Make it clearer that category/tag slugs are optional

[smerriman]

When creating a new category or tag (or any term) via the main category/tag management page, you are presented with four fields: Name, Slug, Parent, and Description.

The field descriptions on this page make it clear that Parent is optional, and Description is not normally used.

However, all it says about the Slug is:

The “slug” is the URL-friendly version of the name. It is usually all lowercase and contains only letters, numbers, and hyphens.

There is no sign that this is optional and automatically filled in for you if left blank, with something that is acceptable 99.9% of the time.

Indeed, if you're creating a new category via the box on the Add New Post page, this field isn't even provided to fill in at all, implying that most people don't use it at all.

Even the Wordpress help page - ​http://codex.wordpress.org/Manage_Categories_SubPanel - doesn't mention this; in case it provides an even stricter set of conditions, saying it *must* be unique.

Could the wording be altered in some way to make it easier for beginners to realise that they don't need to be careful to type in a unique slug with certain conditions manually?

[mark-k]

Maybe go further then that and once the name loses focus use ajax to get the slug that will be generated automatically from the server, and fill the slug input with it. Similar to what is done for post slugs.

I think that this is a (minor) bug not an enhancement.

@smerriman, side note: slugs are not optional but mandatory, it is just that the empty slug has a special meaning. Same goes with parent.... IMHO all descriptions at that page can be made better.

[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)