Since its launch in 2008, Omeka Classic has only had one major interface overhaul which came with the version 2.0 release in 2013. 
At that time we continued the basic color scheme of earth tones, but now we’ve moved in the direction that echoes the branding for Omeka Classic and Omeka.net.
Under the direction of Omeka’s lead designer, Kim Nguyen, we have been hard at work for many months to bring you today’s release of Omeka Classic 3.0. This version of the platform sports a completely redesigned administrative interface. The software retains all the functionality that you and hundreds of thousands of other users have come to know and love over the years, while also maintaining and extending our commitment to responsiveness and accessibility.
For this release, every administrative view of the core has been updated with a fresh new theme. We had a crucial assist in this base work from our friend Michael Tedeschi, who did the first pass at the design. Then, Kim undertook the massive task of tweaking and applying those styles to the full range of views and elements across the platform. The Omeka Team maintains nearly 50 of the over 100 plugins available to extend the software’s functionality. Each of them had to be reviewed, restyled, tested, and retested across browsers and devices. When we were satisfied with the implementation, we turned our attention to updating the User Manual, which included a review of 90 pages of documentation and the replacement of roughly 300 screenshots. (Big shout out to Katherine Knowles for the heavy lifting here!) In addition to taking care of the supporting materials for our users who host their own Omeka Classic installations, the Omeka Team also supports over 80,000 users who work with the Omeka.net hosted platform. Ken Albers and Kim Nguyen have spearheaded the implementation, testing, and update of the new releases and documentation in that environment.
Over the past several weeks, many of our community developers have been hard at work updating their plugins so that the new styles are implemented across their work as well. We deeply appreciate this time and attention from the busy developers who support and extend Omeka’s capacity. As you update your core and plugins, and take the new admin for a spin, if you notice that things look a little wonky on your community-developed plugins, drop those developers an issue on the plugin’s github repository asking them to update their styles.
We hope you enjoy the new look, and as always, we’re eager to hear from you on the forums.