[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #37661: A New Experience for Discovering, Installing, and Previewing Themes in the Customizer

[WordPress Trac]

#37661: A New Experience for Discovering, Installing, and Previewing Themes in the
Customizer
-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------
 Reporter:  celloexpressions         |       Owner:  westonruter
     Type:  feature request          |      Status:  reviewing
 Priority:  high                     |   Milestone:  4.9
Component:  Customize                |     Version:  4.2
 Severity:  normal                   |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-screenshots has-     |     Focuses:  ui, accessibility,
  user-testing has-ux-feedback has-  |  javascript
  patch needs-testing                |
-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------
Changes (by celloexpressions):

 * keywords:  has-screenshots has-user-testing has-ux-feedback needs-patch
     =>
     has-screenshots has-user-testing has-ux-feedback has-patch needs-
     testing


Comment:

 [attachment:37661.11.diff] contains an initial implementation of
 [attachment:customizer-theme-showcase-i4.png]. Here's what still needs to
 be implemented:
 - Mobile styling/design (if anyone has time to sketch up a design in the
 next ~18 hours that would be helpful). I'll work on this tomorrow evening.
 - Uploading themes. I'd like to propose working through that in #40278
 after this is initially committed so that we can iterate a bit on that
 aspect of the design (in the next week or so). I'm not convinced that it
 should be part of the installed section header, but that may be the best
 option. Wondering if @melchoyce has other ideas here as well.
 - Testing and bugfixes. I have a few small things so far; please test
 [attachment:37661.11.diff] or https://github.com/xwp/wordpress-
 develop/pull/216 and report anything you find (except for mobile, for
 now). @westonruter if you could update the shared testing environment that
 would be great.

 Current diversions from [attachment:customizer-theme-showcase-i4.png]:
 - It doesn't feel quite right to fake the radio buttons for the sections.
 I kept the checkmark for now, but we can probably come up with something
 else that works better.
 - Feature filter headers currently use the core styling rather than
 introducing the bottom border and respacing them as the mockup shows (we
 should look at changing this everywhere in core).
 - Feature filter "features" list has been condensed to eliminate less-
 useful options to better emphasize the more-useful options.
 - Uploading not yet implemented (needs server-side work).

 Detailed changelog since [attachment:37661.10.1.diff] (copied from the
 GitHub PR for future reference):
 - Merge branch 'master' into trac-37661-redux and fix merge conflicts
 - Remove favorites functionality: This feature is most useful for people
 that install the same themes on numerous sites; that is rarely the case
 for themes, unlike with plugins.
 - Remove featured view: Featured themes on .org are actually random. It is
 more helpful to show latest or popular themes with the option of filtering
 them.
 - Remove latest and popular sections: These are actually intended to be
 used as sort order options. Latest themes will be displayed by default
 when there are no filters.
 - Remove API for text before a section heading: Intentionally preserves
 the CSS for this in a more generic way that can be used elsewhere by core
 and third-parties. This is designed to provide the correct spacing and
 alignment between sections when including additional text.
 - Merge search and feature filter sections into wporg section: First pass
 at combining filtering sections and moving filters into the preview area.
 Brings the installed theme filter to all users. Needs styling and testing.
 - Initial styling for the filter bar and feature filter: Restores existing
 core feature filter styling.
 - Move displayed themes count to the filter bar.
 - Rework feature filters in core and detach from .org API: Place subject
 filters first, then features, then layouts. Aggressively remove tags from
 the list that do not provide significant value to the average user.
 Reasons for removal include: tags that apply to most themes, tags that
 apply to few enough themes that (roughly) more than half of the results
 are themes abusing the tag list that should not have the tag, tags that
 are confusing or unclear to a typical user, tags for features that most
 themes provide. Detach the .org API from the theme list and only use the
 list provided in core; we can reconcile the core and .org feature lists
 the next time the .org directory is reworked.
 - Unstick the filter bar on short windows/screens
 - Add a count of selected filters to the feature filter toggle
 - Fix misplaced JS semicolons.

 Build checks are passing and there are currently no merge conflicts. I did
 a quick accessibility check for regressions - if anyone else could take a
 closer look that would be great. The simplified design should represent a
 significant accessibility improvement.

--
Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/37661#comment:179>
WordPress Trac <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/>
WordPress publishing platform