[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #23716: Discuss theme locations as meta box vs. checkboxes

[WordPress Trac]

#23716: Discuss theme locations as meta box vs. checkboxes
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 Reporter:  lessbloat     |       Owner:
     Type:  defect (bug)  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal        |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Menus         |     Version:
 Severity:  normal        |  Resolution:
 Keywords:                |
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Comment (by lessbloat):

 My thoughts with regard to your concerns are:

 > 1) When assigning pre-defined custom menus to a Theme's defined Theme
 Locations, the process now requires considerably more steps, clicks, page
 refreshes, and time

 I agree, this does take a bit more time.  Again, there is no perfect
 scenario here.  I see 5 options.  each has pros and cons, but we have to
 pick one of them.

 '''1) Meta box - left column at the top'''

 PRO's

 - It's in your face, you can't miss it
 - When switching themes, you can update all of your theme locations in one
 spot.
 - It's familiar for existing users

 CON's

 - It's unnecessarily in your face. ;-)
 - It pushes menu item options down the page
 - It's awkwardly grouped in that left column when everything else is a
 menu item option
 - It forces users to take a third step (outside the flow of creating the
 menu) at the end of creating a menu, where they then have to select a
 theme location.

 '''2) Meta box - left column at the bottom'''

 PRO's

 - When switching themes, you can update all of your theme locations in one
 spot.

 CON's

 - Chances are, it would get pushed past the fold for some users
 - It's awkwardly grouped in that left column when everything else is a
 menu item option
 - It forces users to take a third step (outside the flow of creating the
 menu) at the end of creating a menu, where they then have to select a
 theme location.

 '''3) Meta box - right column at the top'''

 PRO's

 - It's in your face, you can't miss it
 - When switching themes, you can update all of your theme locations in one
 spot.

 CON's

 - It's unnecessarily in your face. ;-)
 - It would through the balance of the page all off
 - It pushes the menu editing screen down the page
 - It's awkwardly grouped in that right column when everything else is
 related to editing a specific menu
 - It forces users to take a third step (outside the flow of creating the
 menu) at the end of creating a menu, where they then have to select a
 theme location.

 '''4) Meta box - right column at the bottom'''

 PRO's

 - When switching themes, you can update all of your theme locations in one
 spot.

 CON's

 - We actually tested this placement and it failed, because people were
 clicking the "theme location" "save" button incorrectly thinking that it
 was saving the changes to their menu.
 - Chances are, it would get pushed past the fold for some users
 - It's awkwardly grouped in that right column when everything else is
 related to editing a specific menu
 - It forces users to take a third step (outside the flow of creating the
 menu) at the end of creating a menu, where they then have to select a
 theme location.

 '''5) A checkbox for each theme location inline for each menu'''

 PRO's

 - It removes the "theme locations" meta box from the left column, making
 the actions one takes in that column nice and clear.  This also pulled the
 menu item options up, making them more visible.
 - It reduced the visual clutter on the page.  Forcing the user (especially
 a new user) to grok what was going on when they were presented with
 options to add menus, and edit menus, and add menu items, and set theme
 locations all on the same UI, was just too much to ask.  For you it makes
 sense sure.  It's the way you've been doing it all along.  But for most
 users it was a terribly confusing experience.
 - It reduces the page reloads to get set up with a new menu from 3 down to
 2.

 CON's

 - We're moving functionality that existing users will have grown used to.
 - When changing themes, you've got to hop into each individual them to set
 the theme location.

 Weighing my options, I'd be comfortable with either 5, or 2.

 > 2) When looking at the "Select a menu" dropdown, there is no way to
 determine if all Theme locations have an associated custom menu assigned

 All of the theme locations are listed out under each menu.  When you load
 the page, the menu you edited most recently will be auto loaded.  If
 another menu is set as a theme location, you will see it in grey next to
 the theme location:

 [[Image(http://f.cl.ly/items/3t1j44361h3V3o1r0n3s/already-set.jpg)]]

 So, yes, you will always see at-a-glance which theme locations have menus
 assigned.

 > 3) When editing a given menu, in the Theme Location field checkboxes,
 there is no indication that a given Theme Location already has a custom
 menu assigned to it

 Not true.  See my answer in 2.

 > 4) With long-ish custom menus, the "Theme Locations" field is buried
 "beneath the fold", resulting in no initially visible UI for assigning the
 current menu to a Theme Location

 You're right.  Again, it comes down to weighing the options out of the 5
 listed above.

 > 5) Overall, the page now seems to emphasize adding/editing custom menus,
 and seems to deemphasize assigning custom menus to Theme Locations, and
 the latter is arguably the more important role/task for Appearance ->
 Menus

 I agree that we are emphasizing adding/editing custom menus.  You can't
 set a menu to a theme location if you can't figure out how to create a
 menu in the first place. ;-)

 Would love to hear others chime in with thoughts.

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/23716#comment:4>
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