In WP Admin -> Posts add 'Filter by author' dropdown and add visible labels for filters

[Presskopp]

In the posts view, I think it would be an enhancement to have an ad additional 'filter by author' dropdown.

Also a visible label should be there on top of the dropdown as well as for the categories dropdown. So you can recognize better what filter the dropdown represents.

If the additional dropdown won't find any friends, still a visible label should be there for the categories.

[Presskopp]

I'm attaching a proof-of-concept patch

[Presskopp]

I'm sorry I messed up a bit. Please if you want to try the patch also add the following line

wp_dropdown_authors_filter( $this->screen->post_type, $which );

after

do_action( 'restrict_manage_posts', $this->screen->post_type, $which );

in class-wp-posts-list-table.php

[joedolson]

I like the idea of making the labels visible. A couple things:

1) It looks strange to have two of the four select inputs have labels. We should probably either add all of them or none of them.

2) Should probably add a check to only display the author filter if there are multiple authors. For single-user sites, this would never be useful.

3) The query should also only fetch authors who have authored posts; this would help streamline the results. There's no need to have a filter that represents users who don't have posts. What you actually need is to fetch all users who have published posts in the designated post type; you can use the has_published_posts argument to get that data.

As a side note that could be looked at when this is fleshed out into a more complete patch - there is an alignment issue on the bottom of the buttons/select inputs. If it's simple to resolve, it might make sense to take care of it with this issue.

[joedolson]

I also think that adding a group to wrap the filters with a group name of 'Filters' would allow us to make the labels less repetitive, by removing the text "Filter by". The function of the group is visibly set by the button text, and having a group (fieldset or role="group") would allow us to note the function of the group of inputs.

[joedolson]

#63971 was marked as a duplicate.

Trac: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/63728

## Problem

The WordPress Posts list table filter area had several usability and accessibility issues:

1. No author filtering capability - Users couldn't filter posts by author directly from the list table, requiring manual URL manipulation or additional plugins
2. Hidden filter labels - All filter dropdowns (date, category, format) had labels hidden with screen-reader-text class, making it difficult for sighted users to understand what each dropdown represented
3. Poor semantic structure - Filters lacked proper grouping, reducing accessibility for screen reader users
4. Single-user sites showing unnecessary filters - No conditional logic to hide author filters when only one author exists

## Root Cause

The original implementation prioritized visual compactness over usability:

• Labels were intentionally hidden to save horizontal space in the admin interface
• No author filter existed because it was considered an edge case, despite being a common need for multi-author sites
• The lack of semantic HTML grouping (fieldset/legend) meant screen readers couldn't properly announce the filter group context
• No conditional rendering logic existed to optimize the UI for single vs multi-author sites

## Solution

### 1. Added Author Filter Dropdown

• Created new authors_dropdown() method in WP_Posts_List_Table class
• Conditionally displays only when:
  • Post type supports authors
  • Site has 2 or more authors with published posts
• Uses optimized query with has_published_posts parameter to fetch only relevant authors
• Includes filter hooks (disable_authors_dropdown, posts_authors_dropdown_authors) for extensibility

### 2. Made All Filter Labels Visible

• Removed screen-reader-text class from date, category, and format filter labels
• Labels now display inline before their corresponding dropdowns
• Improved label text: simplified "Filter by post format" to just "Format" to reduce repetition

### 3. Added Semantic Grouping

• Wrapped all filters in <fieldset class="filters-group"> element
• Added <legend class="screen-reader-text">Filters</legend> for screen reader context
• This allows screen readers to announce "Filters" group when navigating the controls

### 4. Enhanced CSS Styling

• Added styles to properly align labels with dropdowns using float: left
• Set font-weight: 600 on labels for better visibility
• Adjusted line-height: 2.16666667 to vertically align with select elements
• Proper spacing with labels having 8px margin and selects after labels having 12px margin

### Backward Compatibility

• All existing filter hooks remain intact
• New filter hooks follow WordPress naming conventions
• CSS changes are additive, not destructive
• Existing functionality fully preserved

### Testing
Tested on:

• Single-author sites (author dropdown correctly hidden)
• Multi-author sites (author dropdown appears with correct authors)
• Custom post types with/without author support
• All filter combinations work correctly

@Vedanshmini26 Left some questions/suggestions

To be thorough, this should also handle visible labels in the media library. These are being added in #23652 in the modal, but the list view would be better handled in combination with this ticket.

[joedolson]

In my opinion, we should split this into two tickets. The need for visible labels is completely separate from the addition of another filter criteria, and they have very different needs.

@presskopp If you'd like to raise a second issue and update the description and title of this one to break them up, I think that would be very helpful.

[joedolson]

With all of the open questions here, I'm going to move this to Future Release, hopefully to try again for 7.1.

[Presskopp]

anyone feel free to do whatever, I will not be around the next 2 weeks

[ekaterina92]

possible label position 1

[ekaterina92]

possible label position 2

[ekaterina92]

I wonder what option is the most perceivable and accessible https://core.trac.wordpress.org/attachment/ticket/63728/labels_2.png or
https://core.trac.wordpress.org/attachment/ticket/63728/labels_1.png.