[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #30729: Rework Theme Install and Preview Flow in wp-admin (was: Theme Activation Workflow with Customizer (2))

[WordPress Trac]

#30729: Rework Theme Install and Preview Flow in wp-admin
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 Reporter:  iseulde       |       Owner:  obenland
     Type:  enhancement   |      Status:  reopened
 Priority:  normal        |   Milestone:  Future Release
Component:  Themes        |     Version:  3.8
 Severity:  normal        |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  needs-design  |     Focuses:  ui, administration
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Changes (by celloexpressions):

 * keywords:  has-patch, bulk-reopened => needs-design
 * milestone:  Awaiting Review => Future Release


Comment:

 This ticket is intended to handle changes to the wp-admin themes UI only.
 Theme installation was added to the customizer in the meantime.

 I still advocate for removing the "theme-install" "preview", which is a
 (WordPress-3.4-era) customizer-lookalike that loads an iframe with the
 WordPress.org preview site. The download/install/live-preview workflow in
 the customizer theme browser (as of WordPress 4.9) provides a far-superior
 user experience by immediately showing theme previews on the user's site,
 with their content, and with the immediate ability to customize the theme
 as needed (or to continue browsing other themes).

 The change would be to make the "Install" button secondary and replace the
 "Preview" button with an "Install & Preview" button to match the
 customizer theme installer detail view. Even better would be to replace
 both buttons with the single, primary "Install & Preview" button to match
 the grid view in the customizer. In both cases the code for and all links
 to the customizer-looking-wporg-previewer would be removed.

 The best option is to instead replace `themes.php` (dates to 3.8) entirely
 with `customize.php?autofocus[panel]=themes` (dates to 4.9). That would
 unify the theme browsing experience to a single preview-oriented interface
 that can be the focus for future improvements.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/30729#comment:14>
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