.
FYI – A bit of a problem with the display of the submenu http://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-dashboard-tweaks-wp-submenu-drop-down-not-removed?replies=2
I realize that WP 3.3 is still a bit of a ‘moving target’ though :)
Nice plugin!
Hi Bruce, thanks for the head’s up, will reply overthere as there is another response too.
Glad you like the plugin!
Hi,
FYI – it appears that the plugin now works with 3.3 RC2. So I think the problem was resolved on the WP side.
P.S. – On the front end, the Howdy greeting is not changed, but on the back end it is. Any idea on how to make the change affect the front end also?
Thanks!
Hurray! Now that is good news :) Sometimes it’s better to wait a bit than to try to figure out a problem :)
Actually I have been buried deep in work these past days and I haven’t had time to look into things, so I guess you could say I’m pretty lucky and very happy that it is working now!
Regarding he frontend, I only have one advice; the same I added to the FAQ:
= On the front-end the WordPress stuff in the admin bar is still visible! =
Disable the admin bar for the user when viewing the site. Most clients want to see their own website, not that ugly admin bar.
Basically I made the plugin with clients in mind and for them I think the admin bar doesn’t add anything to the experience.
Imagine having paid a couple of thousand bucks for a new website and then having to look at some kind of grey-black bar sitting constantly on top of your site? I would want to shoot my developer, you know what I mean?
The Dashboard Tweaks plugin is one to give clients a better user experience, so do them a favor and disable that bar for them. But that is just my two cents on the subject…
On WP 3.3.1
Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal error.
Fatal error: Cannot redeclare sl_dashboard_tweaks_render() (previously declared in /home/rainyd8/public_html/dev/christophers/wp-content/themes/Christophers/functions.php:476) in /home/rainyd8/public_html/dev/christophers/wp-content/plugins/dashboard-tweaks/dashboard-tweaks.php on line 81
Hi Ed, the problem with “feedback” like yours is that can be any number of things not related to the plugin! Your error points to the functions file of your theme. It actually says that the function
sl_dashboard_tweaks_render()already has been called, which would be strange to begin with. As you don’t leave a link or anything else constructive, what exactly are/were you expecting?