One of the first things I wanted to improve in the admin area of my WordPress blog, back in the 1.5 days, was the header menu. I wanted to be able to reach any admin page in one click, instead of first clicking on the first level link ("Manage" for example) and then only on a submenu link ("Comments") So came a very neat plugin : the WordPress Admin Drop Down Menu
When WordPress 2.7 and its new and optimized user interface came, I thought there was still room for improvements: a horizontal menu gave the admin area more of a "desktop application" feel, and I think it's superior to a vertical menu. So I updated the WordPress Admin Drop Down Menu.
Download
Get the plugin :
ozh-admin-drop-down-menu.zip
Extract and upload to your blog, preserving directory structure.
Note: download counter here and stats on wordpress.org may differ and reflect the number of downloads before this plugin was hosted on the plugin directory
Activate and enjoy. Another friendly install & forget piece of PHP.
Features
- Customizable color scheme with a neat color picker
- Normal mode for regular users, compact mode for real estate maniacs, minimal mode for those who never have enough
- Optional cute icons from FamFamFam
- Enhanced compatibility with handheld devices
- Joy and happiness for every day
Javascript is involved for advanced features and to make stuff compatible with MSIE6, but on any decent browser everything works even with Javascript disabled.
Super neat color picking.
Any color you'll love.
Normal or compact display.
Browser compatibility
The plugin has been developed on Firefox 3, Chrome and MSIE7. It should do fine with MSIE6 and Safari too.
There are glitches with Firefox 2 and Camino which both use a deprecated rendering engine. There are also glitches with Opera. I won't fix these, but if anyone wants to submit a CSS patch to resolve one of these issue, you're welcome :)
Developer friendly
The plugin comes with a wickedly cool API that will allow other plugin developers to interact with it, like adding your own custom icon for your plugin. Read the API for Coders page for examples and documentation. Also, all elements the plugin produces get custom CSS classes and id's to allow easy styling or selecting.
Translations
The plugin is ready for interglobanalization and there is a .pot template file included so polyglots can even make their own translation and sent the .mo and .po files to me that I'll include in the package.
The plugin comes with the following translations, in no particular order:
- Turkish, thanks to Baris Ünver
- Korean, thanks to Jong-In Kim
- Spanish, thanks to Karin Sequen
- Italian, thanks to Gianni Diurno
- Deutsch, thanks to Frasier Crane
- Russian, thanks to Fat Cow
- Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Renato Tavares
- Greek, thanks to Friedlich
- Belorussian, thanks to ilyuha
- Hebrew, thanks to Amiad Bareli
- Romanian, thanks to Octav
- Ukrainian , thanks to wpp.pp.ua and Jurko Chervony
- Traditional Chinese, thanks to Paogray and Joan Wang
- Dutch, thanks to Cees van den Heuvel
- Slovak, thanks to Branco from WebHostingGeeks.com
And maybe more since I might totally forget to update this list :)
Older Versions
All my plugins are designed to run on the latest WordPress version available. Upgrade WordPress whenever a new version is out, or be sorry when your site gets compromised.
If for some unintelligent reason you need to get an older version of this plugin, it might be available, yet totally unsupported or recommended. Check here: Other versions.
Feedback, Bug report, Feature request
Sure. Feed me back. Like it? Blog about it. Love it? Click on the download link, see the Paypal button appear, and give it some clicks!
If you're reporting bugs, you're welcome, but please provide a screenshot and informations about your browser & your OS. I'm not supporting deprecated blogs or plugins or browsers, and I can't respond to incomplete bug reports.
If you're suggesting a feature, you're welcome too, but I won't add an admin menu on the public side of the blog, on top of pages. If you're looking after having this menu fixed on top of page, check this companion plugin that works as a plugin to this plugin: Admin Menus Fixed.
Shorter URL
Want to share or tweet this page? Please use this short URL: http://ozh.in/kl
sproke » thanks for feedback. If I ever come to visit NZ be sure I'll come and ask for that kiss !
Works great until you have a long list in the options submenu…
Can you hide the menus some other way?
Just wanted to say thanks for this plugin, it saves a lot of clicking!
I've noticed that when you have a long options submenu, the contents get pushed from the right, back in on the left under the dashboard.
David
I have a problem with this plugin. When it is active, a space is inserted before the Doctype of the XHTML pages.
But also at the beginning of the RSS feed, making it invalid.
Even when it is the only plugin active.
I don't understand how a plugin, improving the admin interface, can cause this problem.
Sadly, I can't use it anymore…
Thierry » you probably edited the file with either a bad text editor saving "rich" text, or with a bad text type (for instance, in some text editors you can specify ANSI, UTF8, DOS, UNIX, etc… formats).
Ok thanks.
I downloaded this time the .txt and I don't have the problem anymore.
Running WordPress 2, and I got this error on install:
Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_STRING in /hsphere/local/home/lamamike/lamamike.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/wp_ozh_adminmenu.php on line 19
Thoughts?
Lamamike » you screwed something up. Delete, get the plugin again, don't edit it. If fails again, quit blogging :P
Hey mate, great plugin, works perfectly in firefox. There is however a problem in IE7. The menus end up off the screen, a lot of them unreachable. Just a heads up, as I am happy to stick with firefox, anyways. I do have a lot of plugins installed, but I am pretty sure it worked fine with all of them in my earlier version of IE.
Hmm, there appears to be a problem with plugins that add top-level menus and that are in subdirectories.
Given the following menu code:
add_menu_page('Now Reading', 'Now Reading', 9, dirname(__FILE__) . '/now-reading-add.php', 'now_reading_add');
add_submenu_page(dirname(__FILE__) . '/now-reading-add.php', 'Add a Book', 'Add a Book', 9, dirname(__FILE__) . '/now-reading-add.php', 'now_reading_add');
add_submenu_page(dirname(__FILE__) . '/now-reading-add.php', 'Manage Books', 'Manage Books', 9, dirname(__FILE__) . '/now-reading-manage.php', 'nr_manage');
add_submenu_page(dirname(__FILE__) . '/now-reading-add.php', 'Options', 'Options', 9, dirname(__FILE__) . '/now-reading-options.php', 'nr_options');
Everything works fine for WP (it correctly links to /wp-admin/admin.php?page=now-reading/now-reading-add.php) but Admin Drop Down Menu tries to link to /wp-admin/now-reading/now-reading-add.php?page=now-reading/now-reading-options.php.
Perhaps a
basename()on the menu entry's filename?Ack, thought pre tags were allowed :( Ah well, not too unreadable I hope.
Whew! Passed the spambot test!
As a couple people posted a few posts back, seems if you have many options, and I do, then the menu gets large, even covers up the top of the page as it "floats" over that portion of the page.
My ideal version of this plugin would have the drop down menu not display at all unless the main menu is first hovered over by the mouse. This way if you approach the top of the page below the menu from the bottom, nothing is covered up.
Hope Ozh gets this before his month long computer vacation! Read a good book for me. :)
Hey there.. Opera user here.. I am using this plugin, along with the Tiger admin interface, and the main panel, (the right-side of the grey seperator) seems to "float" above your menus.. Is this effect wanted? (If you want, I'll give you a screenshot or two..) Browser: Opera 9, OS: Win XP Media Center Edition
I've installed the plugin but it doesn't work in OS X Firefox or Flock–does work in Safari. Very cool plugin, and I'd love it see it work on Mozilla-based browsers.
Hey there!
I just upgraded WordPress to 2.0.4, and since then, a loathsome error-line appeared at the top of my blog:
Warning: ob_start(): output handler 'ob_gzhandler' cannot be used after 'URL-Rewriter' in /public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 832
Could be just me, but I haven't altered functions.php in any way, and this just showed up after the upgrade.
(Note for Niklas at the end…)
Hi. I love this plugin, but thanks to you I also discovered (and Looooove!) the Tiger Admin plugin. This does _not_ work with it! (Mac OS 10.4.7, running Firefox 1.5.0.5 — site is running WordPress 2.0.4)
The only effect it seems to have is it prevents the rollover shading on menu items that have submenus — i.e. only Dashboard and Import menus have the shading effect on rollover.
It works fine without the Tiger Admin plugin. Please don't make me choose! :(
also…
Niklas, I got the same error upon updating WordPress — it is not related to this plugin. Don't "sync" your server files — manually overwrite the previous WP files with the new ones. That fixed it for me.
Thanks for the note, Stephen, but I actually manually updated the files by overwriting the old ones.
First of all let me say that I think the functionality of your plugin is a sorely needed feature when you spend as much time in the WordPress admin interface as I do. Thanks for making it!
The plugin works as advertised, but I am having some funky display issues with it that, while primarily cosmetic, could offset the benefit of using the plugin for some people. I will try to describe these but if that is insufficient I can email you screenshots if you would like.
I am using Firefox 1.5.0.6 on OS X 10.3.9, with WordPress 2.0.3 installed. I have a lot of plugins installed (just around 30, not counting widgets!), so my Manage submenu runs onto 2 lines and my Options submenu runs onto 3 lines, but neither overlaps the content area.
Due obviously to the large amount of plugins I have installed, here's what happens when I enable your plugin:
1) No matter Main Menu link I hover my cursor over, instead of a single line submenu area, I see a 2 line submenu area that overlaps the content area (e.g. it cuts off the top of the status message saying "Plugin activated"). The exception to this is when I hover over the Options link, where it shows a 3 line submenu area (as it should) that overlaps the content area.
2) If I move the cursor into the blank 2nd line of a submenu area (whether coming from above or from below) it suddenly displays all the submenu items from the Options menu instead of the submenu items from the Main Menu item that I have active.
3) If I have any of the Options submenu items active and hover my cursor over any other Main Menu item, I will see the submenu items for it, but also still see the bottom 2 lines of the Options submenu items (exept for Manage, where I see just the bottom line because it's a 2 line submenu to begin with).
4) When I make Import active from the Main Menu, I see at least 2 overlapping submenus. One is about half transparent and appears where it should, the other is slightly transparent and starts just under the word Presentation then runs off the left side of the browser window and is cut off. They both contain links from the Options submenu. If I then hover the cursor over the word Import, I see a 3rd transparent submenu with just the "…" that normally appears if you hover over Import.
5) As reported by a previous commentor, this plugin does not work for me in in conjunction with Tiger Style Admin (v2.0.1). It has no effect except disabling the grey bg when hovering the cursor over all top level menu links except "Import")
Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_SL in wp_ozh_adminmenu.php on line 173
just to let you know, the menu is wrongly positioned in IE7rc1, it apears on top of the main menu.
i have the same problem as [68] Nyomi mentioned.
except for that, the plugin is great!!
thx!!!
irks.. sorry.. it appears that i am the only one who doesn't get even the beasic installation but i have to know it: what did you mean with the two files having the same name and BOTH being saved as .php?? i only installed one but it doesn't work, naturally.
wp_ozh_adminmenu.txt (download and save as .php)
wp_ozh_adminmenu.php (highlighted code, copy and paste in a blank file, but do not download as is)
Hey there.. I found a little problem with the old style control panel & Admin Drop Down Menu: if there are too many subcategories, so that there is a second line, it stays in place even if you move your cursor on another category (if this one doesn't have a second line!)
and a second one.. maybe it's connected to the first: when choosing a main category (no click), going with the cursor under the subcategory-line and then to the most left entry and upwards again it changes to the one category with two lines (the one from the first problem…)
just thought you should know ;)
Greetz & have a nice life,
K.D.A.S
very good!
it is save my more time..
Salut,
Merci pour ce plugin, ca me permet economiser bcp de click ^^.
J'ai 1 sugestion: peux tu faire 1 version drop down classic (de haut en bas) pour ce qui n'utilise pas Tiger admin stp? Je me trompe chaque fois le cible dans la ligne menu(car c'est petit).
Merci
Sounds like it can save a lot of time. Thanks:)
YES, this plugin is a great job and very helpful.
thx a lot. :-)
hello,
I love your plugin, except that I have some problems with it.
The point is that my options page has two rows of options (I use a lot of plugins….) so when I go to an option page, and then later want to go to write a post, when I hover over write, I cannot click on the post or page submenue because the two-rows submenue of the options tab is overlaying this menue.
I hope I could explain it right, if not please tell me where to send you a screenshot of what is happening…
regards
Ovidiu
It's really useful, thank you so much :)
[…] 2006å¹´10月25æ—¥ 晚上更新： 首å—下沉：ä¸çŸ¥é“为什么å«é¦–å—下沉，在我看æ¥åº”该是首å—放大。 Did You Pass Math?：使用简å•çš„算术防æ¢è¯„论SPAM的。 Admin Drop Down Menu：简化管ç†ç•Œé¢ï¼Œå¯ä»¥æ–¹ä¾¿çš„切æ¢åˆ°æŸä¸ªåŠŸèƒ½çš„å项。 Jiehoo Bookmark：我自己修改的Blog It!代ç 得到的书ç¾æ’件。 […]
[…] * Admin Drop Down Menu: Displays a CSS driven drop down menu with all admin links.No need to click on "Manage" then "Comments".When you want to reach a "sub" admin page, you need to load the main page first. Like, you have to first click on "Manage" to be able to manage "Comments".Cumbersome, heh ? Get all your admin links in one handy drop down menu. WP 2.0 […]
[…] Admin Drop Down Menu åŽå°èœå•æ’件 å‡å°‘ä½ çš„ç‚¹å‡»é‡ åœ¨IEä¸ä¼šå‡ºé”™ã€‚å¹¶ä¸”ä¼šé€ æˆK2上的拖动æ æ— æ³•ä½¿ç”¨ã€‚å·²ç¦ç”¨ã€‚效果 […]
[…] Admin Drop Down Menu – замеÑтва админиÑтраторÑкото меню Ñ CSS drop-down такова. ПонÑкога леко ме дразни как мърда и може да го барна лекичко или да го махна. Ð’Ñе още е не Ñе знае. […]
[…] ３ã€å¢žåŠ WordPress Plugin: Worpdress Admin Drop Down Menu […]
[…] Admin Drop Down Menu: este plugin te facilitará enormemente la navegación por el panel de administración de WordPress. […]
[…] http://planetozh.com/blog//my-projects/wordpress-admin-menu-drop-down-css/ […]
[…] Download : Planet Ozh […]
[…] h3>Admin Drop Down Menuh3> p>This a href="http://planetozh.com/blog//my-projects/wordpress-admin-menu-drop-down-css/” target="_blank">plugina> replaces admin menu and submenu with a 2 level horizontal CSS dropdown menu bar. It saves me so much time and clicks!p> h3>Customized More Linkh3> p>A simple plugin that adds a CSS class to the default "read more" link tag, by a href="http://txfx.net/” target="_blank">Mark Jaquitha>.p> […]
[…] Admin Drop Down Menu Adds a menu bar to the WordPress admin menu, saving you lots of clicks. […]
[…] Admin Drop Down Menu Adds a menu bar to the WordPress admin menu, saving you lots of clicks. […]
[…] Admin Drop Down Menu […]
I love that plugin since it really saves a lot of time.
Unfortunately it doesn't work with IE7, the second line of navigation is being placed over the first one, which makes it hard to navigate of course… ;-)
[…] Breadcrumb-Nav-xt –> alles wird übersichtlicher German_Permalinks –> wegen schöneren Permalinks Google_Sitemaps –> für den Ãœberblick Admin Drop Down Menu –> für die Schnelligkeit WP-ContactForm –> da ich die Kommentare ausgeschaltet habe. […]
[…] 11 de Novembro de 2006 Admin Drop Down Menu fazendo blogueiros mais felizes 11 de Novembro de 2006 O Jânio achou e deu a dica. Quem for esperto, vai instalar o Admin DropDown Menu que faz com que os menus do painel do WP sejam dinâmicos, sensÃveis ao passar do mouse. […]
[…] Excelente dica do meu conterrâneo Thallis Valle: Quem for esperto, vai instalar o Admin Drop Down Menu que faz com que os menus do painel do WordPress sejam dinâmicos, sensÃveis ao passar do mouse. […]
[…] Certos plugins são tão simples e, ao mesmo tempo, tão úteis, que não raras vezes me levam ao seguinte questionamento: "por que ninguém pensou nisso antes?". O Admin Drop Down Menu é um deles. […]
[…] Admin DropDown menu […]
[…] Admin Drop Down Menu Ottimizzate il tempo rendendo dinamica la barra dei menù del vostro wordpress in modo da avere con un solo click tutte le voci a disposizione […]
Hi,
I have been using this plugin for the last 10 months or so, and thoroughly enjoy it. But is has broken since IE7 came out. Could you take a look at it and hopefully update its code so it becomes compatible with Crapsoft's IE7.
Thanks.
[…] Admin Drop Down Menu […]