Just saw a new plugin pop up on the dashboard that “removes the author column” in the edit post window for single author blogs. (?!!)

Why ? What’s wrong with using the  screen options ?

One of the motivations touted was that it “releases” screen real estate so you can add in other columns with other plugins. Well yes, but that’s what the screen options are for.

Each additional column’s value is called in a function.  If that field is not to be displayed, then the function will not be called.   This is the beauty of using the wordpress screen options – one can have more columns than look nice on the screen as a default and then tailor it with the screen options, choosing the fields that make sense for you.

Example of screen options being used t o control which columns appear

But I want it for ALL my users

If you need to do this for all your users, then consider the amr-user-templates plugin rather – it works “with” wordpress rather than against it.

Allows plugins adding fields to standard screens to offer many fields and allow the web administrator to choose which to display. Initial basic users will see a simple screen. Sophisticated users who know about the screen options can then tailor this for themselves.