WordPress Toolbar For Firefox

Martin Brinkmann
Jul 15, 2011
Updated • Mar 7, 2015
Firefox, Firefox add-ons
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11

WordPress displays an admin bar since the version 3.1 release that administrators can use to access the blog's backend when they are on the frontend.

The bar displays options to add new contents, edit the current page, open the dashboard, open comment moderation or appearance settings of the blog.

I personally dislike the new WordPress admin bar for several reasons. First, it always takes up space at the top of the browser window which means that the website is pushed down a bit. The admin bar furthermore does not link to all available sections of the WordPress admin interface. If you want to manage plugins for instance, you end up with the same amount of clicks than before.

The WordPress Toolbar is a Firefox extension that resolves those two issues, at least for Firefox users. Unlike traditional toolbars, this one does not add itself to the header area of the browser, which is a good decision. The extension adds a single icon to the Firefox status bar after installation.

A click on the button has no effect on most sites. It only works on WordPress powered sites and only if the user is currently logged in as a user of that site.

When that is the case, a button toolbar is displayed in the upper right corner of the page. This toolbar is displayed both on the frontend and backend of the blog.

The toolbar replicates the full WordPress admin backend sans custom theme related sections. The main buttons lead directly to the sections in the backend. If you mouse over a button you see all available submenu options listed there, so that you can open those pages right away as well.

All options are links that point to the section in the admin backend. While that may not be the most comfortable way of integrating the backend to the WordPress frontend, it resolves the issues of the admin bar that sections are missing from it.

WordPress Toolbar links to all sections of the admin interface, plus it does not push down the page as it is only visible if you click on the button.

Most WordPress administrators may not like the fact that the button in the status bar needs to be clicked on before the toolbar is displayed in the upper right corner. This means that it requires two or three clicks to load the desired admin page. Even worse, admins need to click on the status bar icon at the bottom of the browser screen and then on a button near the top of the screen. It is possible to customize the button to place it in one of the top toolbars of the browser instead to reduce the time it takes to activate the feature.

WordPress administrators who would like to give the toolbar a try can download the extension from the official Mozilla Firefox website.

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Comments

  1. Ken Saunders said on July 17, 2011 at 12:52 pm
    Reply

    I like DreamHost, a lot, their customer service is excellent, and so are the prices and features, but I’ve had problems with uptime.

    My sites are mostly static content ones. They’re part portal, part resources, and I was using WordPress for news, announcements, updates etc.

    I was seriously considering using the WordPress platform for one of my sites to allow for more and easier content contributions from others, but right now, I have a bitter. taste. It’ll fade.

    In any event, you are correct about plugins. Akismet is essentially, but also having a CAPTCHA type plugin helps tremendously to combat spam.
    CAPTCHA is the best, and best for many with disabilities, but there are others.

  2. Claverhouse said on July 17, 2011 at 12:12 pm
    Reply

    To get rid of that unspeakable Admin Bar, I pretty soon installed Scott Kingsley Clark’s Admin Bar Disabler plugin. Works like a charm…

    http://scottkclark.com/wordpress/admin-bar-disabler/

    I’m with Dreamhost myself, and have mixed feelings about it: they’re reliable, but slow — and have a unique system that has defied a trained professional to copy to host elsewhere; which rather means I’m stuck with them.

    However, as regards spam etc., since installing a ferocious array of plugin to combat all that, instead of just relying on Akismet, spam posts have gone from around 40 per day to 0. Plugins obviously slow a site, but that’s better than checking through 250 caught spam comments every week.

    http://www.growmap.com/growmap-anti-spambot-plugin/

    http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/spammer-blocker/

    http://herselfswebtools.com/2008/06/wordpress-plugin-to-prevent-bot-registrations.html

    http://www.seoegghead.com/software/wordpress-firewall.seo

    http://ocaoimh.ie/exploit-scanner/

    I think the first is the major cause.

  3. Ken Saunders said on July 16, 2011 at 9:35 pm
    Reply

    Thanks for the advice and empathy.

    One of the two that were hit, was automatically updated by DreamHost or whomever manages their apps.

    I have the option of course to have them all automatically updated, and Access Firefox was actually hit a whole lot harder (a few thousands links were injected) than the other one (just the index page) that got an auto updated..
    It was the platform that got breached. It happens.

    I’ll get over it. WordPress provides a great open system and services.
    I still like and support them strongly.

    I do hate that admin bar.
    Being forced to restore a backup isn’t so bad, because somewhere buried in one of the files or settings, i was able to just disable, or hide it. Not sure.

  4. Avinash said on July 16, 2011 at 5:54 pm
    Reply

    Martin, I think the bookmarklet is a better choice over a addon in Firefox .. considering the memory consumption problems in Firefox ..

  5. Ken Saunders said on July 16, 2011 at 4:17 pm
    Reply

    Two of my sites got infected (Trojans, link injectors) after a WordPress update a few days ago.
    Well, the update was a few days ago, I noticed it today after avast blocked me from visiting my own site.
    What a nightmare.
    I trashed one of the sites. Wiped it out and restored it from my web hosts servers (DreamHost). Fortunately, they do automatic backups, and I did have a recent, clean one just in case.

    I might be through with WordPress. :(
    I understand that it happens, but, crap like that puts my visitors data and sanity at risk. Especially if they’re not using decent O.S. security solutions.

    Sorry to go off topic.
    I have a long night.

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on July 16, 2011 at 4:21 pm
      Reply

      Ken, I feel with you. I have spend my fair share of nights updating WordPress, analyzing sites and securing servers. Not fun, not fun at all.

      If you do not have the time to update WordPress right after a new version is released I suggest you look at getting it hosted at WordPress.com instead. I do not know about migration and such, but all the updating and such is handled automatically so that it is taken away from you completely.

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