[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #28784: Improve the Customize experience on mobile

[WordPress Trac]

#28784: Improve the Customize experience on mobile
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 Reporter:  celloexpressions  |       Owner:
     Type:  enhancement       |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal            |   Milestone:  Future Release
Component:  Customize         |     Version:  3.4
 Severity:  normal            |  Resolution:
 Keywords:                    |     Focuses:  ui, administration
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Comment (by folletto):

 After a discussion on #28979, porting here the relevant piece to keep the
 conversation going:

 Reporting my comment
 [https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/28979#comment:17 from the other
 thread]:

 > The most important point imho is that the cognitive load of slide-ins is
 lower than accordions, not higher, this for a moltitude of reasons:
 >
 > 1. The number of clicks is identical
 > 2. The positioning is preserved both in the navigation AND in the
 customization panel: fixed positioning helps people with spatial memory to
 recall items, creating visual trust.
 > 3. Slide-ins separate also clearly navigation from content. It won't be
 a mix of navigation and content, like the accordion (note that this isn't
 something new, many accordion solutions ask for a uniform set of content,
 like all menu, instead of mixed one. The same recent Google Material
 Design manual outlines accordions for menus only).
 > 4. Moving sections rely on our spatial memory overall, while things that
 fold/unfold will keep moving the whole page up and down: I click an
 accordion, content appears in between, suddenly the "next" item is way
 below, moving it as a target.
 > 5. It's easier to scan a pure list of items, instead with an open
 accordion the menu is disrupted.
 > 6. An open slide-in is clearly just that, thus helping the user to focus
 on that content, instead of having first to separate it from the context.
 It's a cleaner solution.
 > 7. Not to mention the potentially improved elegance of keyboard
 navigation... (left-right-esc). ;)
 >
 > This doesn't mean that accordions are bad overall, clearly, however they
 must be very carefully isolated from context, and used where possible not
 as navigation but as exploration (i.e. not menu-with-content, but already
 descripting items with "more"). ;)
 >
 > I'd note also in regard of #27406 that slide-ins are a better solution
 regardless of their use as a multi-layer hierarchy, or not. In other
 terms: if we could instantly convert all the accordions to slide-ins right
 now, it would still be an improvement even without implementing a multi-
 layer structure (even if I'd personally find it the natural step forward).
 > I've seen your work there... I think it was the right direction... and
 reading the thread does look to me that there was agreement on that being
 a better solution, no? :)
 >
 > Plus, all of this, good for desktop, would be just bliss on mobile. ;)


 And [https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/28979#comment:19
 celloexpressions]:

 > Lots of great points here. I think the biggest thing is separating
 navigation from content; that would facilitate changes like what I
 proposed in #29158 to make the Customizer feel more like wp-admin. My
 remaining concern would be wasted vertical space within Customizer
 sections that only have one or two controls, but that's something that
 developers could adapt to.

 So, in the context of this specific ticket, would be great to experiment a
 solution that consolidates both desktop and mobile using slide-ins instead
 of a mix of slide-ins and accordions. ;)

 Would be a big win in consistency and usability of the customization
 experience. :)

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/28784#comment:4>
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