Add visual cues when viewing drafts on the frontend

[hlashbrooke]

This is a relatively minor issue, but I've often had the problem where I think a post is published because I can view it on the frontend and there is nothing on the page that indicates that I am viewing a draft. If this happens to me from time to time then I'm sure it happens to other users too.

I propose adding a few unobtrusive visual cues to the single post page that indicates that you are viewing a draft. I have attached my changes here - they include:

• Adding "(Draft)" to the end the 'edit post' text in the admin bar
• Adding "(Draft)" to the end of the default link generated by edit_post_link()
• Adding a new body class to single post pages: single-status-{status}

These changes are minor enough to not break the existing display, yet significant enough to clearly show that you are currently viewing a draft. The addition of the post status to the body class will also help with customising the page according to the current status.

[hlashbrooke]

Changes as listed in ticket description

[johnbillion]

Makes sense. We should do this in the same way we do it for private posts; prefix the status in get_the_title(). See here.

[hlashbrooke]

Replying to johnbillion:

Makes sense. We should do this in the same way we do it for private posts; prefix the status in get_the_title(). See here.

I considered that, but I was trying to make sure that the draft posts look identical to how they will look after they're published and prefixing the title seemed a bit too intrusive. Maybe not though - happy to add that into the patch as well :)

[SergeyBiryukov]

From i18n perspective, we can't just combine "Edit This" and "Draft" as separate strings, we need a new string in order for it to be translated properly.

I think johnbillion's suggestion might actually be enough here.

[hlashbrooke]

Replying to SergeyBiryukov:

From i18n perspective, we can't just combine "Edit This" and "Draft" as separate strings, we need a new string in order for it to be translated properly.

I think johnbillion's suggestion might actually be enough here.

Thanks - I wasn't sure of the best way to handle the i18n side of things, so thought I would wait for feedback on that.

I'll make a new patch that just includes the body class and the title prefix in the same way that the 'private' prefix is handled.

[hlashbrooke]

Removes 'draft' suffixes and adds 'draft' prefix to post title

[johnbillion]

In 28963:

Prepend "Draft:" to draft post titles when previewing on the front end, and add a "single-status-$status" class to the body classes for all post statuses. Fixes #28006. Props hlashbrooke

[krogsgard]

I hate to be the debbie downer.

I've given this patch some serious thought, and I think it's a bad idea.

In short, it makes the "Preview" not much of a preview. Example: ​https://cloudup.com/cMgS64JVDUL

I write a lot. Title wrapping absolutely plays a role in my decision making for a title. Widows and Orphans are a big deal in typography, and the tone of a post can change with a widow. Adding "Draft: " to the title prevents the previewer from properly previewing and catching these typography issues.

I *do* actually like the idea of noting post status in the preview mode, but I think this is the wrong way, and the bad outweighs the benefit.

I know the patch was made to match the "Private" post style. I'd argue the private post style is the one that needs to change, to whatever format we decide to be better for drafts (or why exclude any non-published format for that matter?)

So I propose we re-think this solution, and then apply the new solution to private (and maybe other non-publish status) posts as well.

[nacin]

I agree with krogsgard here. I think it's cruft, unnecessary, and also a nightmare for those trying to control their widows.

The only reason why this is here for Private is it is a terminal status. (I'm not even a fan of it there, but that stems more from disliking private posts in general.) Meanwhile, Draft is transitional.

There are limited situations where you need a body class at all. But especially for a post status on a single post. post_class() is still in play here, which will give you the status classes. How often are you really going to need to style outside the post based on status? This is redundant and crufty. If your design happens to need this, then you should add it yourself.

I'm not saying the use cases are invalid. I'm simply saying core shouldn't do anything for them. Happy to be disagreed with, but I think both changes here are unnecessary and that [28963] should be reverted. Maybe there is a solution here to help with confusion but these are not it.

[hlashbrooke]

Even though I wrote this patch, I do tend to agree with Brian on this too. My initial patch was to append the title with '(Draft)' - also none too elegant, but it would have made title wrapping easier to predict.

My suggestion would be to remove the 'Draft:' text from the title, but keep the body class as this would give themes a way to modify the display slightly for any status. This simplifies the patch somewhat, but right now I can't think of another way of indicating that the post is a draft. Happy to take suggestions for that :)

[hlashbrooke]

Removes 'Draft:' from post title, but leaves body class in place

[SergeyBiryukov]

Replying to hlashbrooke:

My suggestion would be to remove the 'Draft:' text from the title, but keep the body class as this would give themes a way to modify the display slightly for any status.

As noted in comment:9, it's possible to do that with post_class(). It's also trivial to add it via body_class filter if necessary, so I'm going to revert [28963] completely.

[SergeyBiryukov]

In 29235:

Revert [28963].

see #28006.

[karmatosed]

With the changes happening on Gutenberg, I would suggest this could be reviewed as part of that. @joen just pinging you to take a look at this.

[melchoyce]

Let's take a step back and think about more potential solutions, outside of the previously proposed ideas. Would anyone be interested in proposing some alternative ideas either as designs or patches?