WordPress we see now is the product of the love the community has provided it with. Without the suggestions, tips, and new ideas of the valued users, and the hard work of WordPress staff implementing these ideas, it would never be where it is. Right now we see WordPress as a power house script that is so versatile, and adaptable to any use. In this post we will show you how WordPress evolved to what it is now by showing you the changes of admin panel user interface in each version.
Since 27 May, 2003 when WordPress was launched, there have been a total of 52 releases so far. In this post, we will only highlight the ones that we see a huge change in admin panel user interface. You can see the releases on the Official WordPress Site, and you can also download them.
WordPress 0.71 – Gold (May 2003)
The landing page of WordPress 0.71 admin panel was directly the write post page. As you can see there was no dashboard. Features were very limited, and it was kept simple. You could only assign one category to each post. This version of WordPress had a tedious installation method where you would have to change a lot of information manually.
WordPress 1.0.1 – Miles (Jan 2004)
Starting this version, WordPress started naming its major releases after Jazz musicians. As you can see this release was named after a famous musician, Miles Davis. In this version, WordPress stopped using the b2 file structure and moved toward its own style of filing structure. In this version, the feature of assigning multiple categories to a post was added. You could also make Search Engine Friendly Permalinks using mod_rewrite. The installer in this version got a lot simpler then the first version. Edit this page / Edit this comment links were introduced. Also comment moderation feature was highlighted.
WordPress 1.2 – Mingus (May 2004)
This release was named after Charles Mingus. One of the most important upgrades in this version was “Plugins”. WordPress plugin architecture was introduced in this version, and to this latest release is still the same. Sub categories were included in this version’s feature list. In this version we also had custom fields, thumbnail creation, post preview, encrypted passwords, and an ability to ping more then one service at a time.
WordPress 1.5 – Strayhorn (Feb 2005)
This version of WordPress was named after Billy Strayhorn. In this version we see the first glimpse of a dashboard. Now WordPress is no longer just about posts, you can also have pages. Multiple theme support was also included in this version. This admin panel was not powered by Ajax, so it was slower then the ones we use now.
WordPress 2.0 – Duke (Dec 2005)
Named after Duke Ellington, this version was the first version that we see a major change in the user interface. We have a big blue header, which you will see through out for a while. This version was the first one to include the full WYSIWIG editor. Akismet Spam Protection was introduced in this plugin. Other features in this release were: Image/File Uploading, Theme preview via thumbnail (screenshot.png), Improved Administration abilities via AJAX, Improved Posting Speed, New Hooks for Developers, and more.
WordPress 2.1 – Ella (Jan 2007)
This release was actually named after Ella Fitzgerald. WordPress had a lot of new features included in this upgrade. Some of the notable ones was the fast admin panel interface. Other features were Spell Check, Comments with its own menu and more.
WordPress 2.3 – Dexter (Sep 2007)
WordPress 2.3 was named after Dexter Gordon. In this release, there were a lot of security fixes. There was a few admin panel changes as well. Users were now able to add tags to WordPress. Update notification was added in this version, so now we see plug-in and WordPress upgrade notification, if the version we were using was outdated. WordPress added a feature where it will redirect users to the right URL automatically such as the one with www. if that was the one you chose. Also they added advanced visual editor button.
WordPress 2.5 – Brecker (Mar 2008)
This version of WordPress was named after Michael Brecker. Developers actually skipped version 2.4 to 2.5, so this version contained twice the amount of new stuff. We see a completely new admin panel interface. The dashboard got much better as they added more useful information there. This was the first version where we saw one click upgrade for plug-ins which were in WordPress plug-in directory. Much better visual editor and a built-in gallery was also included in this release.
WordPress 2.6 – Tyner (Jul 2008)
McCoy Tyner was the person which this version was named after. They added a word count in the post writing section, and Turbo feature was included which let you use Google Gears.
WordPress 2.7 – Coltrane (Dec 2008)
This version was named after John Coltrane. We see another huge admin panel makeover which is liked by majority of the community. The dashboard is much more resourceful and there are multiple other options included in this release. This version included automated installation for plug-ins through the WordPress admin panel. Reply to comments from the admin panel, threaded comments, sticky posts, keyboard shortcuts, comment paging, and much more were added in this release.
WordPress 2.8 – Baker (Jun 2009)
This version was named after Chet Baker. The reason why there is no screenshot of this one is because we want you to upgrade right now if you haven’t and check it for yourselves. Really in the admin panel, look wise not a lot has changed, but it has certainly got much faster.
As we look back, it seems that WordPress has come a long way to be what it is. We have had a lot of success until now and more to come in the future. WordPress could not have done it without the support of the community. We urge you to join the Beta Release List and test new versions, so you can help WordPress grow by reporting bugs and suggesting features.
i love wordpress, i like the way you gathered the wp-admin layout
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