[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #35288: Search Engines Discouraged message improvements

[WordPress Trac]

#35288: Search Engines Discouraged message improvements
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 Reporter:  afercia         |      Owner:
     Type:  defect (bug)    |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal          |  Milestone:  4.5
Component:  Administration  |    Version:
 Severity:  normal          |   Keywords:
  Focuses:  ui              |
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 While working on #35049 was wondering why this text is capitalized.
 Investigated a bit and realized this message could probably be improved a
 bit too, especially now that its title attribute is going to be removed.
 At the very least, I'd propose to don't use capitalized text and try to
 style it to make it a bit more evident.

 TL;DR

 As noted in the ticket that introduced it, users may forget to turn
 privacy mode off with disastrous consequences in search results. So, as a
 first step, the message should probably be made a bit more evident. Please
 consider the "At a Glance" widget can display additional things (updates,
 network storage) and plugins can add their own stuff. See screenshot
 below:

 [[Image(https://cldup.com/uN1C3IyYRl.png)]]

 Being in the middle of all that text, the message looks somehow hidden and
 not so prominent as it should be. WordPress already has CSS classes for
 this, thinking at notices (maybe `notice-warning` ?). It would be great to
 have a design proposal from UI people and designers :)

 Also, was thinking there's probably no need to use a so short text because
 the widget provides enough room to use a more meaningful message and link.

 As a general rule, text used for links should be self-explanatory, make
 sense even when read out of context, and should describe the link purpose.
 Introducing changes here can be a bit tricky since there are filters in
 place so I'd consider this part optional but also a nice improvement worth
 considering.

 Ideally, there should be some text to indicate the privacy status followed
 by a meaningful link. Since in the related options page this setting is
 called "Search Engine Visibility" (but it can be "Site Visibility" and use
 radio buttons if the `blog_privacy_selector` action is used. see [21838],
 the discussion on the related ticket #16416, and
 [https://irclogs.wordpress.org/chanlog.php?channel=wordpress-
 dev&day=2012-08-29&sort=asc#m446982 the discussion on IRC]) I'd propose to
 use something like this:
 {{{
 Search engines are currently asked not to index your content.[br]
 [link]Change search engine visibility settings[/link]
 }}}

 For reference, here's some history:

 introduced in #12211 and initially meant to look like a button because it
 was close to the "Visit Site" button:

 [[Image(https://cldup.com/lYrYTBgNEU.png)]]

 Since it looked like a button, text was capitalized following WordPress
 conventions ''and I guess this is the reason why it's still capitalized''.
 Then it was changed to look like a link and later the original "Privacy
 On" text was changed in "Search Engines Blocked". Still capitalized :)

 [[Image(https://cldup.com/FDsJzQk_ca.png)]]

 Then it went through many other changes:

 - visually changed from a button to a link in [13182]
 - restricted by capabilities in [13559]
 - text changed from "Privacy On" to "Search Engines Blocked" in [13767]
 - filters were introduced in [14237]
 - moved from admin-header.php to the 'Right Now' widget in the Dashboard
 in [17829]
 - text changed from 'Search Engines Blocked' to 'Search Engines
 Discouraged' in [21838]
 - removed with the Dashboard redesign in [26144]
 - then restored in [26700]

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/35288>
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