[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #48452: Proposal: improve distinction between buttons and other controls

[WordPress Trac]

#48452: Proposal: improve distinction between buttons and other controls
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 Reporter:  drw158                 |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement            |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                 |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Administration         |     Version:
 Severity:  normal                 |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  needs-design-feedback  |     Focuses:  ui, accessibility
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Comment (by afercia):

 > I personally always think of Github's as the gold standard (just talking
 about UI clarity).

 From an accessibility perspective, Github is not the best example and I'd
 recommend to not take it as source of inspiration.

 > inputs have inward shadows. Buttons have a gradient.

 Seems to me this goes in the opposite direction of the design feedback
 given by the design team only 4 months ago and then implemented into
 WordPress 5.3. The "flat" design of inputs and buttons is a clear choice
 expressed by the design team in ticket:34904#comment:34 and follows the
 Gutenberg design, see the related issue
 https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/15432#issuecomment-489536288

 The flat design was confirmed and agreed by several design team members,
 see for example ticket:34904#comment:38, ticket:34904#comment:40,
 ticket:34904#comment:47, and ticket:34904#comment:75

 I see now that ''other'' design team members seem to have different
 opinions :) That's not to blame anyone, and I do realize explorations are
 always good. However, it's not fully clear to me how the design team
 internal process works. Specifically, I'm not sure what developers and
 committers should do when they receive design feedback. Changing the UI
 every few months doesn't seem to me the best path forwards. Not for users,
 because they would be forced to learn new patterns continuously. Not for
 coders and committers as well, because everybody's time is limited and can
 be better spent to implement final decisions rather than continuous
 changes of direction.

 Again, not my intent to blame anyone. Just trying to understand how the
 process can be improved and what everybody can do to contribute to make it
 better. Any clarification on this would be greatly appreciated.

 On the specific issue this ticket seeks to solve: I'm not sure there's an
 issue to solve in the first place. Is the exploration here based on actual
 users testing and feedback? Any data to support that buttons and input
 fields are not sufficiently distinct? Seems to me no user testing has ever
 happened. Instead, what I get from this conversation is that most of the
 points are based on personal feeling and opinions. I'd like to see a more
 data-driven, user-testing centered process instead. In some cases the
 design team does an excellent job in user testing. Thinking at the monthly
 Gutenberg user-testing sessions. I'd like to see the same approach for
 form controls, as they're a fundamental part of the UI.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/48452#comment:15>
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