[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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Comment (by celloexpressions):

 In the usability testing that's been done so far, the layout/animation to
 open and close didn't seem to be an issue. It is an entirely different
 context, but that provides focus on the task of finding a theme and
 previewing it, which is a detached workflow from the rest of the
 customizer. However, that doesn't mean that other users won't have issues
 with this approach and that we shouldn't test more broadly and explore
 other options.

 One other issue with using the preview area for this would be the flow on
 mobile, where there is a toggle between preview and customize. Stripping
 everything down to the lowest common denominator of a small screen, the
 currently-proposed full-screen experience is similar to the way the add-
 menu-item and add-widget panels behave on mobile. If we can agree that
 that is a good interaction, on larger screens we need to decide what
 elements should be added, if any, as the UI scales up.

 > Why are we rushing to get the feature post out when it's not at all
 clear that this is the right direction? I totally get we want to get it in
 but sometimes things need time to simmer. Can we iterate on the layout in
 the time? I absolutely would oppose something being rushed to a feature
 post without getting proper consideration.

 This has already been simmering for quite a bit of time, with the initial
 design concept (which was specifically focused on the layout in a full
 screen panel off to the left) happening 20 months ago and a full-fledged
 patch being available for 6 weeks. It is unfortunate that there hasn't
 been more design feedback to date, but hopefully we can come to a
 conclusion quickly. There are several other teams that need to review and
 approve this, so we need to give them time to test and review the code as
 well. We can continue considering changes to any element as that happens,
 and iteration is likely to be necessary, hence the schedule.

 I'm totally open to changes, but the goal remains for this feature to be
 in 4.7. This is a significant functionality hole that's been in place
 since 4.2. The specific implementation here has been discussed in the
 weekly customize meetings and make/core updates, as well as highlighted
 for attention in the core dev chats and many of the design team meetings
 over the past six weeks. The later feedback and new ideas arrive, the less
 time we have to implement them and iterate accordingly. We have until
 October 19th to get to a commit, and I've budgeted 7 days for the final
 code review and commit workflow, leaving us with two and a half weeks for
 iteration.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/37661#comment:47>
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