[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #37661: A New Experience for Discovering, Installing, and Previewing Themes in the Customizer

[WordPress Trac]

#37661: A New Experience for Discovering, Installing, and Previewing Themes in the
Customizer
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 Reporter:  celloexpressions         |       Owner:  celloexpressions
     Type:  feature request          |      Status:  assigned
 Priority:  high                     |   Milestone:  4.7
Component:  Customize                |     Version:  4.2
 Severity:  normal                   |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch has-           |     Focuses:  ui, accessibility,
  screenshots needs-testing has-     |  javascript
  user-testing ux-feedback           |
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Changes (by celloexpressions):

 * keywords:  has-patch has-screenshots needs-testing has-user-testing =>
     has-patch has-screenshots needs-testing has-user-testing ux-feedback


Comment:

 Thanks @karmatosed!

 The does look better for the upload button. The button currently remains
 when it's open to toggle closed, but we could add a close button on the
 right end of that one-link approach as well. The install button is
 "supposed" to float right currently, but it may depend on screen size.
 That particular UI is exactly the same as in the admin, so we'd probably
 want both places updated. However, the shiny theme upload is actually the
 one thing that's not yet functional, and a potential element that could be
 split out and added in the future if we don't have time to add it.

 In addition to the "customize" back button, `esc` currently closes the
 panel. The customizer browser history project (slated for 4.7) would
 enable the browser back button to also work, and this came up as something
 users expect to work in the user testing as well.

 The mockup with themes over the preview is interesting. I like that the
 customize context remains clearer, and we could potentially show a back
 button in the customizer pane to close. However, I'm not sure that it
 makes sense cognitively to show a grid of themes where the preview is -
 that may introduce confusion about what the preview/site vs. the UI is.
 We'd also lose the visual hierarchy of themes being "above" all of the
 other controls by placing them to the left of all of the other customize
 options. The customize pane also feels like "wasted" space with some
 irrelevant options (device preview, save & publish probably doesn't make
 sense when you can't see the preview, etc.), unless we were to place other
 elements there, such as the help text maybe? Once we start hiding the
 irrelevant elements and changing the type of thing that's shown their,
 though, we'd also lose some of the consistency of having that visible.

 @folletto what are your thoughts on the proposal above and the current one
 with a full-screen slideout, since you came up with the original layout
 concept of the full screen slide?

 We're late in the game, so we need other designers to weigh in here ASAP,
 as well as to explore other potential layouts. It sounds like the overall
 placement of the themes panel and the navigation in and out of it is the
 biggest question at the moment. The feature proposal post is scheduled to
 go out in two days and we have a bit of time to iterate afterwards, but
 not much, so we'll need to make a decision soon.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/37661#comment:45>
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