Just include this jQuery snippet in a global script:

jQuery(function(){var admin = jQuery(‘#wp-admin-bar-my-account > a’); admin.html(admin.html().replace(‘Howdy’, ‘Welcome’));})

GD Press Tools Pro will have the option to do this soon.

This is not good solution because it involves changing WordPress core files.

Hi,

Another option is to edit the ‘howdy’ by changing line 141 in the admin-bar.php file (found under the /wp-includes sub directory)

$howdy = sprintf( __(‘Howdy, %1$s’), $current_user->display_name );

Now edit the (‘Howdy, %1$s’) bit of the code to reflect your personal preference

$howdy = sprintf( __(‘Hello or whatever, %1$s’), $current_user->display_name );

Finaly, save the changes and FTP the admin-bar.php file to the /wp-includes sub directory.

Regards
Carmen

Yeah, I saw both. And I don’t understand why they still promote gettext method which is bad. And they defend ‘Howdy’ like without it WordPress wouldn’t be recognized anymore. “It’s part of WordPress DNA” says Jane Wells. Give me a break!

Here is the ticket in the Trac: http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/19490 containing patch even, and the post here: http://wpdevel.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/admin_user_info_links/ where Matt ended the discussion on it, so we at least know how doesn’t allow that change. Suggested gettext filtering method is bad, because is targeting all Howdy words coming through it.

I cannot believe it! It looks like they feel we offend their collective wisdom. How sad is that?

As for the tech side, one line in the code needs to be changed to add filter so that Howdy can be changed. That’s it, one line.

There is another solution with accessing the text through translation engine, but both these methods are not really good because they have potential to break things. We need filter. And that is a 1 minute to create and submit patch that can go into 3.3.1, but that is not going to happen, lead developers refused to do it already.