Make "Create a New Menu" a Clear CTA link

[waleed06]

Hello WordPress Core Team,

I’d like to propose a small but impactful UI enhancement for the Menus section in WordPress. Currently, the "create a new menu" link appears as plain text within a line, making it easy to overlook—especially for new users.

Issue:
Many users, particularly beginners, find it difficult to locate the option to create a new menu because it blends into the surrounding text. This leads to confusion and unnecessary friction in setting up navigation menus.

Proposed Enhancement:
Instead of a simple text link, make "Create a New Menu" a clearly visible button (styled similarly to other call-to-action buttons in WordPress). This will significantly improve visibility and usability, ensuring a smoother experience for all users.

Benefits:

Improved UX: New users will quickly find the option to create a menu without confusion.

Consistency: WordPress follows a UI standard of using buttons for key actions, and this would align with that pattern.

Accessibility: A distinct button enhances accessibility and usability across different devices and user levels.

I’d love to hear thoughts from the team on this. Would this be a feasible UI update in a future release?

Thanks for your time and consideration!

Best regards,
Waleed Afzal

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/63010

This PR addresses ticket #63010 by enhancing the visibility of the "Create a new menu" option in the WordPress admin navigation menu interface. The change converts what was previously an inline text link into a clearly visible button, improving usability and accessibility.

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This Pull Request is for code review only. Please keep all other discussion in the Trac ticket. Do not merge this Pull Request. See ​GitHub Pull Requests for Code Review in the Core Handbook for more details.

[joedolson]

I think this is an OK idea; drawing attention to creating a new menu can definitely be helpful. However, I'm not a fan of the text in the PR - using a phrase like "click the button below" is just filler. I'm inclined to think that whole sentence can be omitted; with the significantly clearer button, how to create a new menu should be pretty obvious.

The design will also need to account for the layout with multiple menus; if you already have two or more menus, this has a different layout.

[sabernhardt]

current Menus screens when site has 0, 1, or 2 menus

[sabernhardt]

I do not agree with using the primary button style for a "new menu" link on the Edit Menus screen. The main workflow is either to create your first menu or to edit an existing menu. However, the secondary button style looks exactly like the Select button when the site has more than one menu.

Related: #28101 might put an "Add New Menu" link at the top (again) and/or edit the instructional text.

[joedolson]

I think a potentially better option is having an 'Add Menu' link in the tabbed navigation links.

e.g. "Edit Menus | Add Menu | Manage Locations"

That would be a consistent location, it would parallel the existing model, and wouldn't necessitate any changes to the existing content.