The Solution To Use The Classic Stats Page
If you are blogger at WordPress.com, you might have noticed it, there are not much ways anymore to access the beautiful classic stats screen, instead we are now forced to use the new one, but there is help! Do you remember when they forced us to use the incredible hard to use new post editor? I wrote a post where you can learn how to get back to the classic editor, and there is a very similar solution to get back to the classis stats screen. We will talk about this now, in this post you will learn how to get back to the classic stats page.
How To Force A Redirect To The Classic WordPress.com Stats Screen
Before we start, I want to mention that the solution comes from tPenguinLTG, be thankful there and not here, I do just write a tutorial about it and promote the awesome script solution. But now let us take a look how we can force a redirect to the classic stats page…
We will use a script, it will redirect most stats links to the classic stats page, it will basically replace the links that would lead to the difficult to use new stats page. It’s not difficult!
Installation
1. You need to know what kind of browser you use, if you don’t know that, visit this site to learn what kind of browser you use. However, I can’t stress this enough, it would be best if you have Firefox or the Google Chrome browser installed, not only because of this solution, but also because both browsers are highly flexible, and much better tools than any other browsers. If you have one of both, be happy, if not, go install Firefox or Chrome.
2. Now we need to install an extension that can load user scripts in our browser. It depends what kind of browser we are using, Firefox users should install Greasemonkey, and Chrome users should install Tampermonkey. All others can check this list, because there are similar extensions for other browser, but you will have a better experience with Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, if you don’t use one of them, start to think about it.
3. Now we will install the magic script that will bring back the good old stats page of WordPress. Open this site, and click on “install this script”, a window should appear where you click on install, and the user script will be installed to make the redirection work.
Last Words
Now that you installed an extension for your browser that can load the redirection script, you will always be redirected to the good old stats page when you click on links in your WordPress dashboard that would lead to the new and badly designed stats page. Cool?
If you haven’t heard it, and if you are sick of the new post editor too, there is a solution too! Learn how to use the good old post editor in WordPress. If you want to thank me that I showed you how to use all the good old interfaces, I am fine with it, but don’t forget to thank tPenguinLTG, the creator of the awesome scripts that make it possible to enjoy blogging. Also never forget that there is a forum where you can raise your concerns about the recent design decisions of WordPress. I hope this guide helped you, have fun!
Diary of Dennis 
Thanks for the write-up! I do want to mention that I haven’t redirected all links, but I think the main entry points (e.g. the stats Sparkline in the WP toolbar at the top) should be covered. Let me know if I missed any.
I use the old stats page with the script, but I find myself checking the new stats page once in a while, and when I do, my user style to widen the page makes it more bearable.
Hey! I didn’t check all links yet, but I was happy to see that the entry in the upper-toolbar leads to the classic stats page, and the “view all” button in the dashboard, and then I assumed it would work for all links. There is one entry in the dashboard menu that is called “Site Stats”, this leads to the even older stats page… but I think you covered the most important links 🙂
I noticed your other solutions and wanted to try your style-sheet for the new stats page. My main concern about the new design is that I am sitting in front of a 16:9 or 16:10 screen, and the new design is so small, basically designed for mobile… I agree with your post and the widened elements should make it usable for desktop users. I’ll try it, although I really love the classic page 🙂
By the way, thank you so much… I use your editor script since a long time, it works like a charm and it’s the only reason why I am still here at wp.com… I would have left the boat if the new editor would be the only way to write. You did a lot for us all, really, thanks! 🙂
Dennis, I have to thank you again! Yesterday, my link to the old stats page failed. I put in a bookmark, but this is better. Since I already have Tampermonkey, I had only to install the script and it worked, first time out of the box. I don’t know why they are trying so hard to make it more difficult to blog. It makes no sense, but they have this bug up their collective butts that we all have to do it their way. Unfortunately, their way really sucks. Thanks again for spreading the word!!
Yes, I was quite shocked too that they replaced the one link that would still lead to the normal stats page. I was sure Penguin would have a script for that too to help us out, I asked Google and found it on his site and started to write the next guide… 🙂
Whoever made the decision at WordPress, one thing is clear, it’s stubborn. You are right, they got enough feedback about the new design, a lot of people disliked it, but yet they didn’t care about the opinions. The better that there are solutions to improve our situation, I told the Penguin in the top comment, he served us all very well with the scripts, once installed the solution is so simple and works like a charm.
Reblogged this on SERENDIPITY and commented:
Yesterday, WordPress decided that even though I had previously and continuously elected the “old” stats page, that now, I was going to use the new, confusing stats page. Today, Dennis published this, which is another workaround to bring you back to the old page where you can actually get the information you want in a way that makes sense.
The script is by tPenguinLTG. The instructions are from Dennis and this is a reblog. I did not write this, but I will guarantee that it works perfectly with Chrome. As do the earlier scripts which take you back to the old editor. Thank Dennis, not me. And tPenguinLTG who keeps coming up with fixes for the “updates” from WordPress!
bless you for this quick fix. we are of like mind. the new stats and editor formats royally suck. How could WP brass not realize this?
I believe they realized it, but someone on top of the chain pushed this idea forward anyway. This is how many businesses act, they think they are smarter then their customers or users. I remember the old forums posts about the stats screen and editor, I saw over 300 complains, and once they shut down this thread, another one popped up and was filled again with hundreds of complains in just a few days. At that time WP wrote a post how good all the changes would be, and yet again they got flooded with comments of users who would disagree, and they deleted them like crazy to keep the image up that we are just a complaining minority. I do even believe they have set up quite a lot of accounts that would drop comments like “Wow awesome!”, “Cool!”, “Good changes!” afterwards… most of them without profile images and so. It’s either that they tried to push this hard, or these accounts were real but WP newbies who didn’t know how great the older designs were. Anyway, that was a lot of drama at that time, I am totally happy that there is the workaround for both, the stats page and the editor. I am glad you like it too 🙂
I am not particularly tech savvy, but why would anyone want such awkward tedious interfaces? I do love WP, but would have never stayed if I had to work with the new editor.
It’s basically “mobile-first” design. Lots of these tech geeks and coders have read about the ever increasing market share of smartphones compared to other systems. Now some companies push the idea forward to design for mobile users first, that is probably what happened here too, or what most of us thought has happened. It’s at least clearly visible due to the fact that the screen-width of a PC screen is not fully utilized by the new editor and stats page. So, it’s probably just that simple, they did develop it for the smartphone users first, and made the “compromise” to give the desktop users a very squashed design, and hoped we would love it. Much better would have been to give the mobile users their own app, that is independent of the desktop experience. I remember that some users suggested to keep it that simple with two independent designs, but WP staff replied with something like “Not gonna happen, because not effective, that would mean to maintain two independent designs”… and I assume they meant they would split their ressources. I agree with you, the new interfaces are tedious, and hard to work with.
I know how it is all about the smartphone ad nauseum, but I would never blog any substantial content on a smart phone. Thanks for thinking of your fellow WP compadres. 😀
It might work to upload just a photo with a little bit of text, but I agree, it would drive me mad to write a wall of text with my phone 🙂 So, I don’t get that either how someone could enjoy it. 😀
One last comment, see if you can create a workaround to resume blogger comments on the reader. Now I can only search the posts I liked, but not the everchanging comment thread. It is more extensive than the comments section on the dashboard.
As mentioned in the last paragraph of my post, I am not the coder of the script, I just wrote about it and how to use it. tPenguinLTG wrote the script: https://tpenguinltg.wordpress.com/2015/03/16/more-hacks-to-the-new-wordpress-com-stats-page/
I am not sure if I understand your request and if it’s possible. I usually use the comment section in the dashboard to reply to user comments, it works very well, and you can search for comments there. But as said, I am not sure if I understand you right.
Sorry Dennis, I do recall that you are the messenger, not the coder. But I am speaking of a different function than the dashboard comments. It is a former function on the reader where you can read the comments before and after yours on another blog that you commented on. Here is the link that I saved: https://wordpress.com/activities/comments/ This link will probably lead you to where I left comments, but you will get a better idea. I miss this function because I like to read the comment threads. Also sometimes the blogger’s response to my comments do not always appear in my notifications.
Ah! I do now understand what you mean. By the way, your link is universal, it doesn’t take me to your comments, it shows my comments, and would always show the comments of the logged in person. So, this would mean it would be possible to create a link or button to it with a script, you might want to post your request on Penguins blog. Alternatively, if you are in the classic dashboard (not the new one), you can point your mouse to the dashboard link on the left side, and a menu will open where you see the entry “Comments I’ve made”, this is the same, although it looks a little bit different. 🙂
I installed Greasemonkey for Mozilla – it says it installed, but I can’t get redirected to the old stats.
Any advice? I have Windows 10.
tPenguinLTG is currently working on it. He updated the script but for now it does not work for me either. I am pretty sure that he will sort the issue out very soon, because he always cares about his scripts: https://tpenguinltg.wordpress.com/2016/12/24/classic-stats-redirect-script-v2-released/
I’d wait a couple of days and then try again. It’s also worth to follow Penguins blog to follow his work.
Thanks for the prompt response Dennis.
Merry Christmas to you.
I wish you the same! Enjoy the time together with your loved ones 🙂
It should now work: https://diaryofdennis.com/2016/12/26/check-out-the-wordpress-classic-stats-redirect-script-v2/
De-install the script and install it again. tPenguinLTG released several fixes so that it is now working again 🙂