[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #51419: Reconsider the UX impact of up/down arrows on meta boxes

[WordPress Trac]

#51419: Reconsider the UX impact of up/down arrows on meta boxes
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 Reporter:  johnbillion   |       Owner:  sarahricker
     Type:  defect (bug)  |      Status:  assigned
 Priority:  normal        |   Milestone:  Future Release
Component:  Editor        |     Version:  5.5
 Severity:  normal        |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  needs-design  |     Focuses:  accessibility
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Comment (by hedgefield):

 Do you have an example of a plugin that has legacy metaboxes? I don't have
 any on my sites so I've never seen the mover arrows in the block editor.

 For the classic editor, it sure is a problem. The metabox title bar now
 has so many affordances, I think we need to streamline that a little bit.

 I like what @joedolson suggests in #50699, to be able to toggle the mover
 arrows on and off in Screen Options. This should also disable drag and
 drop. But the arrows should indeed be there initially for discoverability.

 Let's only show the drop areas when the Screen Options are open, or when
 you start to drag a metabox.

 Let's not also add sideways arrows. Instead, can we focus on the metabox
 you're moving the same way as we do with blocks that you move in the block
 editor? Then you'll always be able to see where it ended up.

 Then, I think we need to bin being able to click on the title to collapse
 while the movers are enabled. There's a dedicated UI button for it, if we
 want to limit accidental clicks, this makes the most sense to me. That
 frees up the title area to only accomodate the drag and drop affordance.
 When move and drag are disabled, the only possible action is
 collapse/expand, so then I'm fine with it.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/51419#comment:17>
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