Remove allowed tags from comment_notes_after parameter of comment_form()

[krogsgard]

A while back I wrote a post detailing (amongst other things to do with comments in WordPress) that the allowed tags displayed below comments has a lot of potential to be distracting. I propose we get rid of that output in the comment form. It's very confusing to users and I don't think very relevant. Nacin agreed in the comments, and I'd like to move the discussion forward.

Allowed tags are output as the comment_notes_afterparameter of comment_form. The patch below simply removes it. A plugin or theme developer could easily re-enable this, but I don't think they will.

[krogsgard]

Remove default comment_notes_after

[kpdesign]

I agree with removing the allowed tags content in comment_notes_after.

I currently use that to display a short comment policy, and have seen it used that way on a lot of other sites.

+1 to 30157.diff

[afercia]

If this goes in, please consider to remove also the the textarea aria-describedby attribute which points to comment_notes_after

Moreover, when themes/plugins override comment_notes_after to provide a different content, e.g. some comment policy or whatever as pointed out by @kpdesign, that content will not really ne be a description of the textarea.

[SergeyBiryukov]

Replying to afercia:

Moreover, when themes/plugins override comment_notes_after to provide a different content, e.g. some comment policy or whatever as pointed out by @kpdesign, that content will not really ne be a description of the textarea.

Yes, but the aria-describedby attribute added in [29846] specifically references #form-allowed-tags.

Good catch on removing it if 30157.diff​ goes in.

[SergeyBiryukov]

#32500 was marked as a duplicate.

[melchoyce]

+1 :)

[obenland]

@krogsgard, could you add a link to you post for posterity?

The patch needs to be refreshed too, to include removing the aria-describedby label. @rachelbaker, would you want to do that?

[rachelbaker]

@obenland Yes, I am updating the patch.

Here is the link @krogsgard was referencing: ​https://poststatus.com/wordpress-comments/

[rachelbaker]

Refreshed the original patch: removed the $comment_notes_after default param information, and removed the aria-describedby reference.

[rachelbaker]

@obenland what do you think?

[obenland]

I'm just a little hesitant because it would remove it for all existing sites too and I'm not sure how excited people are if we mess with their front end on an update.

An option could be to limit it to modern themes by checking theme support for html5 comments.

Or I'm overthinking this.

[knutsp]

I think this should not be removed. Let themes easily remove this by a filter. Maybe remove this by default only on new installs, at let it then be enabled by a filter.

[johnbillion]

It's 2015. Nobody wants to see a list of HTML tags and attributes that they can use in comments. Those who would use HTML in a comment will already know which tags are likely to be accepted, and those who don't know HTML don't need to see this list. Those who really need it can use the comment_form_default_fields filter to re-implement it.

Do it.

[krogsgard]

+1 to @johnbillion. Also, to note something in my original post about this... no third party commenting systems show anything like this. Showing the tags is confusing to users and easy to put back for power users with a very simple plugin for folks that want to hold on to it.

[obenland]

In 32858:

Remove allowed tags from comment form.

It can be confusing to users and for most it is not relevant.
Commenters comfortable with HTML will know which tags are likely
to be accepted.

Props krogsgard, rachelbaker.
Fixes #30157.