Want to get involved? See the handbook and optionally drop into #design to chat. Most active design work happens in the block editor project, consider dropping into Needs design or Needs design feedback.
There’s a WordPress Component Library in Figma. Duplicate to edit, direct access is reserved for the design team.
Happy Friday, everyone! I’ve got some interesting design updates today regarding full-site editing with GutenbergGutenberg The 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/.
Initially, I had assumed the two dropdowns in the middle of the top toolbar were primarily for navigating between pages or templates. Turns out we are going to try another direction. Matias expressed an interest to utilize these two dropdowns as a way to modify the page or template – not necessarily for navigation. So something more like this:
So where does navigation live? I hear you asking. This can happen in two different places. First, the new “W” option that slides open the wp-admin which @shaunandrews has been exploring.
The second works similarly to the CustomizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings.. Users would be able to use a modifier key + click on a navigation item in the page to jump to that page. Or there may be a way to click the menu item and click the link appended to it like in Google docs.
The Navigator is getting some revisions lately. We are adding movers to the blocks and will add the ability for dragging and dropping. There’s even some talk about adding an ellipses menu for more options. With these additions, the Navigator is becoming a significant way to work with your content. @michael-arestad explored the Navigator as a persistent slideout panel similarly to the outline panel in Google docs.
The relationship between template parts and patterns does leave one feeling a bit confused because they are so similar. One defining difference is that template parts are global and patterns are local, but what happens when we start talking about HeaderHeader The 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. and Footer patterns? Yesterday, @michael-arestad brought up that template parts are really just containers that hold patterns. This means we don’t need another tab in the Inserter for template parts! Basically, when editing a Header template part, the user will see Header patterns appear first in the Inserter.
This means that categories for Patterns will definitely include Headers, and Footers among other things.
The last thing today was about building templates. Figuring out this UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it. flow is important. Right now we are leaning toward a flow that includes some sort of step process that provides a skeleton for users to click and manipulate. Imagine creating a new template and seeing a screen that already lays out a Header, Content area, and Footer. Clicking on the Content area provides an option of a SidebarSidebar A 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. or not. This is still just being thought through… nothing solid yet.
Now is a great time to get involved. While the work on this project is intense, it is always important to glean new perspectives from other WordPress users and community members. Just drop into any of the links provided above to read up on the details, contribute, and leave feedback.
Thanks for reading, staying informed, and contributing anywhere you can!
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