Remove title attributes from the Meta widget

[afercia]

In the last releases, WordPress has been progressively removing many title attributes used in the admin screens for the reasons outlined in #24766.

So far, focus has been mainly on the admin part. I'd like to propose to start looking at the front end part and see which title attributes are good candidates for removal.

In the Meta widget, there are two title attributes:

1: Powered by WordPress, state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform.
This was ​discussed a while ago on Slack and there's consensus to remove it, as it doesn't add great value.

2: <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr>
Contrary to a common belief, title attributes used on abbreviations are not that great, as ​they're only available to a minority of users. Also, both the abbreviation and the expanded form:

• RSS
• Really Simple Syndication

are technical terms users are not supposed to know. In this case, I'd like to propose to remove the abbreviation altogether and use the term "feed" which is slightly more common also for non-tech-savvy users:

• Entries feed
• Comments feed

[afercia]

Forgot to mention the accessibility team recommendation for title attributes can be summarized as follows: don't rely on title attributes for relevant information. If the information is relevant, consider to put it in plain, visible, text on the page. If it's not relevant, consider to remove it.

[nishitlangaliya]

fixes #46978

[nishitlangaliya]

@afercia , I have added patch can you please review it and let me know if any changes required.

Thanks

[chetan200891]

@afercia Also based on ticket and patch, we need to change inline doc for widget_meta_poweredby filter too. Also $title_text parameter need to use there?

[SergeyBiryukov]

Previously: #26552

[nishitlangaliya]

@SergeyBiryukov , Do you mean it is already done and do not required patch ?

[afercia]

@chetan200891 yes the docblock should be updated. I guess it will also need a

@since x.x.x Removed the `$title_text` parameter.

[SergeyBiryukov]

Replying to nishitlangaliya:

Do you mean it is already done and do not required patch ?

No, I've just linked to a previous discussion on removing title attributes from default widgets, for better context.

[nishitlangaliya]

@afercia , Doc updated for widget_meta_poweredby filter. Currently I have put @sicne 5.2.0 let me know if we need to change @since version.

Thanks

[nishitlangaliya]

updated patch doc block updated

[afercia]

Discussed during today's accessibility bug scrub and agreed to milestone for next 5.3 release.

[nishitlangaliya]

doc version updated 5.3.0

[nishitlangaliya]

@afercia , I have updated the version to 5.3.0. uploaded final patch 46978-3.patch please review it and let me know if any changes required

[afercia]

@SergeyBiryukov when you have a chance: do you think the widget_meta_poweredby filter needs some love for backwards compatibility?

[audrasjb]

Hi there,

The previous patch didn't apply properly on my side, due to a _x() function used in the patch, instead of __() in current trunk (for reference: changeset [45436]).

I also replaced %s with %1$s and %2$s numbered placeholders.

@afercia I wouldn't say we need anything for backward compatibility here, since the filter still accepts a single bit of HTML code :)

[audrasjb]

Add %1$s and %2$s placeholders to sprintf function & refresh patch.

[afercia]

See also https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/14358#comment:1 (9 years ago):

I think we should also review the title text, as it feels a little dated. "Powered by WordPress, state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform." Most of that used to appear on wordpress.org IIRC but it has since been modified.

As per the patch, I think the change to the filter documentation should be reviewed.

* @param string $title_text Default title text for the WordPress.org link.

It appears to be not 100% correct. Since the filter was introduced in #14358 it filters the whole list item HTML content and not a $title_text (there's no variable for a title text, whatever that means). Also, this patch doesn't remove the param :)

On it.

[afercia]

46978.diff​ refreshes the patch to improve the filter documentation.

[afercia]

In 45728:

Accessibility: Remove title attributes from the Meta widget.

• removes the Powered by WordPress, state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform. title attribute
• removes the title attribute from the abbreviations: contrary to a common belief, title attributes on abbreviations are only available to a minority of users, see ​https://developer.paciellogroup.com/blog/2019/03/short-note-the-abbreviation-appreciation-society/
• changes the term RSS to feed, as RSS is a technical term not all users are supposed to be familiar with
• improves the widget_meta_poweredby filter documentation

Props nishitlangaliya, chetan200891, audrasjb.
See #46980, #24766.
Fixes #46978.