Placeholder for tagline is confusing

[Cybr]

Previous: #6479 (Encourage people to change default tagline).

The default tagline got emptied. To maintain the iconic phrase "Just another WordPress site," it was put as a placeholder for the field.

Placeholders are generally bad for accessibility because many users cannot discern whether it's actual input or the real value. See ​https://www.nngroup.com/articles/form-design-placeholders/.

The highlights:

4. Placeholder text that disappears when the cursor is placed in a form field is irritating for users navigating with the keyboard.
5. Fields with stuff in them are less noticeable.
6. Users may mistake a placeholder for data that was automatically filled in.
7. Occasionally users have to delete placeholder text manually.

By putting e.g., in front of the placeholder, this may be somewhat alleviated. Perhaps it might be best to let go of the iconic phrase altogether until a proper admin interface is found where we may reintroduce it.

[audrasjb]

Hello and thanks for the ticket!

In my opinion, putting e.g., in front of the placeholder looks like the best option for now.

[sabernhardt]

Thanks for the ticket!

The tagline's placeholder does not replace a label, and its information is nonessential to complete the form. I do not think disappearing text is a problem for this field, but confusion about whether the example is the input's predefined value still could be a concern. The example tagline may fit better within the description paragraph.

[Cybr]

I think @sabernhardt's patch deals perfectly with all the concerns described.

Though the added text relies on vertical and code-indented spacing to add a space between the two lines, doing that bit me at least once during refactorization.

Opening and closing PHP tags isn't great for performance, either. But this is nitpicking.

[sabernhardt]

Nitpicking is good. I missed the __() translation function, too.

Also, I would like to consider keeping the example on one line with a reusable class for display: inline-block (I have wanted the class for something else before).

[sabernhardt]

adding example to field description, without inline-block styling

[sabernhardt]

I removed the new inline-block class from the patch. Searching for an ​'inline-block' class included a plugin that adds vertical-align: middle, and others may have inappropriate properties for this description. Besides, it was not clearly better with that span.

[audrasjb]

57675.2.patch looks good, except we'd probably need a final dot in this paragraph?

[audrasjb]

57675.2.patch looks good to me. Should we have a final dot in English, though?

[audrasjb]

Patch tested on multisite as well

[sabernhardt]

The period should be unnecessary with the "Example: [tagline]" structure, though it could easily be appropriate in translations. In U.S. English, the period would go inside the quotes, which I do not like here.

[audrasjb]

Ok then we have to add a period inside the quote of the existing string, right?

[Cybr]

The clearest notion about whether the period should be in or outside is this (​source):

The final period or comma goes inside the quotation marks, even if it is not a part of the quoted material, unless the quotation is followed by a citation.

Since we aren't dealing with a citation, and since the default WordPress language is en_US, the period should be inside the quote marks.

I'm not a fan of this either when dealing with example strings that don't have punctuation intended — for the user could infer they should also use punctuation —, but I think we should follow the books. I couldn't find a single source claiming exceptions for American English.

We could somewhat workaround the inference by writing "Just another WordPress site," for example., but even then we have punctuation.

[pavanpatil1]

Test report - https://core.trac.wordpress.org/attachment/ticket/57675/57675.2.patch

Environment:
WordPress: v6.2.2
Browser: Chrome
Os - Win10

Screenshot- ​https://prnt.sc/3zfv7AacldMD

The patch is looking good!

https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/57675

[audrasjb]

Fine, thanks @Cybr. ​PR4559 adds a period in the translatable string.

Note: I did not add it to the "Just another WordPress site" string because translators wouldn't be easily able to move the period out of the quotation marks.

[tb1909]

Test Report

This report validates that the indicated patch addresses the issue.

Patch tested: ​https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/4559/commits/d22f3098bd1ecc2e281af734169aeba955b71d50

Environment

• OS: macOS 13.4
• Web Server: Nginx
• PHP: 8.1.13
• WordPress: 6.3-alpha-55505-src
• Browser: Safari 15.4
• Theme: Twenty Twenty-Two
• Active Plugins:

none

Actual Results

• ✅ Issue resolved with patch. Period displayed as described in ticket (see screenshot).

Additional Notes

• Just in other languages as e.g. German the "example" text is not translated. Result string in German: "Erkläre in ein paar Worten, worum es auf deiner Website geht. Example: “Eine weitere WordPress-Website.”".

But I am unsure whether that will be added later by the polygots team or whether it is an issue worth mentioning here

Supplemental Artifacts

[audrasjb]

Thanks for testing @tb1909. Yes, this string will be translated once 6.3 is released :)

Marking as good to commit.

[audrasjb]

In 55969:

Administration: Replace Tagline option placeholder with a description.

As placeholders may introduce confusion about whether the example is the input's predefined value or not, this changeset moves the "Just another WordPress
site" historic tagline as an example quoted in the field's description.

Props Cybr, audrasjb, sabernhardt, pavanpatil1, tb1909.
Fixes #57675.

https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/55969

[swissspidy]

Why does this concatenate strings using sprintf? Seems like this could just be a single translation call.

[sabernhardt]

reducing translation calls

[sabernhardt]

I remember wanting to keep the existing translations, but 57675.3.patch​ adds the example to the description string in case it is better in one translation.

I also put the single-site example in a condition so multisite installations do not translate both versions.

[audrasjb]

Reopening to address comment:21 considerations.

[audrasjb]

In 56013:

Administration: Reduce translation calls after [55969].

Follow-up to [55969].

Props swissspidy, sabernhardt.
Fixes #57675.

[costdev]

WPCS: Move translators comment to just above the __() call.

[costdev]

@audrasjb Just noticed this warning from WPCS:

Line 90 | A gettext call containing placeholders was found, but was not accompanied by a "translators:" comment on the line above to clarify the meaning of the placeholders. (WordPress.WP.I18n.MissingTranslatorsComment)

57675-translators-comment.diff moves the translators comment to just above the __() call to resolve this warning.

[Presskopp]

I have concerns about the solution:

1) The example is misleading, the tagline should be meaningful, and just not like in the example

Using a unique and descriptive tagline is important for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes, as it helps convey the website's purpose and relevance to both search engines and visitors.

2) The “ and ” could be misunderstood so people would enter quotation marks into the tagline.

This can impact the visual presentation and readability of the tagline to visitors.

To keep the iconic phrase "Just another WordPress site" while being informative at the same time we could formulate:

Please provide a brief description of what this site is about. Avoid using "Just another WordPress site."

[audrasjb]

In 56203:

I18n: Move translator comments inside sprintf for tagline field description.

Props costdev.
Fixes #57675.

[audrasjb]

Good catch @costdev, fixed!

Thanks for pointing this @Presskopp but this would probably require a follow-up ticket because, it's a bit to late in the release cycle to start a discussion about the iconic phrase.

In my opinion, Avoid using "Just another WordPress site." is worse than removing the iconic phrase entirely, because it's a very negative way to use it :D

[Presskopp]

Well, that was an example. Ok. I will raise a new ticket then shortly. The new line could be more like:

We hope your website is not "Just another WordPress site."

[costdev]

Quick check: The . is currently inside the quotes. Should this be moved outside of them?

In a few words, explain what this site is about. Example: “Just another WordPress site.”

vs

In a few words, explain what this site is about. Example: “Just another WordPress site”.

---

Nevermind, I missed this comment.

[Presskopp]

Let's continue here: #58781

[sabernhardt]

I really do not want to reopen this ticket again, but I also don't like the idea of replacing the description string (and its translations) both now and again in the near future. Reverting changes before hard string freeze might still be an option to keep the previously translated string.