Change permalink on media items opens in new window

[kebbet]

The ”Change Permalink”-link (styled as a button) on the ”Edit media” screen opens in a new window/tab. I think it should open in the same window/tab.
The button message should also be clearer about what it changes, i propose ”Change Permalink structure”.

PR at GitHub is on its way.

https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/55252

[kebbet]

Introduced in https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/10458

[joedolson]

Reference screenshot

[joedolson]

Testing:

• Go to Settings > Permalinks and configure permalinks as 'Plain'
• Go to Media, open a media item, navigate to 'Edit more details'
• Check button text & behavior.

This is a good candidate for 6.0.

[sabernhardt]

Note: If your Media Library is in List mode, opening the media item (with the 'Edit' link) should take you directly to the Edit Media screen. In Grid mode, however, you would need to find the 'Edit more details' link in the side panel of the 'Attachment details' dialog.

[sabernhardt]

I thought the target might be there to prevent losing unsaved changes, but the permalink link next to it already opens in the same tab.

The 'Change Permalinks' link can also appear in the Classic post editor, with the same Plain permalinks setting active.

[kebbet]

Nice find, I did not remember to check the classic post editor.

All other buttons opens in same tab and make you loose changes (except Update/Publish, which saves changes).

[kebbet]

Reference screenshot of post editor

[kebbet]

Reference screenshot of post editor with patch applied.

[joedolson]

Regarding the copy change - while WordPress is definitely not very consistent about capitalization in buttons, this should definitely *either* be initial caps are title caps: Change permalink structure or Change Permalink Structure. I'd root for the latter.

I do think that the text change is clearer. I suspect that the target=_blank is in some ways associated with the text used - 'Change Permalink' gives the impression that it's a button that will execute a change to the permalink for this post/media item. 'Change Permalink Structure' makes it clearer that you're making a larger, global change.

Thinking historically, I'd guess that this was a problem prior to WordPress 4.2, when WordPress switched to using search engine friendly permalinks by default.

[kebbet]

Replying to joedolson:

Regarding the copy change - while WordPress is definitely not very consistent about capitalization in buttons, this should definitely *either* be initial caps are title caps: Change permalink structure or Change Permalink Structure. I'd root for the latter.

I do think that the text change is clearer. I suspect that the target=_blank is in some ways associated with the text used - 'Change Permalink' gives the impression that it's a button that will execute a change to the permalink for this post/media item. 'Change Permalink Structure' makes it clearer that you're making a larger, global change.

Thinking historically, I'd guess that this was a problem prior to WordPress 4.2, when WordPress switched to using search engine friendly permalinks by default.

As a non native US-english speaker/reader, the capitalization thing is a mystery to me. That said, I've updated the patch to all caps now. :)

[joedolson]

I think the copy changes are good; changing component from Media to Permalinks since this link appears in multiple contexts.

[joedolson]

Changed my mind; I think this is general. It doesn't really pertain to the permalinks code in any way, so that's not an accurate representation.

[joedolson]

In 53052:

General: Open change permalink structure links in same tab.

Remove target="_blank" from the link to change permalink structures and change link text to clarify link purpose.

Props kebbet, sabernhardt.
Fixes #55252.