The Design Team provides user experience, user interface, and visual design expertise for the WordPress project.
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Welcome! This all-volunteer team needs designers of various kinds. See our handbook and drop into #design once signed up for volunteer opportunities.
Our vision is to be the go-to resource for design for other teams across the WordPress open sourceOpen SourceOpen Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. project.
Hi, all! Here are a few projects the Design Team has contributed to over the past couple of weeks.
New Homepage and Download pages for WordPress.orgWordPress.orgThe community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/
New designs for two of the most high-traffic pages on the WordPress.org site — the Homepage and Download page. The new look & feel builds on the updates that rolled out to the News section last year, putting a more modern and jazzy spin on the WordPress brand.
Making the Site Editor feel more like a design tool
Inspired by the style variation video we’ve been looking at ways to elevate key site editing features (styles specially) in the overall experience, so that the site editor feels more like a holistic design tool rather than a template editor.
Rethinking WordPress.org Navigation
Inspired by some discussion on the Make Meta blog, we’ve been exploring how to clean up and simplify the navigation on the WordPress.org site.
Copy improvements in Openverse
As a quick win in the openverse search experience, we shared a design idea to improve the copy on some pages and make Openverse more clear. Having the search engine inside the WordPress site makes it difficult to convey what is about.
Styles update in Openverse
In the current version of Openverse, text styles are defined per component and differ when placed together. We started exploring a style update to clean and centralize all styles to make the search more consistent.
Placeholders
A literal placeholder style with a dashed line has been used in a few places to indicate the ability to add a featured imageFeatured imageA featured image is the main image used on your blog archive page and is pulled when the post or page is shared on social media. The image can be used to display in widget areas on your site or in a summary list of posts. or a a site logo. This style has been expanded to the Image blockBlockBlock 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., which now visualizes an inherited duotone filterFilterFilters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output.. The placeholder also features a blurred background to set it apart in stacked contexts. Tickets/PRs: Image, Site Logo/Featured Image, Image radius and duotone + more
Inspector grid
With ongoing component work and cleanup, here’s a visualization of how inspector components should naturally lay themselves out.
Pre-publish sidebarSidebarA sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. summary section
We continued exploring the pre-publish sidebar with a version that improves the readability of the sidebar by integrating the suggestions inside the main summary section.
If you have updates you’d like to include in the next Design Share, please drop a note in the Design channel on the Making WordPress SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/..
Hi, all! Here are a few projects the Design Team has contributed to over the past couple of weeks.
Twenty Twenty-Three default theme kickoff
An experimental new process was kicked off for designing the style variation-focused Twenty Twenty-Three theme with a post on the Make Design blog. Join us in the Making WordPress SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel: coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.-themes-projects.
Visual template building
A number of recent / upcoming developments present an opportunity to implement a more visual, and flexible template creation experience. @jameskosterexplored more here.
Pre-publish sidebarSidebarA sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. summary section
@javiarcepublished a proposal to improve the pre-publish sidebar with a summary section that includes the document title, excerptExcerptAn excerpt is the description of the blog post or page that will by default show on the blog archive page, in search results (SERPs), and on social media. With an SEO plugin, the excerpt may also be in that plugin’s metabox., featured imageFeatured imageA featured image is the main image used on your blog archive page and is pulled when the post or page is shared on social media. The image can be used to display in widget areas on your site or in a summary list of posts., tags, and categories.
Editor welcome guide with setup
We have a number of useful appearance and accessibilityAccessibilityAccessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) options in the Editor. To enable folks to customize their editing experience from the get-go, @jameskoster has been exploring a way to surface these options as a part of the on-boarding process. He recently shared a post on the Make Design blog requesting feedback on the proposal.
Openverse headerHeaderThe header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes.
@fcoveram continued with the Openverse header, this new version proposes shifting the content type and filtering on a popover without leaving the page.
Global Styles previews
When customizing blockBlockBlock 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. defaults (in Global Styles → Blocks), there isn’t always an in-canvas preview present for the block you’re customizing. By including a preview in the inspector, you can nevertheless get a sense of your changes. @joen explored this in a ticket.
Stepped Slider
The stepped slider is a new UIUIUI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. control that lets users take advantage of preset spacing values. The effort unearthed some interesting challenges around how to present indeterminate states, and the control is likely to evolve further in the future. Dive into the conversation on the ticket.
If you have updates you’d like to include in the next Design Share, please drop a note in the Design channel on the Making WordPress Slack.
Hi, all! Here are a few projects the Design Team has contributed to over the past couple of weeks.
Status & visibility panel improvements
@javiarce shared some explorations to improve the ‘Status & visibility’ panel in the inspector sidebarSidebarA sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme.on this issue. You can also use this prototype to learn about its context and interact with the solution.
Adding post categoryCategoryThe 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. templates
@jameskoster has been looking at how we might enable the creation of post category templates for GutenbergGutenbergThe Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ issue #37407.
Page start options
@jameskoster is also exploring a pattern-centric view of edit mode for PR #39147.
Style variation hover animation
Gutenberg PR #39322 introduced a hover frame containing extra information about individual style variations. @critterverse and @joen have been helping to explore designs for the secondary frame as well as animation options in issue #39700.
Group, Row and Stack icons
@joen worked on new icons for “Row” and the incoming “Stack” blockBlockBlock 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., as well as how those group block variations could show up in the multi-select toolbar and inspector.
Comments query loopLoopThe Loop is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each post to be displayed on the current page, and formats it according to how it matches specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code in the Loop will be processed on each post. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop., default design mockups
If you have updates you’d like to include in the next Design Share, please drop a note in the Design channel on the Making WordPress SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. or message @critterverse.
Hi, all! Here are a few projects the Design Team has contributed to over the past couple of weeks.
Backgrounds & Overlays
@javiarce and @joen discuss the background and overlay properties of the Cover blockBlockBlock 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., and how they might be simplified so they can apply across other blocks as well (Figma file). These explorations have been shared on GitHub, and are related to to recent discussions around background block support.
Openverse headerHeaderThe header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes.
@fcoveram has been working on a second iteration of the Openverse header. This time, he’s exploring two navigational layouts and adding a profile area for future features.
If you have updates you’d like to include in the next Design Share, please drop a note in the Design channel on the Making WordPress SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. or message @critterverse.
Hey all 👋 Here are a few projects the Design Team has contributed to over the past couple of weeks.
Site Editor navigation
@joen is tinkering with @jameskoster on wild ideas for GitHubGitHubGitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ issue #36667: a dedicated space for navigation.
Cover blockBlockBlock 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.
@javiarce and @joen started collaborating on improving the Cover Block to support multiple overlays.
As part of the redesign of end user documentation, the docs team is looking into changing the hashtag # used at the end of the headlines in the articles. The hashtag nowadays has a different connotation but mainly because it is not accessible. The aria label applied to the hashtag makes screen readers duplicate the headline without warning or explanation.
The purpose is to remove the character # but not the functionality of an anchor link.
3D model icon
@fcoveram started exploring an icon for the 3D models content type Openverse is discussing displaying in a separated result.
WordPress Design Library
@javiarce started improving the WordPress Design Library. He upgraded the containers used to showcase the components and the examples, added descriptions, cleaned up some components, and refined the information blocks. He also analyzed the state of the components and variants, wrote a to-do list to highlight the pending work, and drafted a plan to deprecate the old components.
If you have updates you’d like to include in the next Design Share, please drop a note in the Design channel on the Making WordPress SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. or message @critterverse.
Hey all 👋 I’m sharing a handful of “snapshot” style updates from the Design team from the past couple of weeks. I’d like to try sharing these updates for a couple of months and see if it’s useful!
Here are a few things that have been worked on recently:
Advanced template creation
@jameskoster explored how we might expand the template creation UIUIUI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. to accommodate more advanced templates. Discussion is ongoing in GitHubGitHubGitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ issue #37407.
Designing the State of the WordState of the WordThis is the annual report given by Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress at WordCamp US. It looks at what we’ve done, what we’re doing, and the future of WordPress. https://wordpress.tv/tag/state-of-the-word/.
Openverse — New headerHeaderThe header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes. design
@fcoveram explored a new header idea to solve usability, internationalization, and consistency problems, and also designed a new version of reporting content popover considering usability and a11yAccessibilityAccessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) concerns.
These projects are just a small sample of recent design work happening in the WordPress community. Have you contributed to the Design team lately? The Make blog is a great place to share process and updates! Feel free to use the comments section below to share your work ⬇️
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