Wednesday, November 9th, 2011 - 11:35am
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I blog all of the time. I blog for work, I blog for pleasure, I blog because it’s what I do. But staring at the standard WordPress dashboard can get quite tiresome. And if you have a lot of plugins installed, or just like things to be neat, orderly, and easy to find, then the standard WordPress dashboard will not only be boring, but frustrating. I am a fan of organization. Collapse those link sections by default, dammit, and make with some alphabetizing!
Fortunately, there are two very simplistic and easy to use plugins that turn the WordPress dashboard from drab to fab:
- Fluency: First and foremost, Fluency takes the annoying collapse-only-if-you-make-it-collapse sidebar navigation, and collapses everything by default. Fly-out-from-the-side menus show you the relevant “sub” sections for the various links in your sidebar navigation. As an added bonus, you can tweak Fluency settings to turn on hot keys, create your own color scheme for the sidebar navigation, and even change the WordPress logo to something more “you”.
- Sort Admin Menus: This plugin does just what its name suggests: sorts the admin menus. Rather than having the annoying sidebar navigation thrown together in whatever order WordPress and any plugins you have installed thinks is best, Sort Admin Menus ensures that your core options (Posts, Media, Links, Pages, Comments, Appearance, Plugins, Users, Tools, and Settings) are presented first, and in exactly that order. Then any plugin links are listed, and those are in beautiful, alphabetical order. Even though the plugin has not been updated in over three years, it works like a charm.
My WordPress dashboard:
There. Isn’t that so much prettier to look at? 
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You bet, I’m running right over to my dashboard to install these.
Brandy’s last blog entry: Going over 140.
I love fluency but forgot about it because it was incompatible with a recent version of WP. Actually, it may not have been that recent. Haha
cole’s last blog entry: NaBloPoMo
I did the same thing. lol
Randi’s last blog entry: I love new beginnings..
I really like the thought of my own color schemes using Fluency Admin but, after trying it I can’t get the color of the sidebar to change and I have tried to view it in Chrome, Firefox & IE. I am going to keep googling for answers though!
Cammie’s last blog entry: No School Today!!!!
I seriously couldn’t wait to get to my laptop once I read this post on my phone earlier. I just did mine. I used to use Fluency and I LOVED IT! but it stopped working with a new version of WordPress so I forgot about it for a while.
This post also lead me to realize that the boxes on your dashboard can be moved and removed. lol. It looks so much neater and organized.
THANK YOU! <3
Randi’s last blog entry: I love new beginnings..