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Premium Admin Themes The Next Big Thing?

March 14, 2008 By Thord Daniel Hedengren

The upcoming WordPress 2.5 is delayed, which I saw coming, and that’s fine. I’d rather have a working release, than a buggy one, and I’m sure most of us agree.

One of the new features in 2.5 is a revamped admin look, something that won’t sit well with every user of course. Not that today’s theme is perfect in any way, but change always makes users react, which is why there are some admin themes available.

BloggingPro points out that 2.5 users will be able to get a cleaner admin look with the Fluency admin theme, looking a lot more sober than the new admin for sure.

videogaming247-register.jpgThat got me thinking. WordPress blogs are being used for more and more things, as is other blog platforms for that matter. Sometimes these new ways of using the platform means that you’ll want user to register and edit their details, which sends them into the one part of your site that isn’t controlled by your theme: The admin.

For instance, videogaming247 is forcing me to register, and while the login form and such are tailored, the actual admin isn’t, which is a hideous break to the actual site design.

Some screenshots below. The customized register box (login box is similar) to the right is the one they’re using, which fits the style well enough I’d say.

videogaming247.jpg

Above: The website • Below: Logged in

videogaming247-loggedin.jpg

If you’re going to let users register, style the admin to fit your site’s design! Common sense.

Does that mean that we’ll see premium admin themes released in the near future? Perhaps as addons to premium theme releases? What do you think?

And I said it first!

Filed Under: Design, WordPress Tagged With: admin themes, premium themes, WordPress, WordPress 2.5

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