[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #19912: Add Widget Groups and Locations

[WordPress Trac]

#19912: Add Widget Groups and Locations
-----------------------------+--------------------
 Reporter:  koopersmith      |       Owner:
     Type:  feature request  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal           |   Milestone:  3.4
Component:  General          |     Version:  3.3.1
 Severity:  normal           |  Resolution:
 Keywords:                   |
-----------------------------+--------------------

Comment (by Nobble):

 @azaozz replied:
 "Currently the widgets config screen is roughly separated into two
 columns: unused widgets on the left and widgets that are in use on the
 right. Loosing that logical separation would make the UI a lot messier and
 harder to use."

 I think the issues with more complex sites is that the UI is hard to use
 and messy already:
 - unused/available widgets take up almost all of the real estate of the
 screen which makes the workspace very small. If a theme and/or plugins add
 a lot of widgets to select from, it just gets worse.
 - the vertical listing of expandable widget areas doesn't visually
 correlate with the layout of a page, the only thing you can rely on is the
 description.
 - it's hard to move around individual widgets between widget areas with a
 limited screen height
 - While reverting to a pre 2.7 type of scenario is not the answer, setting
 up widgets is by default multi-step, since most widgets require some kind
 of custom configuration (even if it is just setting the title). Right now
 you have to click to expand a widget area just to see what widgets are in
 it. Multi-step itself is not the problem, it just needs to be something
 that is intuitive and easy to use. Clearly the pre 2.7 situation was not,
 but that doesn't preclude a better solution from being developed.

 If locations can be defined for widget areas it can help developers find a
 better way to manage widgets. Right now many theme companies have created
 different solutions that use a custom drag and drop widget ui and none of
 them are really ideal. I have yet to see a solution that is congruent with
 the rest of the admin ui. This demonstrates it's a challenging component
 and people are trying to build their own solutions. There's clearly a need
 and I think groups and locations would be a step forward toward giving
 developers the tools to create something better.

 Right now with most clients, I don't bother trying to teach them how to
 use the widgets screen because they just get overwhelmed. It's an area
 most users will only visit a few times vs more common areas like the post
 edit screen, they easily forget how it all operates.

 As a developer I hate the widget screen because it's a pain to work with
 if you have slightly more complex layouts, want to show certain widgets in
 certain situations etc. There's no good way to do without leaving users
 with a confusing widget UI to work with...unless one makes a separate UI
 which is what many theme companies have done with mixed results.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/19912#comment:8>
WordPress Trac <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/>
WordPress blogging software