WordPress allow plugin and theme authors to display notices in the admin area to keep users informed about new features and updates. However at the speed WordPress ecosystem is growing, the admin notices can get out of control.
Updating your plugins and seeing half your screen covered with admin notices is extremely annoying.
However, it’s even more frustrating as plugin authors because we’re the ones that get blamed for it.
Then of course there are plugins who misuse admin notices for promotional purposes. Some that you can’t even close. After seeing Jeff’s article on WPTavern and reading some of the comments, we felt compelled to write about this topic and offer a suggestion that can possibly fix the problem.
If you think admin notices are getting out of control, then you should know that it’s only going to get worst (unless something is done about it).
Currently there 44,000+ WordPress plugins in the official plugin directory. Not including thousands that are hosted on Github or commercial WordPress plugins.
As more developers enter the WordPress ecosystem and new plugins are created, you can imagine that there will be a time when you update 5 plugins and see 5 different admin notices.
So what’s the solution?
A centralized Notification Center.
You see, when we converted OptinMonster from a WordPress plugin into a software as a service (SaaS app), one of the first things we built was a notification center to keep our users notified of new changes.
This was very well received by our audience. Users can mark a notice as read and they can always go back to read previous notices. It’s unobtrusive and serves its purpose well. Those who want to stay updated read the notification, others can ignore it by marking it as read.
At Awesome Motive, we have had several internal discussions about building our own notification system for our suite of WordPress plugins.
But that’s not feasible considering we have so many plugins. If we ever have to update a potential bug in the notification center, then we would have to simultaneously update all our plugins.
A better solution would be if a notification center was added into WordPress core, and there was a standardized way that all developers would follow.
There’s a nice proof of concept available in the form of a WordPress plugin that Barry Kooij created called WP Notification Center (we wrote about it here).
Currently that plugin doesn’t have the option to dismiss the notification or read the full details. But it’s a great start to solving this problem.
How many of you would like to see a notification center built into WordPress core?
Let us know your thoughts by leaving your comments below.
Syed Balkhi
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Jiří Vaněk
Honestly, it sometimes really bothers me when I update multiple plugins and then have to deal with all the informational messages in the admin area that I need to dismiss. I understand that for some plugin developers, this is also an opportunity to insert ads for the paid version of their product, but it can be too much. I have several plugins from your company like AIO SEO, Monster Insight, and Optin Monster, and I really appreciate your approach to informing users about various changes. Such notifications are not intrusive, and I can read them when I have the time and inclination to learn what’s new. I usually dismiss and don’t read the information directly on the dashboard because, at that moment, I need to work and don’t have time for it. As a result, the primary function of informing users is usually missed because I think 90% of users will do the same. From your side, this was a really great move to attract people to new information in a non-intrusive way.
John
YESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!! Do it, WordPress!
Emily
Could’t agree more. It will look much much much better. The old way of notification is so annoying me.
Glory Adore
Very good idea but I want to ask who can help design my WordPress site to the best taste?
Jei-Nhy
I think this is a fabulous idea!
Birgit
Great idea! Love to be able to use the whole screen, instead of one filled with notices of plugins that reappear on every new load.
Mitchell
WordPress needs an admin setting to disable admin_notices from selected plugins and themes.
Theme notices to install plugins, that I will never install, are most annoying.
Best wishes,
Mitchell
Rami
Actually, it’s a great idea!!!
Lloyd
Excellent, excellent idea
Christopher Haring
Notification center and management, excellent
Thanks
Chris
Thomas
I’m sick of messages piling up – a notification center would be awesome!
damyang
Very good!! Better late than never..
Jagrav
I’m all for it
Rachel
Sounds like a good solution. I’m new to wp & find the notices can be overwhelming.
Jim Krenz
Great idea. Code it up and submit it to the team. This is an open development system, isn’t it?
Oscar Gonzalez
So what is the notification system where we get WP.com/jetpack alerts. Is that not something that developers can tie into and just start using?
It would be great to have ALL of those notifications in one long list (updates, plugins, themes, blog/site activity, etc).
Whatever option is done, I hope if it’s built into core, that it will have an option to email us as well as making the notification show in the dashboard/bar/wherever.
Candi
Absolutely!
Christophe Debruel
We sure do need something like that. It’s a mess with all the admin notices.
Swapnil Jha
It would be a great idea.
Robin
Definitely. Should have been in there for a long time.
Valentina
Really good idea.I was thinking about it yesterday that why no one has made a good plugin to control Notications.
Finally thanks to you
Erick Lacayo
A must! Let make some noise if it to happen.
Tony Zeoli
That would be a welcome addition, for sure. All these admin notices coming into the home admin screen and some staying with you throughout each page is certainly annoying and this is something WordPress should address as soon as they can roll it into an update. So many people are talking about it now, that it’s getting to a tipping point, for sure.
Michael R.
Cant wait for it!
Peter Cralen
Awesome idea
Scott Bolinger
Absolutely, I actually tweeted that Barry’s plugin should be in WP core a few months ago. The notification center plugin needs a lot of work (it doesn’t support all plugins, and doesn’t always work properly) but it is definitely needed.
Barry
I agree. Pushed out an update today to catch more notifications. Need to think on how to work on dismissing notifications because WordPress plugins add them in code, without DB storage or a unique identifier per notification. The joy
Miguel Angel LuisV.
Good Idea.
Chris
No brainer – needed this for a long time.
Jack Arturo
Yes please!