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Customizing Your WordPress Administration Interface

You can optimize some of your WordPress administration and editing tasks by customizing the administration interface (also known as the WordPress backend) and utilizing a few time-saving shortcuts.

  • Power User Admin Navigation. Between some of the administration menus on the left-hand side, you will see horizontal lines with arrows. If you click one of these, you can minimize the administration menu navigation. To restore to the previous look, you can just click one of them again. Using this “power user” mode saves you some screen real estate, helps reduce distraction, saves you a few clicks, and reduces the need to scroll. Instead of clicking a parent menu name to open its submenus, you just have to hover over the icon, and the submenus for that parent menu item will appear directly to the right.
  • Admin Bar. The Admin Bar, which appears at the top of your administration screens and your public website when you are logged in, provides you with a number of shortcuts, saving you from having to click through as many menus. You can add a new page/post, access the Widgets menu, switch between administration menus for different websites, and more. It is especially useful if you accidentally close the tab/window containing your WordPress backend while visiting your public website.