We decided to test bringing the theme locations back out as a meta box (instead of using checkboxes) to figure out if the old layout would work for users.

For this test, I removed theme locations as checkboxes, and added the theme locations metabox back in. I also moved the “Automatically add new top-level pages to this menu” option back to it’s old spot, because it looked odd by itself.

Here are the results:

User #17

Here’s the video.

Step 1: Log in

No issues.

Step 2: Go to menus

No issues.

Step 3: Reorganize pages

No issues.

Step 4: Preview changes

No issues.

Step 5: Remove menu item

No issues.

Step 6: Add another menu

2:30 – She doesn’t see the “create a new menu” link. She starts typing in the existing menus name field, thinking she’s creating a new menu.
3:20 – After saving her changes, she realizes that she made a mistake, and changes the menu name back to “Menu 1″.
3:30 – She see’s the “create new menu” link, and is on her way

Step 7: Add links

No issues.

Step 8: Delete menu

No issues.

Observations/Thoughts

  • This user was sharp. With that said, having the theme locations meta box back in the top left corner, revealed two undesirable behaviors. 1) She assumed that the theme location metabox was where she managed her menus. 2) She thought she could create a new menu by editing the existing menus name field, and saving it. We’ve seen both of these behaviors before the last time we tested having the theme locations meta box in the top left corner.
  • For the next test, I’m going to try moving the theme locations box below the menu item options.

User #18

Here’s the video.

Step 1: Log in

No issues.

Step 2: Go to menus

No issues.

Step 3: Reorganize pages

No issues.

Step 4: Preview changes

No issues.

Step 5: Remove menu item

No issues.

Step 6: Add another menu

No issues.

Step 7: Add links

No issues.

Step 8: Delete menu

No issues.

Observations/Thoughts

  • Overall, the second user succeeded with all of the tasks. She had to look for the “add new” link and the “delete menu” link, but she found them without too much trouble.

Thoughts?