What do you think about custom designed plugin/theme options UIs?

Question

You probably noticed the trend of making custom designed plugin/theme options UIs, especially in the commercial ones (on CodeCanyon for example - custom boxes, tabs, accordions etc).

I personally believe that UI should be unified in the first place and that is really easy in WP to achieve using some core's default HTML structure + CSS classes => following the styling guide.

However it is maybe sometimes not enough and that's why why there is that trend. Another reason could be "branding" or just some "coolness effect".

What do you think about this? Do you prefer some custom designed UIs or the default one and why?

P.S. The main reason I ask this is also because these days I started with plugin development and I trying to make this decision of which path to choose.

Answer 1

Custom UI is great where it improves the experience and makes the task easier. After all, a plugin extends WordPress and therefore a lot of the time is extending the user interface. This might mean a screen that is arranged completely differently to any other screen, but if it is logical and understandable then there's no cause for confusion.

Where custom styling is being used to 'brand' a plugin, it's just annoying and naff. Custom UI should respect the colour choice of the admin backend.

I much prefer plugins that could be mistaken for being part of the core, and that should pretty much be the goal.

So, respect the core UI but don't be restricted by it.

Answer 2

The problem with custom UIs are: They look different from plugin to plugin. If you're using a customized Themeframework with integrated plugins, this could be ok. But training a customer in using a WordPress install with many different UI-approaches is definitly not easy.

The reason of using WordPress as a CMS for me is simplicity. My customers aren't geeks in computer and they don't want to be one. So the first thing I do is reduce the role (e.g. contributer) of my customers and hide everything they don't need.

If this isn't possible and a used plugin generates a new admin panel which looks completely different than the others, I wouldn't use it.

The other reason for using the standard WordPress UI is, that you're safe on updates. Just use built-in functions to create your settings section and fields:

• add_settings_section
• add_settings_field

Answer 3

I personally prefer the middle path. It should be 70% base Wordpress admin UI style (for easier integration). The other 30% can be advanced tabs, accordions, input fields to help keeping everything on one screen to avoid scrolling or make tasks like multiselect easier. Aside from that i wouldn't like to have a custom styled (colored/branded) admin ui - all of the reasons that have already been covered in the other answers.

Answer 4

I think that it is a bad idea two have considerably different interfaces stuffed together.

WP admin area is... work in progress (putting it politely). It is very far in structure and customization options from front-end, so for many (especially coming from theme side of things) it seems like a good idea to discard it and go custom.

I think that engineering interfaces to fit nicely with native parts is good experience for users and good experience for me. But it does drive you crazy at times, so it is personal choice rather than no-brainer one. At least for now, there are some movements to make admin area interfaces to make more sense and be more accessible to plugin developers.