[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #21666: Customizer Revisions (previously reset/undo/revert)

[WordPress Trac]

#21666: Customizer Revisions (previously reset/undo/revert)
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 Reporter:  dgwyer                   |       Owner:  melchoyce
     Type:  feature request          |      Status:  assigned
 Priority:  normal                   |   Milestone:  Future Release
Component:  Customize                |     Version:  3.4.2
 Severity:  normal                   |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  needs-patch ux-feedback  |     Focuses:  ui
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Comment (by critterverse):

 >Revision management will become even more important with the customizer
 adding support for block editing in WordPress 5.8.

 Hi there! To elaborate a little further on this point, there’s been some
 progress recently on adding a version of the standard Gutenberg editor top
 bar to the Customizer Widgets editor — it will include Undo/Redo actions
 that work the same way as in the post editor:
 [https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/31653 GitHub PR #31654]

 However, I want to caution against using this as a case for adding a
 similar implementation across the entire Customizer as **there are a lot
 of open questions around whether the Widget block editor will continue to
 live in the Customizer**.

 To take a brief detour into the world of Widgets: there are currently two
 editor experiences, one within the Customizer and one as a standalone
 screen accessible from the Appearance menu. From my perspective, this is
 an extremely confusing user experience and we should be taking steps to
 consolidate these two editors into one. @celloexpressions, you had a
 really interesting proposal along those lines in
 [https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/26012 this GitHub issue] to
 unify to a single full-screen widget editor that is powered by the
 Customizer behind the scenes, but would ultimately appear in the
 Appearance menu. Here's another interesting proposal that feels like it
 has some conceptual overlap with this idea:
 [https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/31074 GitHub issue #31074]

 I'm only getting into the open questions around the Widget editors here
 because I don't believe this is the most stable foundation for making
 larger decisions that will affect the Customizer as a whole.

 Beyond that, I think the most recent comps for this proposal are going to
 be tricky to pick up and run with because at the moment, we are adding the
 Gutenberg editor top bar Undo/Redo implementation on the block-based
 Customizer Widgets screen. I have big questions about whether it would
 make sense to apply this element to other non block-based screens.
 Alternately, it would be confusing to see two different approaches to
 Undo/Redo functionality within the Customizer (a Gutenberg version for the
 Widget screen and one that’s similar to the comps above for other
 screens).

 I think this proposal would benefit hugely from a larger conversation
 about where the Customizer is headed in the future. Should the Customizer
 become more "Gutenberg-like" over time to help unify the very different
 experiences/styles? Or will the functionalities that exist in the
 Customizer eventually be handled elsewhere?

 TL;DR: I'm not sure it makes sense for a designer to get involved here
 until we have a better sense of what the near-term and long-term goals for
 the Customizer are, and what kind of time and resources should be
 allocated there.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/21666#comment:55>
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