New Dashboard
We’ve been giving a lot of thought into how to make the home page of the dashboard more useful for you. This is the most-loaded page in our admin backend, but the balance of community vs. personal information wasn’t that good, and the design with the grey boxes and such left something to be desired.
Well, now we have something new.
We’ve split the dashboard into two, the left which shows all the action happening in your world — new posts, comments, comments you’ve left — and the right, which shows the hottest stuff in your language’s community. (And provides good fodder for blogging.)
We’ve also done a bit to make the whole thing load faster.
I’m pretty curious to hear you thoughts on this, particularly on anything you would like to see in the activity stream on the left. That’s an area I think is going to change a lot based on your feedback.
- October 31, 2006
- Dashboard, New Features, WordPress.com
WordPress.com News 
First impression – I think it’s GREAT!
It surprised me when I loaded it in a second ago, because I saw the revisions before I saw your post.
But it’s very useful,
well thought-out,
easy to understand, and
… it loads fassssst!
NICE !!
Phil—
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I love it.
Except I’m not totally sure whether or not I love all the ‘new comments’ and the ‘new posts’ all mixed together in the left column.
And I do like how all the top posts are neatly organized on the left. I tended to pass it by, when it was all below the fold before.
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looks cool but will take some getting used to, especially to longtime WordPress users like me who’ve been used to seeing those grey boxes, eh!! 😉 Good work!! 🙂
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Well, it caught me by surprise, but, I like it.
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surprise me…! I just logout and login and … manythings changed. thx pal..!
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Awesome really cool now it more usable than ever.. I was not really a fan of your oversized fonts. Though t might be very web 2.0 it not very readable and you had to scroll a lot. This looks way much better.
Great work.
P.S Could this be implemented in wordpress 2.1
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just a idea “wordpress news” and “Top blogs” could be made to show in two columns side by side so that hot posts get push up a bit for more viewability.
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I’m new to the WordPress blog universe and I noticed the change right off! (I was stunned with myself) I like it and I loooooooooove WordPress.
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I noticed it just a few minutes back and ooh… it looks good. The action pane (one on the left) has such a neat look and its so helpful too!
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I find it confusing.
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What I miss is the list of links to my site—it used to be at the top right, and it was quite useful. Is that information still available someplace?
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I liked the incoming links box.
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Hey Matt, I love the new dashboard. I think it is more “intuitive” and very well organized. But I think it doesn´t “refresh” very well: in the “a while ago” section I can see the titles of posts I have deleted some time ago. I click on them and obviously it takes me to a page that doesn´t exist. Another thing: can we see 10 of the “best blogs of WP.com today” instead of 4? (maybe a “see more” link or something).
Keep the good work. Thank you and all the people at WP.com very much!!!
Guido
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We’re bringing back incoming links.
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Love surprises like that!!! Sweeeeeet!
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I missed the link to the “all comments page.” That’s the most important page on my Dashboard. You know, the “Edit Comments” page: https://XXXXXX.wordpress.com/wp-admin/edit-comments.php
I wrote more here: http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/2006/10/30/wordpresscoms-new-dashboard-reveals-me-as-a-luddite/
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Oh, and Matt, you have two typos in the page above. One in the headline. One in the “split in two” (you said, “split in to.”)
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Nothing like a rather sudden surprise!! Actually, I like the new look of it. Thanks!
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thumbs up!
it look more tidy compare the previous one
THANKS!!
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You guys gave me a (near) heart attack. I thought my connection finally balked and I was able to see only 4 links. Then I clicked on my hot stuff and found out. Nice. Loads up quite faster so my heartiest thanks! And um.. Dashboard has been spelled Dashbaord…
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Wow, it listed when I made a comment here. So will it track me as I make comments on any wordpress.com blog? That’s cool.
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Glad everybody likes it! I personally think there’s still some tweaking that can be done (maybe I’m just being anal), but keep the comments coming! We really want to make this as useful to you as possible.
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The links on the left side to recent comments do not Work! Also on the right side there used to be a box showing how people had linked to your blog.Now that is totally gone!
It takes up more space and has less functionality. Glad I was planning on leaving anyway.
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I hate it when people correct my spelling.
But I love the new dashbaord!
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I like the new layout. Much more usable than the old. Thanks!
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I love the new layout.. thanks guys 🙂
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Gee! I Tow wrote about it here: http://ychittaranjan.wordpress.com/2006/10/31/new-dashboard-at-wordpress/
It would take some time to get used to…
P.S: Spelling error in the Post Title Matt
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i agree 25 cent life, in that all the comments and posts i left, along with those commenting my blog, should not be all jumbled into one column. Maybe if you split everything into sub-headed groups under “today” and the other date headers, that would be a little more organised and intuitive.
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UPps!!Matt[:)]
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Hi,
Its a great Dashboard! Thanks a lot!
By the way! This is a sugesstion! How about making “Your Stuff” left side box with the action related to particular blog.. that, if someone have more than one blog on an username, he/she might willing to know about the particular blog actions.
Again, Thanks for making WP a great! Keep rolling in..
Zeezat
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it’s fine..but how to view the total number of posts on my blog?
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*Dashboard
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I liked the old dashboard MUCH better and do not like the way it is set up now at ALL. It is harder for me to get to where I need to to edit my blog and easily see who has left me a comment for approval. 😦
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“Matt Says:
October 31st, 2006 at 4:22 am
We’re bringing back incoming links. ”
Please DO 🙂
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nice dashboard.. but..is good that the advertisement of whichever COMMENTS will waiting for moderation. RETURN AGAIN IN DASHBOARD, PLZ.
Thanks guys, WP Rocks! 🙂
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Only I want the old Dashboard back? 😦
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It’s very nice, easy to manage, another WP success.
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I use the dashboard for managing my blog so now having half the space dedicated to off-site issues is too much, I think. I also have to scroll to see what I used to see in just a glance. It does seem to load a little faster, at least to the first page (after that it is as slow as usual)
I’m on dial-up so my preference still is to put local stuff at top and general WP stuff at bottom. I can then go to the WP stuff at leisure after taking care of business first.
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Oh, and you may want to correct the entry title, it’s spelt “dashbaord”, when it should be “dashboard”.
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Same case with Phil (first comment).
Good work!
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Excellent. Definitely loads fast! Thanks for the awesome work!
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I have 3 blogs on WP
The comments and posts from those 3 blogs are together in section “Your Stuff”. I don’t think this is a good idea
In my humble opinion It will be better to see only comments from chosen blog
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Oh I love this, it is so much faster than before.
Thank you. 🙂
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Very, very nice. Sweet job!
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Maybe I am resistant to change, but I think perhaps I liked the old arrangement better. The first place my eye would fall was on the “recent activities” box and for my little blog at least, quickly see what, if anything had changed (mostly comments, of course.) The my eye would go down to the WP.com news links.
And maybe sometime later, I might look at the “hot blogs, new posts” stuff around WordPress. I think the “my stuff” column is too disorganized and busy and the “what’s hot” column a bit to “pushy” as compared to where it used to be.
Just call me a retrogrouch, I guess. 🙂
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Surprise change, but rather confusing, especially in this mixed-categorization. Maybe need some more time to adapt and enjoy it? By the way, thanks for the rapid developments in every sector!
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wasn’t expecting it but i like it…easier to read and see what’s happening…great idea
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You mean “Dashbaord” isn’t on purpose??
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The new dashboard is definitely easier on the eyes. I’ve also read you are going to bring the “Incoming links” feature back. 🙂
However, I have posting access on two blogs and when I use the “My Dashboards” link to choose *one* of them, it still shows me the content of *both* blogs. It’s all mixed together. (I think the only difference is the Akismet spam filter showing different counts, but I could be mistaken.)
A clearer distinction between the new posts and the new comments would be nice, too. I guess it depends on whether you need to view your blog activities chronologically, or rather have them sorted by content / type. (For me, personally, it’s not important to know if a post/comment is from this week, last week, or “awhile ago”.)
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# Matt Says:
October 31st, 2006 at 4:22 am
We’re bringing back incoming links.
_____________________________________
thank goodness. That area is important to my blog.
all in all, the changes are nice. A little confusing.. I’d like to see comment and posts seperated, but other than that it’s good.
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it looks great, and i like the outlook-esque timeline. it’s a little weird to have the same post linked several times (once for each comment, plus for the post itself). you might want to add an excerpt of each item so that it’s not redundant, or group the items together (BLC style).
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While I usually love what you do, I DON’T like this change.
Why? I have two blogs.
One has contributions from other people [http://crikeymatemosaic.wordpress.com] but the other doesn’t. I also set up blog posts many days in advance on both. I cannot tell which posts belong to which blog because they all are combined and my titles don’t give it away as the two blogs are on related topics. This is bound to confuse those on the crikeymatemosaic blog with many contributors as they are not usually bloggers.
PLEASE SEPARATE OUT DIFFERENT BLOGS WHICH BELONG TO THE SAME USER!!!
[Yes, I’m shouting but I really want you to take notice of this!]
On one blog http://mosaik.wordpress.com I try to blog at least daily. I need to be able to see what future posts I have planned so that I can slot posts in on the days with no planned posts.
Bring back the future posts and put it somewhere near the top of the page so that I don’t have to scroll down too far ;).
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Cool.. Thanks.
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The new Dashboard is just confusing. Especially in the sense of the whole WP-thing, which – at least for me – always stood for a clear and unflattered identity. That means that you always have to focus on the most important, and many less important things have to be left out. The newe dashboard tries to give so much information, that i am not even want to look at all that stuff.
As Scobleizer says, the comments are the key for access to the content which is actually discussed on a blog. (btw, there isn’t even a option to show the users more than the last 5 comments from the frontpage).
And then this blu-white-blue-white with all that mixed-up stuff. Just a few weeks ago you released the Tag-Surfer and MyComments for the people who have the time for that gimmicks. So why do i have to mess around again with that stuff in my important daily listing-stuff?
I need a dashboard which helps my organize my blog. For information about we have already enough options. That’s the point, i think. Options are fine, but the choice is the key to them.
So please don’t get me wrong. I just wanted to give you instant feedback on that. I still love you guys! 😉
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It is full of stars… isn’t the final word of Bownan, reported in 2010 when he enter in the timespace tunnel ? Well, Matt, a wonderful job for the WP Team again !
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Hmm, but I don’t need to know what post I commented on or what posts I made because I already know. That space could be used up by something more useful, like maybe a preview of the blog stats.
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oh, and i have forgotten sthg important. I have 1 main blog, and 2 set up for testing purposes. So i don’t need all that infos from this blogs mixed up. If i need to look at them, i can easily switch to that particular dashboard. If people need that functionality, give them the /choice/ to get it, if you think that’s important enough.
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Hi matt, does this mean that I cannot view other blogs linking to me any more?
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i’d like to see the left column categorized on what it is instead of when it was. (like new comments, comments i’ve posted, new posts) plus the “a while ago” info is a waste of space. i know what happened a month ago.
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Oh wait, there’ll be incoming links? Yeah awesome! Thanks Andy and Matt!
as of PST 10.18pm, the comment manage site cannot be accessed. It shows a 404 error.
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Totally confusing. New “Comments” appearing everywhere is making it too crowded & unecessary.
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Where are the statistics? Total posts, pages & comments… That wasn’t essential, but I liked to see it. And yes, please do bring back the incoming links.
Otherwise I think I like it.
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There are still things to improve but it’s a lot user friendlier than before. Keep up the good work!
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Great work, it looks clean and slick. Nice little treat for Halloween! Thanks!
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It was a surprise but I think it will be great!
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Incoming links is a big omission. Glad to hear you’ll have them back soon. For the rest, my eyes are still getting used to the change, but it looks good so far.
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Very nice!
Though I agree with what was mentioned earlier about having the ‘New comments’,’New posts’ and ‘Commented’ all mixed up together. Would it be possible for them to be grouped together in the list? I think this would make it easier to read. Also ‘Commented’ seems to disappear after the last week listing.
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One tends to absorb the information better. I like it.
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i like this new dashboard, it looks very kool =)
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i want the older one
i hate the style
give me back the older one
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i miss the ‘latest comments’ list. at least 🙂
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I’m glad the incoming links are coming back, but I do have to echo a few other comments I’ve seen already posted.
I have two blogs, and like keeping the “recent activity” list for them separate. I don’t like seeing recent posts from Blog B when I log into Blog A’s dashboard.
Also, I miss the “comments in moderation” clickie. It was much easier and faster to find it before when the dashboard told me how many comments were waiting.
Thanks for listening to our feedback! It’s why I like WP so much.
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I don’t like it 😦 But there is something weird going on with mine – it looks nothing like it’s supposed to be! I have to log in every single time I try an go to a new page (write post, edit comments, view dashboard etc) even if I tick the ‘remember me’ box and I cant see both sides at the same time! very annoying! is there something I have to change in my settings or something?
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Looks nice, and I like all my info on the left side in one neat pile!
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You guys really cares about us.
Thanks alot !!
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I, too, miss the incoming links, and would prefer a little more order in the ‘My Stuff’ area. Never liked the grey boxes, so glad to see them go, but the way my own posts and comments were organised was nice and clear.
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great work!
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Well! This is a big change…uhm. i think i need sometime to feel confortable with it…
But i think that it’s work…it’s only that it’s different from the last dashboard ^_-
And …yes… the comment plus the last article do some confusion me too…
Thanks!!!
Astasia
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the your stuff section has wayyyyy too much information even for a megalomaniac. i don’t need to know when, where i commented the week before and who commented on my post a while back, and if i do i won’t have any problems going through the archive. i prefer the old dashboard summary of stats, like how many comments i have in my blog and a few of the recent posts, etc etc. the what’s hot section is an improvement from the previous dashboard, though.
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I wont say that this one is much better than the previous one, but still on a positive side … tnx again for time well spent.
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I like it.
It loads a whole lot faster, bearing in mind I post new blogs from work were I usualy have seven applications open and running as well as at least six web browsers all at the same time. The first thing I noticed was the speed which is Very nice indeed.
The new dashboard also looks a whole lot better, alot less cluttered and easier to read what is going on in a comunity I realy must get around to being part of.
Anyway. You lot in the Back office have done well with this, give yourselfes a pat on the back, you deserve it.
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Thanks for this cool feature, but the stats don’t need to be this detailed.
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This new dashboard is really nice, I really like it… even though the left part is kind of confusing, having the new posts, comments and pingbacks all mixed up.
Using different colors could make it easier to distinguish between posts and other stuff.
It may also come in handy knowing the time of the new comments and pingbacks.
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nah, you squeezed too much info replica in there. but i guess i have to live with it. 😦
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Pretty neat. I was a bit surprised when I saw the new one, and I guess I’ll get used to it with time.
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Okay the incoming links are back, and I’ve fixed up some links that were broken, added a few more goodies.
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At first I was like, “Whoa! New Dash!” I wanted to make a comment here right away. After skimming through the commentary, I took another look at the Dash from an user-friendly PoV and realized that it is a bit confusing. I like that you can see “your world” and the “popular blogging world” at the same time, but the mix of comments and new posts, although labeled respectively, is a bit clutter-looking. I’d suggest Recent Posts and Comments be separated, and that only Comments have a distinct separated listing of comments from [yesterday, a week ago, etc.]. The way it’s set up now reminds me of Feedreader’s interface, which is cool, but as I said, disorderly.
Everything else seems fine with me. I like that you added direct links (e.g. Posts, change profile, etc.) since the loading time between clicking “Blogroll” and then “Add Bookmark” is quite long sometimes. Maybe that’s just my shared bandwidth connection screwing me over. The improved loading speed of the Dash is great! That’s what I always hit first, so great job with that. Page Scrolling is fairly the same as it was, and also with the double columns, finding a hot WP story takes a second or two less than scrolling to the bottom gray boxes. Just add in the Incoming Links when you’re able and it’ll be set.
Thanks for all your hard work, WP! You guys rock!
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Good work guys..
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Nice to see I’m not the only who was caught off guard when this happened!
Overall it doesn’t seem to bad (I tend to be a tad conservative; with a small c) but at present I find myself aligning with the 2 post crowd. Although I can understand the logic of seeing your own activity regardless of what blog your logged into it does make things a bit confusing.
Perhaps secondary blog activity can be placed lower down? Is that possible? Or can you give the posts, comments, etc disinguishing flags?
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While I think the “What’s hot” column is all nice and clear, the “Your stuff” one just isn’t. I liked the older organization much better, when the latest comments, incoming links, etc. were all listed under separate headers… so I agree with a lot of others on that one. I liked it when before when I got to my dashboard, I could immediately look to the right and see if there was a new comment without having to look for that information in the middle of a lot of other links.
But otherwise I do appreciate the work you’re doing.
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I tend to agree with storymode’s comment. It is a bit confusing. Then again, I might need to just get used to it. Btw, I would prefer to see Akismet on Dashboard. Thank you.
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This is the grammar police, come out with your hands up!
“Awhile” means “for a while”. The built in preposition “for” conflicts with “ago”.
It should be “a while ago”.
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new dashboard sucks,
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Hey, cool new dashboard, guys! One thing though — I have two blogs and all my posts and whatnot from both blogs appear under “Your Stuff”. It makes stuff a bit organized and defeats the purpose of maintaining separate blogs instead of just splitting stuff under two major tags in one blog.
Still appreciate the good work, though! Keep ’em coming!
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niccce, give us more 🙂
f.e.: tags on our side-widget
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Looks much more attractive and better organized than before. However, I am terribly missing statistics on no of blogs posted, number of blogs waiting, etc. Please include the same as before.
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