Move Post Meta Box to a Lower Priority

[raamdev]

The Comment Mail Post Meta Box currently defaults to appearing above the Publish meta box when editing or creating a new Post:

The Post Meta Box should be moved to a lower priority so that it doesn't appear above everything else, especially not above the Publish meta box, which should always appear at the top unless the user has specifically moved something above it.

[jaswrks]

My thinking here is that by putting it at the top, it spotlights that this feature exists to begin with. I think many site owners could miss this entirely for at least the first few days of having CM. However, if we place this at the top from the start, you can't miss it, and then you can drag it wherever you prefer; even down into the horizontal fields on the left if you like.

[raamdev]

Hmm, I understand your reasoning but it still seems obnoxious to me. I've never seen another plugin do that; if they add a Post Meta Box to the Edit Post screen, it always goes somewhere down below the post editing screen and below the Publish meta box.

Putting at the top like that seems like bad UX. Consider the fact that the Comment Mail Post Meta Box makes no sense on the "Add New" screen (there will never been any subscriptions there). If it were possible to move the Post Meta Box to a lower priority for the "Add New" screen and then a higher priority for the "Edit Post" screen, then it might make sense, but even then that would be bad UX (moving the Post Meta Box around depending on which screen they're looking at).

[jaswrks]

Referencing: http://www.wproots.com/complex-meta-boxes-in-wordpress/

[jaswrks]

I understand your reasoning but it still seems obnoxious to me

Roger that. I'll leave this open and see if we get any negative feedback about it, or somebody else agrees with you. I don't personally see this as a problem, since drag n' drop allows a site owner to put this box wherever they like. Going to the top though, is a good way to introduce a feature in a plugin that will be brand new to many site owners.

[Reedyseth]

I also don't see a problem, but considering what @raamdev Said

Consider the fact that the Comment Mail Post Meta Box makes no sense on the "Add New" screen (there will never been any subscriptions there)

This Post Meta Box will be helpful only when I edit the post(I could have comments until this point) , so my suggestion will be to make the Post Meta Box available only after the "New Post" is Posted and the user want to edit it.

[jaswrks]

I agree with not showing this on the New Post screen at all. I'm marking this as an enhancement that we could go ahead and work on now. If one of you would like to take a stab, please feel free.

[raamdev]

I agree with not showing this on the New Post screen at all. I'm marking this as an enhancement that we could go ahead and work on now. If one of you would like to take a stab, please feel free.

Cool. I'll assign this to myself.

[jaswrks]

Didn't mean to step on your toes, but I was working on this anyway and updated this so it doesn't show on the post-new.php page. See last commit for changes. This will get merged in w/ my next PR.

[raamdev]

Didn't mean to step on your toes,

No worries. :) I'll let you close this when it's finished then. I'm reassigning it to you.

[raamdev]

@jaswsinc Any update on this one? I'm triaging issues for the Next Release milestone, hoping to push out a RC early next week (January 25th). Just trying to figure out if this issue should be bumped to the Future Release milestone.

[jaswrks]

The change I noted here was merged in a while back. Looks like I never came back to update this issue though. I just confirmed that it is in there however. Referencing: https://github.com/websharks/comment-mail-pro/blob/151224/comment-mail-pro/plugin.inc.php#L1031-L1032

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The Post Meta Box should be moved to a lower priority

The original reason for this issue being opened, I commented on here and my view is still the same on that. I don't think it makes sense for a plugin to push anything that's new down to the bottom of a list that is customizable anyway. New = at the top = easier discovery.

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So unless you still disagree and would like to change the priority, I think this can be closed now.

[raamdev]

@jaswsinc writes...

I don't think it makes sense for a plugin to push anything that's new down to the bottom of a list that is customizable anyway. New = at the top = easier discovery.

Easier discovery, at the expense of making the Edit Post page more difficult to use...

The "Publish" meta box should always be at the top on the Edit Post page, at least until a site owner decides it shouldn't. If the site owner installed 3 plugins and each one followed the idea of "New = at the top = easier discovery", then eventually the "Publish" meta box could get hidden from view altogether and require the site owner (or one of its users; remember, not all sites have only one admin/editor/contributor) to hunt around and find one of the most basic, commonly used meta boxes on the Edit Post page.

This breaks one of the most common design principals: Don't make me think.

In my mind it's about logical priority. What's the most logical priority on the Edit Post screen? Comment Mail and s2Member before the Publish box? (s2Member is different in this example because it's used to set permissions for a page; so it makes sense to put the s2Member meta box above Publish.)

The Comment Mail meta box does nothing other than list recent subscriptions to that post... how is that more important than the Publish box, which contains the button to Update the post?! 😄

[jaswrks]

In my mind it's about logical priority. What's the most logical priority on the Edit Post screen?

I'm not disagreeing with you on this. However, there simply is no way to know what the right priority is for any given site, or for any given site owner's interpretation of what works best for them. That's why these widgets support drag n' drop. So you can order them to your liking.

Putting anything that's new down at the bottom is unfriendly in my view. It makes discovery more difficult. We are not WordPress, we are Comment Mail. Comment Mail's objective is to make your experience with our plugin easy, enjoyable, and impressive. If you completely miss the metabox because it is down at the bottom where you never look, we could be missing an opportunity there.

Your call though. Either way works for me. A site owner can rearrange them on their own. I just don't see this change as being an improvement. If anything, it seems like it pulls attention away from a new plugin that you just installed, and insteads puts focus on WordPress core. I don't care about WP core in this context.

[raamdev]

Putting anything that's new down at the bottom is unfriendly in my view. It makes discovery more difficult. We are not WordPress, we are Comment Mail. Comment Mail's objective is to make your experience with our plugin easy, enjoyable, and impressive.

Right, but I'm not advocating that we put it at the bottom. I'm simply saying it shouldn't be at the very very top, with a high priority. It's not a high-priority box. It doesn't contain any high-priority information (at least in the majority of all cases where that information will be used).

It's an informational box that lists the Comment Mail subscriptions associated with that post. (You can click the email addresses to visit the subscriptions list, yes, but again, not a 'common task' in the majority of all cases where someone edits a post.)

For that matter, the side context feels wrong in this case, as the side context seems mostly useful for smaller, input-style bits of information. For something like a list of recent subscriptions (with email addresses that might be longer than the width of the small Meta Box), a normal context feels more appropriate:

[jaswrks]

Right, but I'm not advocating that we put it at the bottom. I'm simply saying it shouldn't be at the very very top, with a high priority. It's not a high-priority box. It doesn't contain any high-priority information (at least in the majority of all cases where that information will be used).

I see. Well, that seems better. Not putting it all the way down at the bottom. I really don't have a problem with it being moved anywhere else either for matter, even though my last response probably came off that way. Sorry. I was just trying to share my point of view. I don't see this as being broken, but I don't have a problem with it being moved around if that's what you prefer.

For that matter, the side context feels wrong in this case..

Hmm. I don't have an opinion on that myself; i.e., I'm not sure one way or the other. My general feeling is that this information can be vital to some people under various conditions, and not even worth looking at in others. Which makes me glad that these are all draggable.

In many respects, this box is sort of a scoreboard for how successful a post is, and if a team is using the number of comments/subscriptions as a way of gauging the success of a post, it is important for them to see. For instance, a Contributor might have very little access to a site, and perhaps this box is something they look at often, because it is one of their only ways of gauging how successful their content is becoming/became. That seems somewhat common to me.

On the other hand, I'm guessing that a more common scenario is that people will see this, use it for what it's worth, but learn to ignore it over time. So I'm not disagreeing with your feeling about the priority of this box. However, my view about easy discovery is still the same. I still think that making it easy to discover should be a top priority. Otherwise it can potentially go unnoticed. Right now, that's not a huge deal, but as this is enhanced in the future this box may contain more useful information and we won't want people to miss it. People miss things so easily. If it's not right in their face, it just blends in with everything else.

[raamdev]

@jaswsinc Thank you for going back and forth with me on this. 😄 I've made the call. ↑

[jaswrks]

Cool! :-) I will learn to accept this later in life. 😆

[raamdev]

Next Lite Release Changelog:

• Enhancement: Moved the default location for the Subscriptions Meta Box on the Post Edit screen so that it shows up underneath the post editing area instead of above the Publish box. See Issue #57.

[raamdev]

Next Pro Release Changelog:

• Enhancement: Moved the default location for the Subscriptions Meta Box on the Post Edit screen so that it shows up underneath the post editing area instead of above the Publish box. See Issue #57.

[raamdev]

Comment Mail v160213 has been released and includes changes from this GitHub Issue. See the release announcement for further details.

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This issue will now be locked to further updates. If you have something to add related to this GitHub Issue, please open a new GitHub Issue and reference this one (#57).