I am testing the upcoming release of WordPress 3.2 and there a few big differences in the Post UI that are quite welcome. Some pictures will be best to demonstrate the biggest differences.
The old Post UI can be described as dark due to the gray background and inspired in part by classical print traditions. With WordPress 3.0 and following the trends of the day, rounded corners were all the rage.
WordPress 3.1.3 Post UI - Current State
The new Post UI follows a different track. For instance, the post text style in the HTML editor is strictly monospaced, which makes sense when editing HTML. The background is now white which lightens the entire UI. Instead, the darker elements on the page become the elements that are interacted with, the movable widget boxes that contain the Post Tags and Categories selectors.
WordPress 3.2 Post UI - Coming Soon
I’ve never used it before, but coming soon in the new release is a fullscreen HTML editor. In fullscreen-HTML-mode, uploading images and the new link-selector is available as well.
Fullscreen Post UI - WordPress 3.2 - Coming Soon
I’ve used OmmWriter before and while it’s nice, I feel like this is better. It’s directly integrated into WordPress. When you’re done, you’re done.
Some things have not changed however. Setting up a scheduled post style requires that lame time selector and still does not offer standard American AM/PM times. The post-editor overflow problem was fix a long time ago and it remains fixed here too.
Overall, the new Post UI is certainly a step forward.