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[UX] Custom blocks listing: Add the word "reusable" to the page title and the "+ Add ..." link #6531

Open stpaultim opened 3 weeks ago

stpaultim commented 3 weeks ago

Description of the bug

There are a number of issues and ideas floating around the issue queue about clarifying the difference between custom blocks and reusable custom blocks. Intersting work is actively progressing on this issue right now (https://github.com/backdrop/backdrop-issues/issues/4108).

When looking at that issue, it occurred to me that there is a small item not addressed in that PR which I think would be very easy to do and be a significant improvement as we think about and work on more significant changes/improvements.

The Custom Blocks page in the admin Structure menu, is actually somewhat confusing. I would like to propose two very simple and specific changes and as an interim step while larger and more comprehensive ideas are being discussed.

Change the page title of this page to: Reusable custom blocks Change the title of the link to: Add resuable custom block

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I propose that we change these two things:

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Steps To Reproduce

To reproduce the behavior:

  1. Go to admin/structure/block

Additional information

There are many other tickets right now addressing different ways of improving the UI to help people better understand the difference between regular custom blocks and reusable custom blocks. This ticket is focused on these two verys small and specific changes and does not preclude the many other ideas being discussion.

Unless, I'm missing something, I think this might be a quick first step.

stpaultim commented 3 weeks ago

I've shared a PR. This PR makes a couple of other small changes for consistency. My biggest concern is changing this menu item, it will take a while for folks to get used to this change from "Custom blocks" to "Reusable custom blocks."

For the menu, it might be less jarring a change if we list "Custom blocks (reusable)". While listing them as "Reusable custom blocks" in other places.

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stpaultim commented 3 weeks ago

Here is an alternative, that does not change the admin menu structure so much.

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klonos commented 3 weeks ago

I'm in favor of this change here 👍🏼

As I mentioned in #5922:

  • If we were introducing this feature now, I would certainly find Reusable custom blocks over the current Custom blocks way more fitting. So 👍🏼 from me on the change proposed

...but also:

  • Since the feature has been around for a long time, people are used to the position of the current "Custom blocks" menu item in the "Structure" top-level menu in the admin bar. Adding the word "reusable" as the first word causes the menu to be repositioned, and I expect people to find it rather disruptive/annoying. I then thought that perhaps Custom reusable blocks would be a good compromize, since it introduces the word "reusable" while at the same time retaining "custom" as the first word. That would in turn leave the order of the menu item in the admin bar unaffected.

...and then concluded to this:

  • Reusable custom blocks is much better than Custom reusable blocks though (more technically accurate).
stpaultim commented 2 weeks ago

@klonos - what about "Custom blocks (reusable)" as the admin menu label? See screenshot: https://github.com/backdrop/backdrop-issues/issues/6531#issuecomment-2106046589

quicksketch commented 2 weeks ago

I think both Custom blocks (reusable) and Reusable custom blocks are a bit too verbose. Originally the page was simply called "Blocks" and we already changed it to "Custom blocks".

stpaultim commented 2 weeks ago

@quicksketch - Maybe this issue has a longer history that I should become familiar with. I tried to find an issue talking about the change you mention, but there are too many issues about blocks. ;-)

I don't know if my specific suggestion is the best suggestion, but I feel like creating a page titled "Custom Blocks" and then not showing all custom blocks on that page is misleading and confusing. I think that Reusable custom blocks are important, but I've long worked under the misperception that while I can reuse them on different pages, my edits to the block content will not persisist across different placements.

It seems that "Custom Blocks" and "Reusable Custom Blocks" are fundamentally different and this page is currently masking that difference and suggesting that they are in fact more similar than they really are.

@klonos has some good ideas that I think will help people better understand custom blocks and reusable custom blocks and I'll be advocating for some of those changes. I hoped this might be an easy improvement, while waiting for more substancial changes.

For now, maybe I'll file a bug report to complain about the fact that my custom blocks are not showing up on the manage custom blocks page.

;-)

stpaultim commented 2 weeks ago

If we can't change the page title to make it more accurate, at a minimum we should look at improving that help text to make it more descriptive.

Can we at least change this:

"These blocks are available to be placed in any layout in the Layoutspage."

To this (or something like this?):

"This page lists all Reusable Custom blocks that are available to be placed in any layout in the Layouts page. Updating the content of these reusable blocks will affect all layouts where they are placed!

I think that a little more information here will help a lot of people better understand a fairly important and often used feature that is easily misunderstood.

quicksketch commented 2 weeks ago

I'm all for updating the help text :+1:

Let's be consistent with "Reusable Custom blocks" vs "reusable custom blocks". Since these are not proper nouns (like the name of a module) I would suggest just all lowercase.

klonos commented 2 weeks ago

As a UX improvement/bug, this could get in at any point - we don't need to wait for a minor release. What we need is consensus!

I think both Custom blocks (reusable) and Reusable custom blocks are a bit too verbose. Originally the page was simply called "Blocks" and we already changed it to "Custom blocks".

I do not share the same concern as @quicksketch with regards to the length of the words here, but I do share the concern of changing things again and again. That, in conjunction with the following things makes me hesitate:

klonos commented 2 weeks ago

...I am fine with changing the help text to say "reusable custom blocks". I'm also fine with changing the page title (but not the admin menu links for now).

I would like to propose that in the help text we emphasize the word "reusable" (italics or bold).

yorkshire-pudding commented 2 weeks ago

I'm struggling to have a strong opinion on this. I think both "reusable custom block" and "shared content block" are both good ideas. I don't think "mirrored content" or "cloned content" are appropriate as some custom blocks might only be used once and these descriptions suggest it has already been cloned or mirrored. Also "cloned" suggests a copy at a snapshot in time rather than keeping updated with changes across all copies.

klonos commented 2 weeks ago

Thanks @yorkshire-pudding 🙏🏼 ...that is excellent feedback 👍🏼

stpaultim commented 2 weeks ago

Let's call them "Quantum Blocks" because it sounds good and because the content lives in two places simotaneously at one time.

:-)

It's one of the oddest tenets of quantum theory: a particle can be in two places at once (link)

stpaultim commented 2 weeks ago

@quicksketch and @klonos - I understand that this not urgent, so we don't have to rush this in. BUT, just in case, I removed the changes to the menu items and focused on some improvements to help text. The risk is very low here and I do think that even these small changes in help text are an improvement.

yorkshire-pudding commented 2 weeks ago

Let's call them "Quantum Blocks" because it sounds good and because the content lives in two places simotaneously at one time.

:-)

It's one of the oddest tenets of quantum theory: a particle can be in two places at once (link)

Isn't another bit of quantum theory, in quantum computing, that they can be simultaneously 0 and 1, so the blocks could be both enabled and disabled at the same time?

klonos commented 2 weeks ago
klonos commented 2 weeks ago

...in all seriousness though, I'm having a look at the PR @stpaultim 👀

klonos commented 2 weeks ago

@stpaultim I like where this is going, thank you 🙏🏼

I've left a couple of suggestions in the PR for consideration.

Here's another suggestion:

So the final text in admin/structure/block could be something like this:

This page lists all blocks with reusable content. Such blocks can be placed in multiple [layouts]() and editing their content can be done from a single place.

...or:

This page lists all blocks with reusable content. These blocks allow you to share content across multiple [layouts](), while being able to edit the content from a single place.

That ^^ makes it sound like a feature, rather than a warning 😉

klonos commented 2 weeks ago

@jenlampton @yorkshire-pudding @olafgrabienski (and others) what do you think re the above ^^?

klonos commented 2 weeks ago

...this brainstorming makes me want to change the "Make this block reusable" label in the checkbox to "Share this content across multiple layouts" in my PR for #4108. Makes it so much more straight-forward.

yorkshire-pudding commented 2 weeks ago

@klonos - I like those suggestions. Preference for "These" over "Such"

stpaultim commented 2 weeks ago

Modified with some, but not all, of the suggestions from @klonos. Sorry, I don't like "reusable content." :-( @yorkshire-pudding - this version does not use "these" or "such." I'm going to hold off on any more changes, until we hear from more people.

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yorkshire-pudding commented 2 weeks ago

Looks good @stpaultim

olafgrabienski commented 2 weeks ago

Same here, I liked the suggestions, and the modification by @stpaultim looks good.