Indicate if widgets exist in sidebars on the Appearance > Widgets page

[bananastalktome]

On the 'Appearance' -> 'Widgets' page, there is no indication whether widgets exist in sidebars besides the primary one (which is the only one expanded by default). The small down/up triangles (which didn't toggle between up/down until 3.8 or late 3.7) as the only UI difference between an expanded & empty sidebar or collapsed one is such a subtle nuance that it is lost on many of our users.

Since one of the sidebars is expanded by default, many of our users assume that only sidebars with widgets in they are expanded. Also, since the 'Primary' sidebar may not even contain any widgets for sites in our multisite environment, our users are then left even more confused.

While I don't think that expanding all sidebars with widgets in them would be a good idea, I think that a number or other UI hint that "there are widgets in this sidebar" would make it more obvious and easier for our users to realize that the non-expanded sidebars aren't empty.

For reference, attached are two screenshots of how the sidebars appear to users when they load the page and then a second one with all the sidebars expanded.

Thanks!

[ocean90]

When you add some widgets to a widget area the widget area is probably open. Saving this state, see #22253, would solve this issue too.

[chriscct7]

Closing as wontfix. Complete lack of interest on the feature on the ticket over the last 2 years. Feel free to reopen when more interest re-emerges (particularly if there's a patch)