The brand spanking new version of WordPress (2.8) was released today and while it contains a multitude of improvements, bug fixes, new features and speed enhancements (see the codex for a complete list), in the few minutes I’ve spent playing with it I have noticed at least one major step backwards in terms of usability.
In the previous version of WP, the plugin page separated the plugins into groups such as “Active”, “recently active” (or was it recently deactivated) and “Deactive”.
This made it really easy to see at a glance which plugins you were using and which ones could be deleted, (or that your lazy ass could simply not be bothered upgrading).
Anyway, the new 2.8 release of WordPress reverts to what the functionality was like in even older versions of WordPress, which is simply listing all your plugins alphabetically in one group, regardless of if they are active or not.
This sucks and is a definite step backwards in terms of the UI of the WordPress Dashboard.
You can download WordPress 2.8 from WordPress.org.
UPDATE: Rowan Price points out that in 2.8 you can filter the plugins by status.
While this is possible, and just a click away, I still think it’s a step backwards in usability.
