[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #27159: Removing TinyMCE buttons to improve user experience

[WordPress Trac]

#27159: Removing TinyMCE buttons to improve user experience
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 Reporter:  hugobaeta    |       Owner:  hugobaeta
     Type:  enhancement  |      Status:  assigned
 Priority:  normal       |   Milestone:  4.7
Component:  TinyMCE      |     Version:  3.8
 Severity:  normal       |  Resolution:
 Keywords:               |     Focuses:  ui, administration
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Comment (by azaozz):

 Replying to [comment:104 hugobaeta]:
 > I'd REALLY like to see this go in 4.7, and that means we need some
 consensus by tomorrow, before core chat, at the latest.

 No, enhancements can be added prior to beta-1 which is scheduled for
 [https://make.wordpress.org/core/4-7/ October 26, 2016].

 I'm going to repeat what I said
 [https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/27159?replyto=104#comment:39
 couple of months ago]:
  +1 to making any changes after (extensive) user testing and research.
 This is one of the most used and perhaps most sensitive places in
 WordPress and even a small change can cause problems for many many users.

 I made the testing plugin with the hope that at least the people
 commenting on this ticket will do a little bit of testing. I did some very
 limited testing with five existing and first-time users. What I found out
 is pretty interesting: both existing and new users opened the second
 toolbar row (as soon as they found out it exists) and never ever closed it
 again. I even asked why they don't close it and the answer was that
 leaving it open is more convenient and they can see all available buttons.

 I know these test results are extremely limited and cannot be used when
 making a decision, but they are an indication of what "real" testing may
 reveal. In this case it shows that moving buttons to the bottom row will
 have no effect on the usage of these buttons as they will still be visible
 at all times.

 This super limited testing also indicated another (much bigger) problem:
 somebody mentioned this some time ago (think it was @mor10), around 20% of
 the WordPress users don't even know there is second editor toolbar, and
 some feel "pretty stupid" after discovering it. Think this is bad UX and
 something that can be fixed easily by having the second toolbar open by
 default, and fixing it is more important and will improve the UX for these
 20% of users a lot.

 In short: moving buttons to the top or bottom toolbar doesn't seem to work
 in the way many people think it works. It seems it's just going to be
 annoying for existing users. If we are about to risk "pissing off" several
 millions of people, lets do it after some solid proof that what we are
 doing is right, please :)

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/27159#comment:105>
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