Replace "admin" with "administrator" or "administration"

[dimadin]

Since "administrator" is right name for user who administrates site, we should replace occurences of "admin" because of consistency and because it adds confusion since "admin" is also used instead of "administration".

You can easily see current 17 occurences by searching on GlotPress (eg. ​http://tinyurl.com/39m7xeh)

[ryan]

Sounds good, but let's wait for 3.1. We need to limit string changes for 3.0.

[nacin]

"Administrator Color Scheme" => "Dashboard Color Scheme", I'd think. "Administration" doesn't sound right.

"Site administrator only" on themes.php should be "Super"...

Patch probably needs refresh.

[markmcwilliams]

refreshed patch

[markmcwilliams]

Made the suggested change to Dashboard, I agree, Administration doesn't sounds quite right. Changed it from site to super, and also refreshed the patch looking in all the same files in the first patch! :)

[caesarsgrunt]

You probably ought to consult with Jane before making this change.

I realise it looks like a minor thing, but the term 'admin' has always been used throughout the admin and in all documentation etc (maybe with a few minor exceptions) and so to suddenly change to 'administrator' and 'administration' is quite drastic.

Also, I personally find the new strings more confusing. I was never confused by 'admin', whereas to me at least, some of these strings mean a slightly different thing when admin is replaced by administration or administrator, and a lot of them sound a little odd to me. Maybe just because they're not what I'm used to, I don't know!

Regarding 'Admin Colour Scheme' - changing it to 'Dashboard Colour Scheme' doesn't seem right to me. The term 'Dashboard' is used in WP to refer exclusively to the 'home page' of the admin area. The term 'admin' is used to refer to the whole thing. If you are going to make these substitutions then it should (in my opinion) be 'Administration Colour Scheme', in line with all the other changes you've made.

I would also argue that 'Administration Area' sounds a little better than 'Administration'. Apart from anything else, the term 'administration' refers to a process rather than a place where the process is done. So if you're making the change to remove the slight ambiguity of 'admin', don't make it worse by using 'administration' to mean something it doesn't! :-p

[markmcwilliams]

I'm quite happy either way, I only gave the patch a little refresh, and made a couple of changes Nacin suggested. At the end of the day, it doesn't need to be included, and the developers can in theory make the final decision (after speaking to Jane yes, it has to do with UX and that!)

What I updated, I did how I felt it sounded best to myself I suppose? :P

[caesarsgrunt]

In the end I'm sure I could learn to live with it either way too. It's a case of ​what colour the bike shed is, really...

That said, I do maintain that if this goes ahead then 'administration' should not be use on its own to refer to the admin area, because that is not what the word means. 'Administration area' would be fine, if a little cumbersome.

[JohnONolan]

Agree with caesargrunt on all counts.

[nacin]

I don't mind 'admin' as is. I have a feeling a better way to solve this ticket will be to add translator's comments where appropriate, that way you can tell the difference. But I think you probably can, anyway.

[jane]

Too late in the cycle to go messing with this... documentation would all be out of date. Let's hold off and revisit with 3.2.

[chriscct7]

What are we really solving or improving upon when we change these strings? For over 10 years, WordPress documentation and our users have called the backend "the admin" or "admin area". I agree its a case of color vs colour.

Tagging for review by @helen, but I think close as wontfix.

[SergeyBiryukov]

These strings seem clear enough as is to me, I'd agree with wontfix.

[dimadin]

As I am translator and have seen all the strings, at the time some strings used "admin" for both area and user, and also there is use of both "administrator" and "administration".

What I wanted is to use only one term for same thing, it's not matter which one, but separate between two uses.

I can search PO files to see if there are still cases that need at least translator context, though even in English they are not very clear.

[chriscct7]

I don't think redefining what words we use is going to help make the user experience better. Most users get the context of "admin" from the context of whether its a location or a person. "the admin approved me" vs "go to the admin". Administration is both too long to be practical in certain places and also would require users to accept that the thing they've called "the admin" is now "the administration" or "the administration area". The former could easily be misinterpreted as a person where it's used to describe a group of people.

Ultimately, I think what should happen here if additional context is needed for translations is someone should refresh the patch and instead of changing the strings themselves, change the functions being used to output the strings from _e to _ex and __ to _x and utilize the context parameter to get the context desired. This is pretty much a perfect case of where those functions make sense to use.

[SergeyBiryukov]

_x() is meant to distinguish the same string used in different contexts, e.g. _x( 'Add New', 'post' ) vs. _x( 'Add New', 'plugin' ), as it may require a different translation in each case.

A translator comment (/* translators: ... */) would be appropriate here if any clarification is needed.

[helen]

New ticket if disambiguation is needed for translators, otherwise I think this is not at the point of pursuit anymore.