Review: WordPress 1.5
Ease-of-Use
( Page 3 out of 6 )A good PHP script should be as easy to use as possible. We don't want to read through a manual before being able to use the script, because we don't do manuals. So everything should be obvious and clear. WP does a good job at this. The menu of your admin panel is pretty logical. The 'Write' option seems obvious: writing a post or a page. When you click Write, you are immediately taken to a page where you can submit your post. You won't have to enter too many options either; those are hidden and can be viewed when clicking on 'Advanced Editing'. Another smart move by WP. When you simply want to write a new post, there's very little you have to do. And when you want the more advanced options, you can easily find them.
Next we have the 'Manage' menu. Without even knowing WP, you can probably guess what that's about: managing your posts, and probably the comments as well. Not surprisingly, this is exactly what the 'Manage' menu is for. I do find one odd thing in there though: categories. I suppose you do 'manage' categories, but I would've expected the categories under something else, like the 'Options' menu or just a separate menu.
All the sub-menus under 'Manage' are easy to understand as well. Again, all the screens are very logical, and only the necessary things are shown, with links to advanced options. It's clear to me that the WP admin panel is very accessible, and much thought has gone behind it.
After the 'Manage' menu, we have the 'Links' menu. Now this is a weird one. When I first started using WP, I didn't have a clue what this was. I had to quickly do a Google search to know more about it. Apparently, WP has a built-in link manager, for blog rolls and such. These links are viewable on your blog page in the left side bar. I usually remove these links, because I have no need for them. But if you need a link manager, WP has it built-in, and it even comes with 8 links. How's that for service?
Next up is the 'Presentation' menu. This one couldn't be easier, although I think it'd be better if they'd rename it to 'Design' or something similar. This is the menu where you can edit the look of your blog. I will get back to this in a minute, but it's pretty simply to use.
There are more menus but that's up to you to discover them. They're easy to understand, so I don't think they need any extra instructions. Let's have a closer look at the theme editor.