[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #19867: wp_dropdown_users() still not scalable

[WordPress Trac]

#19867: wp_dropdown_users() still not scalable
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 Reporter:  prettyboymp              |       Owner:
     Type:  defect (bug)             |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                   |   Milestone:  Future Release
Component:  Users                    |     Version:  3.3.1
 Severity:  normal                   |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch needs-refresh  |     Focuses:  ui, performance
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Changes (by helen):

 * milestone:  3.9 => Future Release


Comment:

 I dove way down, and didn't come back up in time for 3.9. Here's where I
 landed (with help from gcorne). '''tl;dr:''' Autocomplete needs to enhance
 the right UI for the given data, whether that's a text input, a select
 element, or something else.

 We have two instances of jQuery UI autocomplete in core right now, both in
 multisite. One is for adding existing users to a site (either from the
 network admin or the individual site admin) and the other, added this
 cycle, is for the new site admin email (#25348).

 In exploring what it would take to allow `wp_dropdown_users()` (and
 `wp_dropdown_pages()` in #9864) to use this same method in order to scale,
 I realized that a freeform text input as the non-JS part of the UI was not
 actually ideal, and in fact, incorrect. If you test some of the patches
 I've been periodically putting onto the ticket for progress tracking,
 you'll see that I implemented a rough alternate UI, but too late in the
 cycle to do proper design and testing.

 What I also realized is that the existing usages are actually two
 different things, and one of them uses a misleading UI. For a new site
 admin email, you can enter any email address and it will create a new user
 if that user doesn't already exist. The "autocomplete" in that case is
 more of a "prompt" or "suggest" - much like tags. However, when adding an
 existing user to a site, the UI really should only allow you to select an
 existing user, and not allow for arbitrary input. Essentially, this latter
 case should operate much as a select element would. Server-side catches
 it, of course, but we should have better UI.

 I still want to push forward on approach and aim for early next release
 cycle. I'm thinking there are a few aspects:

 * What we use as the JS helper for autocomplete. jQuery UI autocomplete
 with a custom set of skins, something else? Either way, we should
 definitely use our own JS wrapper so that switching libraries or
 maintaining shims is a little more future-proofed (see: Masonry).
 * The UX and design of said helper.
 * Being smart about offering up some initial options to speed things up
 (more of a nice-to-have enhancement than a necessity), e.g. 10 users with
 the most posts for author selection dropdowns.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/19867#comment:32>
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