| 1 | | Upon first installing WordPress, new users may find themselves in the Customizer to set up their site, given the big blue Customizer button on the Dashboard. The new user experience (NUX) is one area highlighted in the [https://make.wordpress.org/core/2015/09/23/outlining-a-possible-roadmap-for-the-customizer/ roadmap]. The number of things the user can do in the Customizer is largely a subset of what they can do in the WP admin. Most notably, one of the first things that a user may want to do is add pages to their site. I understand that new users to WordPress do not understand the nav menu item vs page distinction, and in the Customizer I am guessing that many users would expect to be able to add nav menu items for all of the pages they want to be on their site, whether they exist yet or not. This is not currently possible in the Customizer, meaning that users get stuck and have to exit the Customizer to create the pages and then come back into the Customizer to then create the nav menu items. This user [https://make.wordpress.org/flow/glossary/#flow flow] blockage is a poor experience. |
| | 1 | Upon first installing WordPress, new users may find themselves in the Customizer to set up their site, given the big blue Customizer button on the Dashboard. The new user experience (NUX) is one area highlighted in the [https://make.wordpress.org/core/2015/09/23/outlining-a-possible-roadmap-for-the-customizer/ roadmap]. The number of tasks the user can do in the Customizer is largely a subset of what they can do in the WP admin. Most notably, one of the first things that a user may want to do is add pages to their site. I understand that new users to WordPress do not understand the nav menu item vs page distinction, and in the Customizer I am guessing that many users would expect to be able to add nav menu items for all of the pages they want to be on their site, whether they exist yet or not. This is not currently possible in the Customizer, meaning that users get stuck and have to exit the Customizer to create the pages and then come back into the Customizer to then create the nav menu items. This user [https://make.wordpress.org/flow/glossary/#flow flow] blockage is a poor experience. |
| 5 | | Note that I am not suggesting to add a post editor to the Customizer pane, due to lack of space. Note also that nothing would be removed from the post editor in the WP admin. The WP admin editor is where all of the plugin metaboxes would be accessible. Upon a new post in the Customizer, the user can be provided links to continue editing the newly added posts in the WP admin to flesh out the basic content they added in the Customizer. |
| | 5 | I propose that the UI for selecting an item to add a nav menu item should be extended with a button to add a new instance of the item type right there in the Customizer. If wanting to add a new page, then an editor overlay can appear over the preview which allows the user to supply the standard post/page fields such as the title and content via a TinyMCE editor (also allowing the setting of the featured image and page template would be useful, since these cannot be previewed via Post Preview either). This could serve as a first step toward a full post editor experience in the Customizer in a UI similar to [https://developer.wordpress.com/2015/11/23/the-story-behind-the-new-wordpress-com/ Calypso] on WordPress.com, but starting with just the title and content we can get our feet wet. Perhaps we could even fully re-use the [https://github.com/Automattic/wp-calypso/tree/master/client/post-editor post-editor] in Calypso. |
| | 6 | |
| | 7 | '''Notes:''' |
| | 8 | |
| | 9 | * I am not suggesting to add a post editor to the Customizer narrow pane, due to lack of space. |
| | 10 | * Nothing would be removed from the post editor in the WP admin. |
| | 11 | * The WP admin editor is where all of the plugin metaboxes would be accessible. |
| | 12 | * Upon a new post in the Customizer, the user can be provided links to continue editing the newly added posts in the WP admin to flesh out the basic content they added in the Customizer. |