[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #45001: Relocate Admin Alerts to a new Alert Icon

[WordPress Trac]

#45001: Relocate Admin Alerts to a new Alert Icon
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 Reporter:  s3w47m88     |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect       |     Status:  new
  (bug)                  |
 Priority:  normal       |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  General      |    Version:
 Severity:  normal       |   Keywords:  2nd-opinion ui-feedback ux-feedback
  Focuses:               |
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 This is apart of a bigger project for my staff and I, you can find the
 context here https://www.theportlandcompany.com/2017/09/10/proposed-
 improvements-to-the-wordpress-ui/.

 Our goal is to clean up the UI with two principles in mind:

 - Context Visibility - Only show something when it's in context.
 - Add With Purpose - If something, such as padding or margins, don't serve
 a purpose, don't add them.
 - Simplify Number of Actions - If a step can be avoided in a process,
 avoid it.

 This ticket is about Alerts. Like updating WordPress, appear in the main
 body of the admin pages.

 We believe this is a disruptive experience and has many bugs associated
 with it:
 - Some notifications, such as the WordPress Core Update notification,
 cannot be dismissed. Sometimes authors intend this, other times it's not
 intentional, but it's always a nuisance because it persists across all
 pages.
 - This requires scrolling on *every* page load, if the alert is persistent
 across pages. On mobile this can make WP virtually unusable for rapid
 actions.
 - The dismiss button often is broken. *Many* plugins out there don't use
 it properly or code their own dismiss button because of a few limitations
 with the current function. Resulting in alerts never disappearing.
 - These alerts are disorienting to users who are not developers.
 Especially when they overrun the page.
 - If there is a dismiss button, often times the styling of that is
 inconsistent. Sometimes it's text that says "Dismiss". Sometimes it's a
 circle icon with an x. Other times it's a literal x. Sometimes it's in the
 top right. Sometimes it's in the bottom right. Etc...

 This behavior is uncommon throughout the web when you compare to GitHub,
 Amazon, Google anything, MacOS, etc...

 We propose:
  - Introducing an alert icon in the upper right of the admin bar.
  - When an alert is registered it introduces a badge count. Could be AJAX
 / jQuery Hearbeat, etc...
  - When hovered or selected you see the alerts in a menu that shifts the
 page body from right to left (just like MacOS notification center).
  - From there each item has a dismiss icon. When clicked it is
 *permanently* dismissed (another topic, many Plugins don't respect this
 for various reasons).
  - The dismiss icon is always a circle x icon right aligned and vertically
 centered.
  - Clicking on the alert could take the user to a new page that is
 contextual to the Plugin that is displaying it where they can read more
 information or take action.


 This would result in a cleaner UI, less scrolling - especially on mobile -
 less distraction that can and does cause confusion for some users, but
 maintains full functionality.

 Optionally we could implement growl-like notifications that hang for a
 moment when a new alert is registered. No dismiss buttons on those, rather
 they fade out automatically so Plugin authors don't use them to cause the
 same problem somewhere new.

 We'd be happy to do some design mockups and code a feature as Plugin if
 the leadership is interested in accepting this.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/45001>
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