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Opened 3 years ago

Closed 3 years ago

Last modified 3 years ago

#52974 closed defect (bug) (invalid)

Right Panel "Select a Block" Settings Issue

Reported by: mwarbinek's profile mwarbinek Owned by:
Milestone: Priority: normal
Severity: normal Version:
Component: Editor Keywords:
Focuses: Cc:

Description

In the block editor, there is the right settings panel that provides global settings for that poage and specific settings for elements used on the page.

There are two sections to the settings panel, these are "Page" or "Block".

Clicking "Page" automatically shows settings for the page and some elements.

Clicking "Block" automatically shows nothing except this text notation: "No block selected."

Issue

To get settings to a specific block requires a person to click that block to activate and show its settings in the right panel area.

With some blocks, this is easy, such as the "paragraph block" or "image block", but with other blocks it becomes a dreadful time-consuming guessing game of where to click to activate and show its settings.

One such block that is arduous to show its settings is the "columns" block.
Since the columns block is to add other blocks within them, I end up activating the inner blocks instead and not the settings for the columns block. Where-ever these block boundaries are for the column block versus the inner blocks is a nightmare to find, like groping in the dark.

Since there is a complete absence of indicators to click, I end up having to click the area many times over in numerous locations and to get the actual spot that activates the column's settings is like trying to click a single pixel out of thousands, that is how hard it is.

Resolution

This applies to fixing the entire block editor, not just the "columns" block.

I see two basic fixes to this issue.

Fix 1. In the right panel, under "Block", automatically list the blocks that are actively in use. When clicking a specific named block in the right panel, it highlights that block in the editor area and in the right panel the settings for that block appear.

or...

Fix 2. If you want to keep the right panel block list empty until a block is clicked, then use the Elementor method in the editor area, where a cursor hover automatically shows the block (with blue borders) and a title/label as well. A person can then easily locate and click a spot on the hover label to activate the settings for that block in the right panel.

Fix 3. Taking Fix #2, add a feature when right clicking the outlined and labeled block in the editor area provides a submenu that gives the option to click and activate "Settings" for that block (or do something similar with the same end result > activating its settings in the right panel).

I believe Fix #3 is the best.

Without fixing this, using the Block editor because very discouraging at the least.

Reasoning behind My Suggestions

The majority of using WordPress are non-tech minded people, who do not want to learn CSS, HTML, etc and only want a product they can easily use without a large learning curve.

User friendly interface has always been a core goal in Web Development and to fix this issue moves the WordPress block editor into a better position as a user friendly product, especially if you hope to be competitive against page editors like Elementor.

Thanks

Attachments (2)

Screenshot_2021-04-05 Edit Page-Cannot Find Column Block to Click for Settings — WordPress.png (48.9 KB) - added by mwarbinek 3 years ago.
Screenshot of Block Editor - Column Block in Use - No visible boundaries of the block and no listing under Block settings
select-block.png (9.1 KB) - added by pbiron 3 years ago.

Download all attachments as: .zip

Change History (5)

@mwarbinek
3 years ago

Screenshot of Block Editor - Column Block in Use - No visible boundaries of the block and no listing under Block settings

#1 follow-up: @pbiron
3 years ago

@mwarbinek Thank you for the ticket!

I agree that it can be difficult to select specific blocks and wish there were better ways.

But there are at least 2 different ways that I use that might be of help to you (this is not to say that this ticket should not be addressed as you have stated it).

  1. In the toolbar if you click the icon to the right of the "info" icon, you get a very similar your Fix 3. I'll attached a screenshot after finishing this comment, so you can what I'm talking about.
  1. if you select any block that is a child of another block (e.g., a paragraph block within a column block within a columns block) and then use the "up arrow" key on your keyboard, the parent block becomes selected.

@pbiron
3 years ago

#2 in reply to: ↑ 1 @mwarbinek
3 years ago

  • Resolution set to invalid
  • Status changed from new to closed

Replying to pbiron:

@mwarbinek Thank you for the ticket!

I agree that it can be difficult to select specific blocks and wish there were better ways.

But there are at least 2 different ways that I use that might be of help to you (this is not to say that this ticket should not be addressed as you have stated it).

  1. In the toolbar if you click the icon to the right of the "info" icon, you get a very similar your Fix 3. I'll attached a screenshot after finishing this comment, so you can what I'm talking about.
  1. if you select any block that is a child of another block (e.g., a paragraph block within a column block within a columns block) and then use the "up arrow" key on your keyboard, the parent block becomes selected.

Thanks for the input and I tried that out. The methods you gave do work. The first suggestion works better than the second, yet both are good.

Appreciate the help. :)

#3 @desrosj
3 years ago

  • Component changed from General to Editor
  • Milestone Awaiting Review deleted
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