[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #61040: Provide a framework for plugin onboarding experiences

[WordPress Trac]

#61040: Provide a framework for plugin onboarding experiences
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 Reporter:  jorbin       |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal       |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Plugins      |     Version:
 Severity:  normal       |  Resolution:
 Keywords:               |     Focuses:  administration
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Comment (by kevinwhoffman):

 **Refreshing vs. Redirecting**

 As soon as a plugin is activated, any presence that it has in the WP Admin
 UI should instantly be reflected without further action required by the
 user. This primarily includes items appearing in the admin menu and admin
 bar, since those elements are likely visible in the viewport when
 activation occurs. A user who has already clicked "Activate" should not
 have to take yet another action to see the results of said activation.

 Ideally updating the UI would happen without a page refresh, but ''if a
 refresh is necessary'', I think it's acceptable to reload the current page
 in order to update the UI. The risk with refreshing the page in order to
 update the UI is that plugins using the activation hook for onboarding
 redirects will then take over. I believe this is one of the primary
 reasons why the auto-refresh was removed in the first place. Perhaps this
 is a challenge better left to the wider effort of updating WP Admin as I
 imagine the admin menu and admin bar will change significantly.

 WordPress should avoid redirecting to a completely separate plugin
 onboarding experience as a result of pressing "Activate." Onboarding is
 configuration, not activation. An "active" plugin has an established
 meaning in WordPress that we should honor. Active does not mean that the
 plugin is fully configured and ready to do its job; it simply means that
 the plugin code is active on the site. WooCommerce, Yoast SEO, and GiveWP
 can all be "active" without having to open or complete any of their
 onboarding wizards.

 **The iPhone App Store as an analog**

 If we're using the iPhone App store as an analog, then pressing "Get" in
 the app store is the equivalent of pressing both "Install" and "Activate"
 on the WordPress Plugins screen. At the end of that process, you've got an
 app/plugin on your phone/site that is now active and ''available'' to use.
 It is not necessarily ''configured'' and ready to do its job.

 In order to actually experience the phone app, you tap the "Open" button
 which appears in place of the "Get" button. In WordPress, this would be
 the equivalent of pressing the proposed "Configure" button that takes the
 place of the "Activate" button in the plugin card.

 So while it's valuable to consider popular conventions like the App Store
 when deciding how similar experiences should work within WordPress, we
 need to be aware that there is not an apples-to-apples comparison.
 WordPress considers "Install" and "Activate" to be two separate steps
 whereas the App Store uses a singular "Get" action to accomplish both
 steps.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/61040#comment:14>
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