Media Manager – a new take on media for WP 3.0

I’ve been using self-hosted versions of WordPress since 2.5 and the one aspect that has led to more consternation than any other is the media management for posts. I use WP for a few portfolio sites so media insertion is a key component for me, as I’m sure it is with many other users. I am often forced to use plugins to do things that would be better done as standard practice.

I think that with version 3 of WP its time to re-examine the way media is managed within posts, and I’ve taken the liberty of creating a mockup for a potential interface.

Link to image of interface mockup

I see the main issues coming from the focus of the media management – at the moment it is ‘source-centric’. By that I mean the interface focuses on where the media comes from rather than what you are doing with it.

I propose a new method that looks at media in a cascading interface, as opposed to the confusing and convoluted ‘tab-based’ approach of current versions of WP.

The key features of this approach are the following:

• All media management is done in one screen.
• It’s possible to have multiple galleries in a post.
• Add media to ‘groups’ or (movie, sound, image, gallery) and edit that group.
• Add media ‘items’ to the group (in the case of galleries).
• It’s possible to grab an image from the media Library to use in a gallery.
• Remove items from gallery, edit them, and shuffle using ‘drag-and-drop’.

The image linked to above speaks for itself, and I acknowledge there are many details left to be considered but it’s a starting point.

Love to read your thoughts.