[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #35243: Extending the text widget to also allow visual mode

[WordPress Trac]

#35243: Extending the text widget to also allow visual mode
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 Reporter:  paaljoachim  |       Owner:
     Type:  enhancement  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal       |   Milestone:  Future Release
Component:  Widgets      |     Version:
 Severity:  normal       |  Resolution:
 Keywords:               |     Focuses:
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Comment (by westonruter):

 Let me clarify…

 Replying to [comment:15 azaozz]:
 > Replying to [comment:12 westonruter]:
 > > I've opened an issue to add TinyMCE support to the Text widget via the
 JS Widgets plugin
 >
 > Yeah, this is a good idea and has been long time coming. There are still
 a few things to consider/meet before starting on this:
 >
 > 1. It would be pretty bad to repeat the errors from the "Custom CSS"
 implementation. First thing to do when core is "absorbing" the features of
 a plugin is to contact the plugin's authors, and try to get them on board.
 If nothing else, this is a common courtesy.

 Agreed. We need to do better at communicating with existing plugin
 authors. I will note that one of the authors was involved in writing
 Custom CSS and the Jetpack team was pinged, but we fell short at
 connecting until too late in the cycle.

 My interest in adding TinyMCE to the Text widget in JS Widgets plugin is
 as a demonstration/prototype for how JS components can be integrated with
 a newly proposed JS-based widget foundation. The JS Widgets plugin is not
 anywhere close to merging so the TinyMCE Text widget would just be living
 there as a proof of concept that could in the future be incorporated into
 core after the proper feature plugin/project merge process. In other
 words, no core patch is in view here for the immediate future.

 > 2. There was a Feature Project to add a Media (image/audio/video)
 widget. Is it worth merging with it or taking it over? Having HTML editing
 support would also mean the users will be able to add media there.

 I believe this is #32417, which has an overwhelming number of watchers and
 support. I recall it got bogged down with scope.  @melchoyce do you see a
 TinyMCE Text widget being a simplification/superset of the media widget?

 > 3. Think we should fix/improve/change the way widgets are saved before
 we start expanding them. Saving widgets data in a custom post type makes
 most sense as far as I see. Implementing that API change, together with a
 way to convert old widgets data, should probably happen before we "absorb"
 that plugin functionality into core.

 I agree widgets need architectural improvements before we start focusing
 on creating new widgets significantly. Storing widgets as a custom post
 type is proposed in #35669 (with feature plugin), however I don't think
 it's necessarily a dependency. Also #33507/#35574 improve widgets
 architecture to allow them work with JavaScript first-and-foremost, and
 the [https://github.com/xwp/wp-js-widgets JS Widgets] plugin is an
 implementation of these tickets. Adding JS components to widgets is
 currently very painful in core. So that's why I was thinking implementing
 a visual/rich Text widget there would make sense to prototype.

 > 4. I'm not sure if there are any plans for the UI in the customizer (is
 the mockup above for the "Widgets" screen or for the customizer sidebar?),
 but editing inline, i.e. not from the customizer sidebar or from a popup,
 would make things 100 times better.

 I think the mockup is for how the widget would by default appear on the
 widgets admin screen and customizer alike. Inline/frontend editing of
 customizable elements (partials) doesn't yet have a ticket, AFAIK. But I
 think there are some good opportunities for allowing a widget control to
 appear floating next to a given rendered widget or also for the title and
 content (of the Text widget) to be edited inline with direct manipulation.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/35243#comment:16>
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