[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #50699: Fix and improve arranging metaboxes

[WordPress Trac]

#50699: Fix and improve arranging metaboxes
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 Reporter:  azaozz                    |       Owner:  joedolson
     Type:  enhancement               |      Status:  accepted
 Priority:  normal                    |   Milestone:  Future Release
Component:  Administration            |     Version:
 Severity:  normal                    |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  needs-design needs-patch  |     Focuses:  ui, accessibility
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Comment (by sanket.parmar):

 After going through the full thread, the direction that azaozz and
 joedolson landed on in the Jan 2021 discussion still seems right: a Screen
 Options toggle to enable/disable drag-and-drop reordering, defaulting to
 enabled so existing workflows aren't disrupted.

 The sticking point since then has been `needs-design`. From what I can
 tell, the open questions are:

  1. '''Checkbox label wording.''' "Enable drag-and-drop reordering" is
 explicit. "Allow reordering of boxes" would echo the existing "Enable
 accessibility mode" phrasing already in Screen Options — which might feel
 more consistent.
  2. '''Placement in the Screen Options panel.''' It would sit naturally
 alongside the column count and accessibility mode fields.
  3. '''Touch device default.''' Should the toggle default to off on
 touch/mobile? This was raised but never settled.

 On the implementation side, the scope is fairly contained: gate the
 `.sortable()` initialization in `postbox.js` on a setting passed from PHP,
 store the preference as a user option per screen (same pattern as
 `screen_layout_{page}`), and render the new checkbox in
 `render_screen_options()` in `class-wp-screen.php`. The keyboard up/down
 buttons would stay unaffected regardless of the toggle state.

 If there's some agreement on the design questions, I'd be happy to put
 together a patch. Happy to hear thoughts before going further.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/50699#comment:66>
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