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Whether you are creating a WordPress website for your clients or for yourself,
it never hurts to customize the admin area for better understanding and right interpretation. Be it changing the color scheme of your site, adding a help section or adding your own branding, there are many plugins and WP hacks to help you do so.
Let’s discuss some of them:
1. Add your personalized admin color schemes
Tired of looking at the same WP dashboard? Well, there is always an option to change the colors of the dashboard. WP comes with 8 built-in color schemes. However, you can always extend it with a plugin called “Admin Color Schemer”. Download and install it to choose your favorite color scheme in no time. You can also create your own personalized admin color schemes to apply.
2. Add menu editor
A Menu Editor is a popular plugin that helps you do two main things to your WP dashboard i.e. change the names of menu items and rearrange the order of the menu item according to your preference. Additional features include creating custom menus and linking them to a URL, hide menu items, edit access rights, titles and associated icons etc.
3. Notification for collapsed admin menu
There are times when we collapse the admin menu for better view and functionality. Notification for collapsed admin menu is a great plugin for those who often collapse admin menu for extra space. The plugin highlights an icon for which you have a new notification to help you work well. Whether you have installed a new plugin or you have received a new comment, you would get a notification in the appropriate section.
4. Add post and page counter
Post and page counter for admin menu is a plugin that allows you to see the number of posts or pages in a certain stage. You need to change the settings in the plugin’s setting page and then you would be able to see the number of pages or posts.
5. Post status menu items
Post Status Menu Items is another great plugin for admin menu that shows the status of different posts along with the number of posts i.e. published (10). It also shows “at a glance” or “right now” admin dashboard widget to show the number of posts with their status.
6. Add custom links to WP toolbar
An admin area consists of useful shortcuts to numerous admin screens in WP. You can add custom links to WP admin bar by adding this code snippet in the functions.php file.
// add a link to the WP Toolbar
function custom_toolbar_link($wp_admin_bar) {
$args = array(
‘id’ => ‘wpbeginner’,
‘title’ => ‘Search WPBeginner’,
‘href’ => ‘https://www.google.com:443/cse/publicurl?cx=014650714884974928014:oga60h37xim’,
‘meta’ => array(
‘class’ => ‘wpbeginner’,
‘title’ => ‘Search WPBeginner Tutorials’
)
);
$wp_admin_bar->add_node($args);
}
add_action(‘admin_bar_menu’, ‘custom_toolbar_link’, 999);
7. Limit dashboard access
In WordPress, all the users can access the dashboard, though they can only do as much as their user access allows them to do. However, still it does not make any sense to give them complete access to the dashboard. You can always limit the access with a plugin called “Remove Dashboard Access”. Simply change the settings by visiting settings -> dashboard access
8. Add a featured image column in admin area
You can always add a featured image or thumbnail to your posts. However, when it comes to checking the post it is not clear to know which posts have featured images and which don’t. Install Featured Image Column plugin and activate it. Upon activation, you can see featured images of all the posts on the post screen.
9. Add a Help section
Whether you are managing multi-author websites, or a consultant or a freelancer, it’s always frustrating to explain the same thing over and again to your clients. The best way to solve this problem is to add a help section where help resources and documentation is clearly provided. Well, fortunately there is a plugin for adding a help section in the admin area. Download and install WP Help plugin. You would see a new publishing help menu item right below “dashboard”. You can also customize the plugin in the plugin settings section.
10. Float your admin menu
Add more space to your WP dashboard by making your admin menu float. You can now re-position your admin menu from the left to the top according to your preference and requirement. Simply download and install Floating Admin Menu plugin.
Why stay boring when you can make you WP admin area interesting, colorful and more adventurous with aforementioned plugins and tips.
Emma Watson is a professional WordPress developer for a leading company WordSuccor Ltd., Which provides Services to Convert PSD to WordPress and many more. She has served many companies helping them in developing user-friendly website. She loves to keep abreast of the latest technologies and tools in the corporate market.
