WordPress 2.5, Backend Redesign, and Happy Cog

So the news is out that the next version of WordPress, 2.4, is not going to happen. Instead, we will immediately get 2.5 by March 2008. Following the links, I got to read that one of the most anticipated update for the next version is that the backend will be redesigned.

Now, that is big. I don’t think it’s an understatement to say that there are hundreds of thousands of people utilizing the WordPress admin everyday. Scratch that. Matt said that the Presentation page in the wordpress.com backend got 2.4 million pageviews by October 2007. On just the Presentation page. Without counting the self-hosted installation.

In other words, there is a huge number of people who have familiarized themselves with the current backend design. If you’re going to redesign it, this is a big task.

And then I found out at wp-hacker mailing list archives that Happy Cog is doing the redesign.

Happy freakin’ Cog. Wow.

Think of this, an open-source project hiring the web agency headed by the King of Web Standards himself to redesign the backend design. If you haven’t heard of them, Happy Cog is to web design the way Liquid Tension Experiment to progressive rock scene. In a word, a supergroup.

More evidence about this fact could be found at the WordCamp site and also hinted at Liz Danzico’s blog. Liz is the information architect, usability analyst and editor at Happy Cog.

Now, this is a wonderful move by WordPress. For a task this big, they have chosen to do the right thing: get the professional to tackle it. I’m not sure if the redesigned admin demo here is the one made by Happy Cog or not, but since Matt said that it’s probably around 10%-20% of the real thing, it’s best to save the comments for now.

All in all, it’s a great news. I’m so going to learn and tinker and tear it apart once it shipped. Now, for the painful task of waiting until March…

PS: If you want to dig around more on the wp-hackers archives about Happy Cog’s involvement, this might be a good start (it’s a Google search because the archives page itself does not have a search functionality).