In reply to Matt.

Sure.

When I select the latest WordPress interface, now called “Add Plugins”, I am immediately presented with “Featured”, “Popular”, “Recommended”, “Favorites” or “Search Plugins”, which is not a million miles from no improvement i.e what went before, as far as I can remember.

Then for some unknown reason, I am forced to use this new unwieldy grid system, with no list alternative, and a search interface with no search button. Not exactly cutting-edge UX now is it?

But supposing, I want to find a “Custom Post Type” intended for selling “books” ~ how do I find that with this interface? If I search for [books] I get 570 plugins which I now have to try and evaluate. So what tools do I have to do that?

None! I have to eyeball them all individually.

Honestly. How much business do you think Amazon would lose if all it did was give their customers that choice, rather than letting them sort and select those 570 by “New Arrivals”, “Subject”, “Category”, “Author”, “Avg Customer Review” and many more different criteria?

So why am I treated so differently when I try to find the right plugin on WordPress?

Better yet; go take a look at the way Envato is doing it at CodeCanyon or ThemeForest. There I can search by WordPress version, compatibility with WooCommerce/WPML, rating etc. In fact, I can even filter within each of these searches.

But to return to the suppository for a moment. Maybe I should try to search for [Custom Post Types]. Oops! That gives me 2,010 to search my way through. Maybe I should try ["Custom Post Types" books]. That’s better, only 90 to eyeball individually, sort manually, figure out if they are well supported, compatible with my WP version etc.

Matt, this is not intended as some kind of argument as to whether Amazon or Envato provides a better {more user friendly|more usable} user interface. It’s a criticism of the fact that the WordPress plugin repository is so bad, and so outdated in its thinking, it always has been and it still is. A few pretty pictures doesn't change that, and oddly enough it just makes the problem stand out all the more, as the majority of plugins have not been updated.

First step is think up a new inviting name for it, leave all the crap behind and ban everyone, from ever again referring to it as the suppository ~ otherwise the kitten gets it!

What’s needed is a modern, data driven interface, that lets us select and finalise a candidate plugin list based on the criteria that matter to us, BEFORE we eyeball the few remaining plugins.

Another way of looking at it might be this; if you take your user’s point of view. Your today’s user doesn't want to see X million pieces of neglected, unloved, failed and useless outdated code ~ with or without image headers. He/she wants to see just the most likely candidates, that are compatible with their version of WordPress, are well supported and recommended, and which do exactly what they want them to do.

Matt, the times have changed and you are no longer trying to convince the world you have arrived ~ just look at all the developers that support us! Now is the time for WordPress/you to get out of the way of thinking ‘more is better’. In this case, ‘less is better’. Much better!

But what I don’t understand is this.

Why can’t you see that for yourself already?

And how hard can it be to deliver?

Terence.