Navigation Project Tracking Issue

[getdave]

This issue captures ongoing work for Navigation project.

Here are some suggested guiding principles for work on this project.

This isn't a tracking Issue for a specific WordPress release. Rather it is somewhere to track the high level issues that need to be addressed for Navigation within the Editor as a whole.

This Issue is based on an assessment of user feedback and community defined goals for the wider Navigation system.

Bugs should be reported with the [Type] Bug label and added directly to the Navigation Project Board.

High Priority

The following Issues are considered essential to the next iteration of block-based navigation menus.

Managing and editing menus

• Navigation Block: develop a content-only representation #65699
• NavigationLink: make the URL dynamic for links to Posts #18345
• Make it easier to create new Pages directly from Navigation block #66923
• Allow selecting from all available Pages when adding to Navigation block #66925
• Allow selecting draft Pages using the Link UI  #29395
• Utilise dataviews to improve Navigation Menu management in the Editor #65828
• Provide more choice when manually creating a new Navigation Menu #56245
• Improve ability to find and insert link to Homepage within Link UI within Nav block #50171
• Better communicate which Menu is being used by the Navigation block #68177
• Dropping menu items on top of menu item should create a submenu #67821
• Consider Bulk Add Mode for Navigation #50831
• Improve relevance and ordering of search results in Link UI and Navigation block #38121
• Navigation Focus Mode: Ability to access/edit Navigation Post items in isolation #37950

Styling & Customisation

• Ability to style current menu item #42299
• Improve Navigation block color controls #44712
• Improve theme.json support for Navigation block #39052
• Allow Submenus in Navigation Overlay to respect "Toggle on Click"  #44346
• Home link block doesn't use current-menu-item class when on front page #34770

Responsive (inc. Mobile Overlay)

• Ability to customise Navigation block "mobile" overlay  #39142
• Customise and control the Navigation block at different screen sizes ("responsive") #49156
• Allow Submenus in Navigation Overlay to respect "Toggle on Click"  #44346

Foundational work

• Nav block use slug to reference Navigation Menu #45512
• Find "most suitable" Navigation Menu fallback based on Nav block insertion location context #56247
• Improve fallback behaviour
• Improve Navigation block tests #44920
• Improve Navigation block loading speed #49155
• Refactor Navigation block render function to be open for extension #52470

---

Normal Priority

The following issues are "nice to haves" but are unable to be considered for the next iteration of the block.

• Navigation: Make 'Manage menus' button link to site-editor.php?postType=wp_navigation #62257
• Add ability to style and/or use a custom icon for responsive menu  #37930
• Add Post Type Archive variation to core/navigation-link block #31452
• Navigation on Browse Mode: Add pages #50580
• Communicate sync'd nature of Navigation blocks #49158
• Nav block accessibility improvements #38786
• Only allow a Classic Menu to be imported once (avoid duplication) #43856
• Add 'categories block' to a menu item in the 'navigation block'. Automattic/wp-calypso#65012
• Automatically insert a Page List block on insertion of Submenu block #42598
• Tidy and refactor Navigation block codebase #44921
• Auto-inserting Blocks #39439 - ability to programmatically insert blocks at run time
• Introduce "Browser" and surface main navigation UI #36667
• Navigation Block: Toolbar overlaps with submenu links when opening sidebar or using smaller viewport #40382
• Navigation block: Delay creating entities until changes are saved #40050
• Home link block doesn't use current-menu-item class when on front page #34770
• Enable Login/out block in the Navigation block #38512
• Navigation: Loading the fallback creates multiple wp_navigation CPTs #46194
• Allow selecting the default core/navigation-link variant in the core/navigation block #50982

---

Backlog

The following are issues we are aware of which may be addressed in the future.

• [Block] Navigation: Long Menu Titles do not break-word in order to wrap within Columns block #52298
• Ability to save Nav blocks locally without creating a wp_navigation post. #38278
• Change the navigation menu add block button tooltip #39602
• Home Link: Allow setting as icon-only #31688
• Nav block/editor - can't save a post-format  #31348
• Navigation block: Hide more than N items #27131
• Only show one + at a time on link adding #34962
• Navigation Block: Make it clearer how to delete a Link Block without a link #30116
• Navigation block: Add support for separators between menu items. #23293
• Make the 'Insert Before' / 'Insert After' options work for block lists that don't allow the default block type #23603
• Improve experience of using social icons in the navigation block #35261
• Navigation block: Hide more than N items #27131
• Spacer markup could be more flexible #33018
• Navigation block: Make it easier to add a spacer block #41010
• Navigation block: Make nested menus fully customizable (Megamenus) #23745
• Navigation block: allow extending the list of allowed inner blocks #31387
• List block: allow transformation of text links lists into navigation blocks #31733
• Avoid automated behaviours in the Navigation block when in preview mode #45887

[getdave]

Update March 23rd 2022

• PR to add a dedicated Navigation sidebar has been simplified as far as possible so as to reduce scope. It is ready for review.
• @draganescu continues to iterate on maxNesting for the Nav block.
• A fix was needed for a block crash when toggling open the Advanced panel in the block inspector controls.
• @Trapsta is working on a solution to closing the overlay menu when the nav item is an anchor link to content on the same page.

[gziolo]

@getdave, is there any feature that you think could still land until Wednesday next week to be included in WordPress 6.0 release? To increase visibility, we can add it to the WordPress Editor 6.0 project board.

[getdave]

@gziolo realistically "feature" wise it's probably:

• Enable navigation nesting to be filtered and manually set #38621
• Navigation: add dedicated sidebar for managing layout of navigation menus #39290

[gziolo]

Awesome, thank you. We track now both PRs. The one that is merged #39290, is it behind the feature flag? Otherwise, it should be just included out of the box since it's ready.

[getdave]

The one that is merged #39290, is it behind the feature flag? Otherwise, it should be just included out of the box since it's ready.

Still being discussed. May be dropped from inclusion if deemed not ready. The PR was merged in order to get the basic code into the repo, but the feature isn't necessary "finished". If it doesn't make the cut then I'll disable it or place behind feature flag prior to Gutenberg code cut off date.

[getdave]

Update April 6th 2022

• A PR was merged to automatically set the first available Navigation Menu to be active on the Nav block if only a single one exists. This should help the Theme switch experience be more intuitive for a majority of users.
• A PR was merged which should help avoid multiple Navigation Menus (wp_navigation) being accidentally created by users. This fixes things so that Nav blocks created from uncontrolled inner blocks will not auto-convert to a Navigation Menu entity until the user modifies the nav items.
• Due to outstanding issues, the new Navigation sidebar is unlikely to make it into WP 6.0. A PR to exclude it from the release will be raised. The sidebar will remain in the Gutenberg Plugin however (cc @alexstine).
• In a win for Theme authors, @draganescu merged his PR to allow the maximum nesting level of Navigation blocks to be configurable.

[getdave]

Update May 18th 2022

Two regressions were spotted on the block during testing for WP 6.0:

1. When the navigation block only contains a page list, there are no color options #41080
2. Child Navigation default background with Dark Header  #40908

The former has been fixed thanks to great work from @draganescu 🙇

The other still needs attention but will not make it in time for WP 6.0.

[getdave]

Update 15th June 2022

#40908 still needs to be fixed.

Aside from this, contributors are largely focused on Issues which are complementary to the block such as #38277.

We are actively seeking more contributors to help progress the block.

The complementary Navigation Block Overview Issue also has a list of tasks grouped by focus area.

[getdave]

Update 29th June 2022

Contributors are aligning around next steps to make preserving Navigation Menus on Theme switch a reality. This is a highly nuanced topic with a lot of moving parts so a few contributors have outlined how they think this should work. We'd be grateful for more opinions however.

Various bug fixes have also been committed including a fix for a permissions issue in #41862.

[getdave]

Update 7th September 2023

WP 6.4 is heavily focused on consolidating existing features and tightening up the interface. As a result there has not been any significant progress specifically on the Navigation system.

Contributors have continue to engage with ongoing work to improve the Link creation interface as that has a major impact on the ability to manage Navigation.

Contributors will try to address the following issues but there may be insufficient time due to the short release window in the 6.4 cycle:

• Ability to style current menu item #42299
• Move individual menu management to the menu list view tab (or more intuitive location) #51536

[getdave]

Update 27th September

WP 6.4 is heavily focused on consolidating existing features and tightening up the interface. As a result, there have not been any further PRs merged which focus on the Navigation system.

However, contributors have made some progress in a PR on adding "current item" control to theme.json. As with many things related to Navigation this looks like it will require significant modifications to the existing Theme JSON system and so it's much more complex than contributors expected.

Bug fixes will continue to be actioned during the 6.4 release period.

[getdave]

Update 8th Nov 2024

I've been a while since the last update. I've been reviewing the tracking issue to determine candidate issues for upcoming releases. This will be subject to further discussion and review.

I've also raised #66821 to address a long standing issue with the lack of support for Post Type Archives in the Navigation block.

[askdesign]

I really like the attention being given to the navigation. I agree with the needs listed in the Styling & Customisation and Responsive areas of the thread above.

I found the Kadence Header/Navigation blocks UI very inspiring and encourage the team to consider taking a similar approach. The current UI squeezes the nav block between the left (list view) and right sidebars. The Kadence interface inserts the building block area at the bottom of the screen, allowing for much more user-friendly space to work in.
https://youtu.be/gYAZIEGdWnw?si=SchMYrxrMLJRX7qh

I think the most compelling things about the Kadence model are:

• Horizontal - serving as more of a visual representation of horizontal menus. Doesn't need scrolling. Uses space more efficiently.
• Wider - Overlapping the list view sidebar to allow more width makes sense to me. I wonder if the width could be increased even more if the styling sidebar is also shortened.
• Block-based with nice drag and drop
• Smooth integration of responsive options.