Ideas for plugin/theme install/update UIs

In the last few releases, the theme and pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party installers received new UIUI User interface. But the actual procedure of installing a plugin or theme is still old-school: a JavaScriptJavaScript JavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. https://www.javascript.com/. alert confirms you actually did want to install something, then you get taken an ugly screen that prints out sentences of “Downloading package,” etc. If there is an error, everything stops. If it succeeds, you can activate what you just installed or go back to where you came from.

To say this is not the best experience is an understatement. We can streamline this entire flow while also adding some new functionality. Here’s the goal: Installing or updating a plugin or theme should not blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. you from continuing what you were doing. Secondarily: unnecessary and sub-par user interfaces should be eliminated.

Some ideas:

  • You should be able to install a plugin/theme without leaving the installer screens.
  • You should be able to continue searching and browsing for other plugins (or themes).
  • Multiple plugins/themes should be able to be queued for installation at once.
  • Progress is shown directly inside the installer. Details are only shown if there is an error.

How are we going to do this?

  • Once an install starts for an item, we can “lock” that item to the top left of the results, even if the user keeps browsing or searching for other things.
  • The plugin installer is not yet dynamic, so we’ll need to add infinite scroll and such to allow for continuous browsing (something we avoided doing in 4.0 due to time constraints).
  • We’ll need to come up with a UI for installing a plugin, such as a card-flip, a subtle progress bar, or button changes (“Install” “Installing…” “Installed!”).
  • Updating plugins, themes, and coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. (from the Dashboard → Updates, Plugins, and Themes screens) should be seamless and happen inline, which will be a completely different UI from installing.
  • We must make sure a user abort (leaving the page) is prevented and/or doesn’t stop the update. We must probably make sure that updates are queued (only one actually happening at once), as we have to take into account maintenance mode, conflicts, I/O operations, and such.
  • If the user is forced to enter FTPFTP FTP is an acronym for File Transfer Protocol which is a way of moving computer files from one computer to another via the Internet. You can use software, known as a FTP client, to upload files to a server for a WordPress website. https://codex.wordpress.org/FTP_Clients. credentials, we can request it once in a modal, then send it with each Ajax request — much nicer experience.

The tracking ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. is #29820. Thoughts, ideas, challenges, suggestions, questions welcome.

#plugins, #themes, #upgrade-install