[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #37974: Add multi-panel feature to pages through add_theme_support

[WordPress Trac]

#37974: Add multi-panel feature to pages through add_theme_support
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 Reporter:  karmatosed      |       Owner:
     Type:  task (blessed)  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal          |   Milestone:  4.7
Component:  Themes          |     Version:
 Severity:  normal          |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  ux-feedback     |     Focuses:  ui
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Comment (by celloexpressions):

 Sorry @bradyvercher, just seeing your patch now.

 I appreciate the effort, but at a glance this looks more appropriate as a
 plugin or theme strategy than what core would need to do. The patch is
 (essentially) entirely green, suggesting that we're adding a lot of code
 without introducing improvements to the underlying API. It looks like a
 large portion of the JS is implemented outside of the customizer JS API
 structure - it should all be encapsulated in section or control objects.

 As a general rule, we need to try to improve on existing API functionality
 when introducing new functionality rather than working around it. The
 `dropdown-pages` control is the current way to add post object selector
 UI; we would need to look at improving that functionality and potentially
 splitting it out into its own control in a way that is modular and
 hierarchical so that others can make use of its various components.

 I am not comfortable with even considering adding something as complex as
 [attachment:37974.diff] to core for this feature right now. This is
 considerably more code than should be required for this feature, will
 require a lot of maintenance effort, and doesn't integrate particularly
 closely with the customizer API, making it harder to maintain and
 contribute to. And as far as I can tell at a glance, this is only for the
 customize part.

 I'm open to a more streamlined solution, which could be simpler with what
 I suggested above, or as complex as some of the other suggestions here if
 issues such as #36733 are addressed in the process. Building out a
 solution to #36733 would be a requirement if we want to use that UI here,
 with the option to update widgets and menus to use it later.

 If we can get something similar to what is mocked up here with less
 extreme technical debt, I'm okay with that. Building it in a way that
 properly considers/integrates with the existing API and future
 compatibility is why this will take time to develop in a way that will
 work for core. My suggestions above are the best technical implementation
 I can come up with for a similar end result UI; we need to strive for
 simplicity there as much as possible.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/37974#comment:89>
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