Create a legacy menu block

[spacedmonkey]

What problem does this address?

The current navigation block is not backwards compatible with existing menu / menu item code. This means that current implementations that filter / change menus, will not work.

What is your proposed solution?

Add a new legacy navigation block, that allows user to select menu a dropdown and have the menu be rendered server side with wp_nav_menu that would maintain backwards compatibility.

[getdave]

Thanks for raising this @spacedmonkey.

So this would effectively be an opt out similar to Classic Widgets? It would allow the user to use a block in FSE that would render their menu as it was in a classic Theme using wp_nav_menu().

Questions:

• Do you see this living in Gutenberg Core or as a Plugin?
• What danger is there that by offering this, we lose (water down) the opportunity to push the Navigation block forward in response to feedback from users?
• I also sense that there is a push to avoid using ServerSideRender as it doesn't provide a great UX in the Editor. Are there any alternatives we could consider?
• What time frame should we consider for this?
• We have considered a legacy menu block previously. What has caused you to push for this again? I'm curious as to whether there is there a specific use-case or interaction that has prompted this?

Much appreciated.

[manooweb]

Hi @getdave,

I can answer to the latest question and maybe partially to the third one and as you saw in the conversation on slack.

In fact, in Polylang plugin we have a specific language switcher menu item we can use in the classic menu. It is specific because it is not a menu item as the other ones because it doesn't generate a simple link but several links (one per language).

The current migration feature when we use the new navigation block produce for all the menu items a navigation-link block.
For our specific menu-item, it's wrong: it should be converted to our navigation-language-switcher block.

We were looking for a solution when I asked a question on slack to know where the current conversion is done.
Surely here, I suppose 🤔https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/blob/v11.9.1/packages/block-library/src/navigation/menu-items-to-blocks.js

I push here the video I previously pushed on slack to better illustrate what I explain.
https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1003778/142417108-4d3961f0-6ab9-4b1c-b32b-c4085a362e77.mp4

I would see an alternative: open the navigation block conversion to make it extensible and make possible to decide how to convert some menu-item. It's just an idea and what we were looking for at the beginning.

However, it exists a disavandatage for our plugin. Indeed our navigation-language-switcher block is only implemented in our Pro version and then can't be used in our free version.
Use of a "legacy menu" should be acceptable in this case because there is no need to convert the menu and all works as it does today: server side.

[getdave]

@manooweb Thank you for your replies. It's great to have this use case requirement clearly illustrated.

Let's keep this Issue specific to your later point regarding the (possible) need for a Legacy Menu block.

I created a separate Issue in order that we can discuss the requirement for hooking into the conversion from classic Menu to Navigation block.

Much appreciated 🙇

[spacedmonkey]

I created a prototype of a classic menu block. https://github.com/spacedmonkey/classic-menu-block

After WordPress I will submit this plugin to the WP plugin repo. It will be a nice workaround for some of your issues @manooweb

[manooweb]

Wow! Thanks @spacedmonkey, I'm stuck at the moment with the other solution proposed in #36950
I'm going to take a look at this one 👍

[manooweb]

@spacedmonkey I took a look at your plugin.
The issue at the beginning isn't a frontend rendering problem but a WYSIWYG rendering problem of the navigation block.

For the moment, here is what I get with your plugin
The classic menu block

renders a navigation block which doesn't contain the language switcher but a navigation link Languages instead. The issue is there.

Otherwise in frontend it works correctly as the classic menu in the header

Tested:

• WP 5.8.2
• Gutenberg 12.1.0-rc.1
• Polylang plugin 3.1.2 (latest version) and a mu-plugin, extraction of the language switcher block code, you can find here: https://github.com/manooweb/gutenberg-block-navigation-conversion-test
• TT1 theme to have classic menu easily accessible.

[manooweb]

🤔Sorry after investigation, it seems that it's Polylang that doesn't manage the language switcher menu item in a admin/REST context. I'm going to test by moving a line of code a the right place and I let you know

[manooweb]

It was really that 👍 We need to copy a class instantiation in the REST Polylang context and it works fine now.

[spacedmonkey]

@manooweb I released the plugin on the repo. Here is the blog post about it.

[carolinan]

Is this something we are still considering implementing as a separate block?

[manooweb]

Is this something we are still considering implementing as a separate block?

Hi @carolinan.

For us - Polylang plugins - we still need this classic menu block.
Indeed we've been implemented a language switcher block however only in our Pro version.

So, for all the users who use our plugin provided on WordPress.org it is the only solution to be able to use the language switcher in a menu with a site editor compatible theme.

Regards.