[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #50699: Fix and improve arranging metaboxes

[WordPress Trac]

#50699: Fix and improve arranging metaboxes
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 Reporter:  azaozz                               |       Owner:  azaozz
     Type:  task (blessed)                       |      Status:  assigned
 Priority:  normal                               |   Milestone:  5.6
Component:  Administration                       |     Version:
 Severity:  normal                               |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch needs-testing needs-dev-   |     Focuses:  ui,
  note                                           |  accessibility
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Comment (by azaozz):

 Hi @margaretschneider, @garrett-eclipse, @johnjamesjacoby, @pbiron,
 @knutsp, thanks for the feedback :)

 The reasoning behind this change is that:
 1. Arranging of screen elements is a "screen option".
 2. This functionality is not essential. It is not even "secondary" as that
 would be folding and unfolding the postboxes/screen elements by clicking
 on their headings. The "third-grade" functionality would be hiding and
 showing of postboxes/screen elements by clicking on the checkboxes in the
 Screen Option tab. So this is a "forth-grade" functionality for the screen
 that is very rarely used, typically 1-2 times for the site's "lifetime" if
 the user discovers it.
 3. If the dragging/arranging of screen elements is constantly enabled, the
 screen is in some sort of a "hybrid" state, both "production mode" and
 "options setting mode". That' doesn't seem to be a huge deal but makes the
 UI somewhat illogical.

 Dragging/arranging of postboxes was (perhaps) useful on the old Edit Post
 screen, mostly to drag a postbox from the right column to under the editor
 and back. Initially it was somewhat useful on the Dashboard. That was long
 ago, when it was possible to set up to four columns there (before
 "responsive styling" was possible). Later the CSS was updated and made
 responsive, and the column setting was removed from Screen Options. Being
 able to drag/arrange screen elements on the Dashboard has been of a
 questionable usefulness since then.

 In WP 5.5 two new buttons were added for each postbox/screen element to
 allow arranging without needing to drag. That nicely enabled keyboard
 users to arrange the screen elements. At the same time the new buttons
 introduced about 10-15 more virtually useless "tab stops" so now the users
 have to tab more to get through them. Again, that's not a "huge deal" just
 makes things a bit more lengthy/difficult.

 > Making something as essential as the ability to drag and drop items...

 I'm really curious why do you consider the ability to arrange screen
 elements so essential. A follow-up question would be to try to discover
 how many times the users that you've tutored actually used that. My
 (limited) research was not quantitative, it was done by directly
 interviewing few users. None of them seemed particularly interested in
 this. Would be great if you could provide some more info :)

 > Sorry @azaozz, my friend, but I dislike r49179 and the general direction
 this is going.
 > ...
 > Anecdotally as a user, I rearrange meta-boxes all the time, and as a
 developer I rely on the meta-box API extensively in several plugins that
 anticipate the ability to easily rearrange them.

 > I'll have to second that this change was off putting for myself.

 Right, this change will "take by surprise" everybody that's used to
 arrange screen elements often. Frankly I'm not "married" to this either.
 It was just the most logical way to fix and enhance the above mentioned
 points (that should have been done many years ago).

 Still, the screen being in a "hybrid" mode (setting the options/arranging
 the screen while using the elements) is not-so-good imho. This also leads
 to some very rare edge cases as dragging duplicates the elements IDs, etc.
 (think there is an old ticket about this).

 So, what would be best to do here? :) I'm thinking that having some
 explanation text in the Screen Options tab is pretty essential to help
 with discoverability. Also, should probably stop calling these "Boxes" and
 use the more or less standard "Screen elements" instead.

 Regarding enabling dragging only when the Screen Options tab is open, do
 you think it would work well if there is an easy way for plugins to
 control it? Perhaps a PHP filter that outputs a js setting?

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/50699#comment:29>
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