Changing Add New theme link in wp-admin/themes.php

[rinkuyadav999]

In 4.9, we can install theme with live previewing in customize. so it will better WordPress user land on /wp-admin/customize.php?autofocus[panel]=themes&autofocus[section]=wporg_themes to install new theme, when they click on 'Add New' button on wp-admin/themes.php

Or when WordPress user click on wp-admin/themes.php under Appearance because WordPrss user can perform same actions in customize related to wp-admin/themes.php.

Right now, there is two pages / parts in core to do same task. 1. under customize, 2. under wp-admin/themes.php

[rinkuyadav999]

Same under Themes

[rinkuyadav999]

Same under Customize

[westonruter]

Yes, there are currently two places to do the same thing. This is also true for nav menus and widgets. Note that in #42050 one of the links to install a theme was updated to point to the Customizer instead of the Themes admin screen. We'll need to further discuss deprecating the Theme installer on the admin screen in the future. This was done for custom headers and backgrounds, where we link to the Customizer instead when available. For themes, however, the Customizer implementation doesn't quite yet have full functionality (see #42184).

[joyously]

I prefer doing things outside the Customizer, so it's better for people like me to have a two ways to do it. I miss the old way of doing custom headers and backgrounds, where I didn't have to go into the Customizer. (I was really perturbed when those links changed.)

Things are faster outside the Customizer, and especially for people that know what they are doing, it is so much easier to install a theme the old way.

[westonruter]

In 42033:

Customize: Fix deep-linking to sections for themes via autofocus[section] query parameter.

• Expand containing panel when expanding themes section.
• Consolidate UI changes related to a section's expanded state change.
• Prevent collapsing current section when expanding.
• Auto-expand first themes section when expanding panel if one is not expanded already.

See #37661, #42354.
Fixes #42360.

[rinkuyadav999]

Replying to joyously:

I prefer doing things outside the Customizer, so it's better for people like me to have a two ways to do it. I miss the old way of doing custom headers and backgrounds, where I didn't have to go into the Customizer. (I was really perturbed when those links changed.)

Things are faster outside the Customizer, and especially for people that know what they are doing, it is so much easier to install a theme the old way.

@joyously because installing and previewing theme in customize is new feature. but i am sure when we will use it for some months, we will feel it easy and better And yes with live preview like Header Image and Background.

[joyously]

but i am sure when we will use it for some months, we will feel it easy and better

My point was that there are a lot of people that don't want to use the Customizer if there is a faster, easier way (which already exists). My use case is theme review. I install by extracting the zip into the local theme folder and then activating it from the Themes page. I specifically do not want to enter the Customizer until the end of my test, so that I can see what the theme does by default without the Customizer. I can catch themes changing non-theme options and showing dummy content to non-admin users, and until they go away I can use the Widget page and the Menu page more easily to configure my setup before I start the test of the theme (outside the Customizer).

If WordPress continues to become focused on the Customizer, I can see that as a reason for users to not upgrade to the latest version.

[westonruter]

All the more reason to improve the performance of the Customizer.

Also, if speed is the ultimate aim for a theme installation workflow, then WP-CLI is actually the fastest and easiest, with some command line familiarity.

[joyously]

Also, if speed is the ultimate aim for a theme installation workflow, then WP-CLI is actually the fastest and easiest

Speed is not the ultimate aim; it's just one of the important factors. Being able to see what a theme does before it gets loaded in the Customizer is my main concern here. Some themes have code to redirect to a theme admin page on activation. This is not allowed, precisely because of new features such as this one (how themes are installed), and finding out if it does this is much easier on the existing Theme page than the new one.

As for WP-CLI, I shouldn't have to use another tool to use the WordPress tool. If it's not broken, don't fix it.

[celloexpressions]

I generally support migrating wp-admin screens to use the customize version only. Once you're in the customizer, everything is managed in a unified interface with contextual live preview.

I'm moving this ticket to the themes component so that a decision can be made there on whether or not to replace the wp-admin them browser with the customize version.