[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #40432: Customizer: Should we stop contextually hiding features?

[WordPress Trac]

#40432: Customizer: Should we stop contextually hiding features?
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 Reporter:  melchoyce    |       Owner:
     Type:  enhancement  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal       |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Customize    |     Version:
 Severity:  normal       |  Resolution:
 Keywords:               |     Focuses:
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Comment (by JoshuaWold):

 Thanks everyone for the great feedback! Based on the comments, and
 chatting with @zoonini, I’ve created 2 more options on the wireframe. To
 reiterate:

 '''OPTION 1'''

 Shows all the widgets that I can currently preview at the top, and has a
 separate section below showing additional widgets in the theme, but that
 can’t be seen on the current page.

 Benefit: Clearly shows which widgets are available on this page and which
 aren’t.

 Challenges: Widgets will move up and down as I navigate the site,
 requiring that I re-read the widget titles when I load a new page.

 ----

 '''OPTION 2'''

 Similar to Option 1 with benefits and challenges. One additional benefit
 is I can hide the widgets that aren’t on this page by closing the
 accordion.

 ----

 '''OPTION 3'''

 We could put a toggle somewhere in the Customizer that hides all widget
 areas that aren’t available on your page. It would be helpful to
 understand what user would benefit from this, and whether this is a real
 need. Also, if we did proceed we’d need to figure out where to put it.

 ----

 '''OPTION 4'''

 Shows all the widgets that I can currently preview, as well as the widgets
 that aren’t showing on this current page.

 Benefit: Widgets will always stay in the same place in the customizer, so
 I’ll get used to where they are and it will be easier to navigate between
 them.

 Challenges: It’s hard to differentiate the active from the available/not-
 available widgets. Just having italics may not be enough.

 ----

 '''OPTION 5'''

 As with Option 4, it shows all the widgets that I can currently preview,
 as well as the widgets that aren’t showing on this current page.

 Benefit: Same as option 4, with the addition of the icon for knowing which
 widgets are NOT available to preview on this page. It’s easier to
 differentiate the two.

 Challenges: The eyeball icon doesn’t mean anything until I read the
 message, it may be enough to click the eyeball and then see it again on
 the next page. The eyeball also adds some noise to the customizer, and
 could be distracting.

 ----

 '''TL;DR'''

 I think some combination of Option 4 or Option 5 might make the most sense
 at this point because of the benefits they offer.

 Note: @michelleweber and @danielbachhuber raised some great points about
 needing some kind of message that indicates you can move around in the
 customizer. I agree with this and believe it would be helpful to discuss!
 However, for the sake of this ticket I’d recommend we not address it yet,
 and instead bring it up in a separate ticket.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/40432#comment:27>
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